Some key virtues that made Elizabeth Ann Seton a great saint also happen to be American virtues. On July 4th, it\u2019s good to remember what those American virtues are, because they stem from the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n
As Pope Francis put it when he spoke at Independence Hall in 2015, \u201cThe history of this nation is also the tale of a constant effort, lasting to our own day, to embody those lofty principles.\u201d<\/p>\n
St. Elizabeth Ann\u00a0was a\u00a0pioneer,\u00a0willing to go outside what\u2019s comfortable.<\/strong><\/p>\n Americans\u2014from the Native peoples who lived on what God\u2019s providence provided, to the settlers and immigrants who came from distant lands\u2014have always been people who journey and build.<\/p>\n Recent years have been filled with anniversaries that show this willingness on our part\u201475 years since we went to Normandy; 50 years since we went to the moon. There were also anniversaries of American business pioneers: pop art innovator Marvel Comics turned 80\u00a0 and fashion brand The Gap turned 50.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Ann Seton\u2019s life was marked by this same willingness to journey and create.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n At age 29 she left New York for Italy, and that led to her conversion to Catholicism upon her return. At age 31, she started a school for young women in New York. At age 34 she was ready to leave the country for Canada, but went to Baltimore instead. From there, she settled a year later in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she would found the first free school for girls run by Catholic Sisters, and the first congregation of women religious founded in the United States, as well.<\/p>\n That also shows\u00a0another American virtue.<\/p>\n St. Elizabeth\u00a0Ann\u00a0had the\u00a0American\u00a0ability to turn a \u201cland of exile\u201d into a\u00a0home.<\/strong><\/p>\n Americans\u00a0are also people of\u00a0exile. The first Europeans who moved here were all fleeing something\u2014religious persecution, political despotisms and economic dead ends. Ironically, of course, we\u00a0turned\u00a0American Indians\u2019 native land into\u00a0a\u00a0land of exile\u00a0for them\u00a0as we expanded west.<\/p>\n Catholics understand\u00a0living in exile.\u00a0We\u00a0long for\u00a0\u201cthat blessed fatherland from which we are all exiles,\u201d\u00a0while we\u00a0call down blessings on our earthly homes.<\/p>\n Especially after her conversion\u00a0to Catholicism, Elizabeth understood how America was both her home and a place of exile.<\/p>\n \u201cOh\u00a0joy\u00a0joy\u00a0joy\u00a0a Captain B will take us to America!\u201d she wrote, when planning to return home from Italy. Her daughter, she said, was \u201cwild with joy\u00a0\u2014\u00a0yet often whispers\u00a0to\u00a0me\u00a0\u2018Ma is there no Catholics in America?\u00a0Ma\u00a0won\u2019t we go to the Catholic Church when we go home?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Years after becoming Catholic, she still found herself a stranger in her homeland.\u00a0\u201cI am gently, quietly and silently a good Catholic,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe rubs, etc., are all past \u2026 only a few knotty hearts that must talk of something\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and the worst they say is\u00a0\u2018so much trouble has turned her brain.\u2019\u00a0Well\u00a0… I kiss my Crucifix which I have loved for so many years and say they are only mistaken.\u201d<\/p>\n St. Elizabeth Ann Seton also embraced new identities like an American.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Changing identities has become a clich\u00e9\u2014from Taylor Swift\u2019s new persona on every new album to our own new personas in our profile pictures. But there is also a praiseworthy aspect to this flexibility.<\/p>\n Forging yourself anew with no foundations comes from rootlessness or narcissism. Forging yourself anew in Christ\u00a0comes from authentic freedom and humility.<\/p>\n The virtue of daily conversion requires that we stretch our definition of ourselves, getting rid of what holds us back from Christ. St. John Paul II called this \u201cbecoming who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n Elizabeth, of course, embraced conversion in her own life. She went from Episcopalian to Catholic, from wife and mother to religious sister, from sister to Mother, from Mother to foundress.<\/p>\n She also taught this conversion of life to others, in her school and in her community.<\/p>\n This is very