(50 for 50 series) Archbishop William Lori’s priesthood has been connected to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton like no other.
The young seminarian at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary visited her national shrine nearby within a day or two of his arrival. He prayed regularly in front of her tomb. He was at the celebration of her canonization 50 years ago. Her served mass at the Shrine as a young priest and then after he was named to head the archdiocese of Baltimore in 2012.
Now, he will be on the altar again at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton on Sept. 14 as the lead celebrant of the Mass to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her canonization as the first native-born American saint.
“There is a sense of having come full circle,” he said in a recent interview. “To serve mass on the altar and to think then that I would come back as Archbishop would have completely blown my mind.
“I couldn’t have imagined it, and it’s a moment simply to thank the Lord, whose thoughts are not my thoughts and whose ways are not my ways.”
Archbishop Lori recently talked about Mother Seton’s importance to his priesthood and to the American Church at large. This transcript has been edited for length.
When did you first become aware of Elizabeth Ann Seton?
We would have had instructions in our Catholic elementary school about people who were leaders in the church in the United States, and she would have been among them. But it was really when I became a seminarian at Mount St. Mary’s that I probably had more of a full-blown awareness of who she was, and she was still a venerable at the time.
Describe your first encounter with Mother Seton at Seminary.
Very soon, within a day of arriving for sure, I did go over to the Seton Shrine with a classmate from Pittsburgh and I remember being in the Basilica and one of the Daughters of Charity came and showed me and my classmate around and then brought us to the side altar where her remains were kept.
In those days, her remains were in a very small coffin that was placed before the altar. Later on, the current arrangement was made. I remember vividly going over there and praying at her tomb.
How aware were you of her presence as you went through seminary?
We would, as seminarians, visit the motherhouse quite frequently. We certainly went every March 19th for a wonderful solemn mass and a great dinner — that always gets the interest of seminarians.
But I also went over for various other reasons. I know there were seminary professors who would give talks at the motherhouse, and on some occasions, I would accompany them. One of the places where I actually felt her presence was up at the grotto.
Were you at the Shrine the day she was canonized?
I was, and as I recall, there were continual masses and we Seminarians were pressed into service to serve those masses. And there were various bishops from the area who celebrated Mass at the shrine. I remember just tremendous crowds of people.
What also stands out was just the great joy that we had our first native -born American saint. It was just great excitement and it was really very, very beautiful to be part of it. We were not standing in the piazza in Rome hearing Paul VI say, ‘Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint,’ but we felt very close to the events in Rome and there was great excitement that she had been canonized.
What did the fact she was the first native-born American mean in the United States?
Of course, the first naturalized American to be a saint was Mother Cabrini. But the thought of having a native-born American saint gave me the sense that that our church in the United States was still young and that we were just now be beginning to come of age.
It was like having the first American pope is today. It was the same kind of a feeling. The feeling of pride — and I don’t mean wrongful pride — but pride that the Church of the United States is contributing to the church’s storehouse of holiness and leadership.
So, let’s pick up the narrative. You were ordained two years later. How did she follow you throughout your priesthood?
Early in my priesthood I had the joy of celebrating her feast day in the parish, and I remember that it was a daily Mass so I couldn’t preach very long. But I remember doing a lot of reading and a lot of looking up quotes and kind of making it special and sort of saying to the handful of people who came to that daily Mass — who probably wondered how long I would go on – that what the special thing this was, that we’re able to celebrate the first American saint, and one who had checked so many boxes in her life.
Later on, and not too much later on, I became the pre -secretary for Cardinal Hickey, the Archbishop of Washington, and we frequently would go to the Seton Shrine to visit. He stayed at the White House. They put me up someplace else, but he stayed at the White House, which was, I think, pretty cool.
And of course, I was an alumnus of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, and so I would return to the Mount for different events. And so it was, I’d say, a constant awareness.
She would be somebody that I would, that I would continually pray to ask for her intercession for various things, particularly when I was going through the throes of doctoral studies. I remember asking her to help me just to get through those things.
I would say to her, ‘You did some very difficult things in your life and this is not easy, and if you could pray for me, that would be wonderful.’
What did it mean to become the archbishop of her diocese?
One of the first things I thought of was, ‘oh my gosh, Emmitsburg is in my diocese.’ It’s the seminary I attended. It’s the Seton Shrine. It’s the grotto. It’s this really historic and holy place.
Why does Mother Seton continue to resonate so much with so many people?
I think it has a lot to do with her life’s experience – the fact that she was a devoted wife and mother; that in her marriage there were challenges, financial challenges, the illness of her husband. And while the Setons were people of means, they were by no means secure in the way that today we might think of financial security.
That would be one reason. Secondly, the fact that she became a widow and how many people have lost loved ones, how many people have lost their spouse, their houses?
The third reason would be her search for the fullness of faith, that she was in more modern parlance a seeker, that she was searching for something, something more.
And I think that describes an awful lot of people today. Very different context; very different circumstances. But nonetheless, she’s a saint who made the journey at a lot of risk to herself.
I think a fourth thing is that if you’ve been to a Catholic school and you owe your basic skills or owe your success in life to Catholic schools, you look to her and say, ‘She started all this.’ She laid the foundation stone for this. The school she founded is still going.
Then I think anyone who has encountered the Daughters of Charity or the larger Sisters of Charity or the spirituality of St. Vincent de Paul, maybe being part of St. Vincent de Paul in a parish, you are going to be thankful to her.
So, I think she is eminently relatable, and she checks many, many boxes.
How does she embody the universal call to holiness?
It’s really interesting because her search for God for the fullness of the faith was at the same time a search for holiness. She was long before she became a religious, long even before she became a Catholic. She was on the path to holiness. She was a woman of great devout prayer, a woman of immense charity.
All the qualities you see in her later in life, you can see them forming in her as a young woman. I don’t think they spoke as commonly about the universe of all the holiness back then, but she was doing it. She was striving for holiness. And when she converted, I think my predecessor Archbishop John Carroll recognized it and went up and confirmed her and understood that she was a very special soul already well along the road of holiness.
Does she provide hope for us today that we can find holiness?
Yes, absolutely. One other reason that she’s relatable is because at every stage of her life she was pursuing holiness, and that should say to the rest of us that it’s not out of reach. It’s quite available to us.
The other thing I might add about her is that as sublime as her journey was, she was a very practical person. Her spirituality was not up in the clouds. It’s not hard to understand. Sometimes she was rather pointed, but she was practical, and perhaps that goes to the fact that she was an American.
How important is it to have a place like the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton where people can literally walk in the footsteps of a saint?
When you’re there, you sense her presence, I think, because of the White House, because these are the grounds upon which she walked. I think she would have been amazed to see the motherhouse in the shrine. It too has captured the spirit of Mother Seton and the exhibits particularly the updated exhibits are really wonderful in telling her story.
Is there a special feeling around this anniversary because of the election of the first American pope?
I think having a pope who was born in the United States and formed in the United States for much of his formation, is a sign that the Church in the United States continues to come of age despite of all of its challenges.
In many ways, Mother Seton was the pioneer who got the ball rolling for us. I would also like to think that the Catholic Church, replete with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, grew up in the United States along with the United States itself. The Archdiocese of Baltimore was founded two years after the Constitution was ratified in 1787.
The Church has really grown up with our country and its contribution to the life of our country has been immense. I think we Catholics ought to use this opportunity to take stock of how God has blessed our country over these 250 years, including, and especially, the legacy of holiness that the Lord has seen fit to unleash through the Holy Spirit.
50 for 50 is a series of stories, quotes, clips, photos, and/or devotional statements from ordinary people to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the canonization of Elizabeth Ann Seton as the first native-born American saint.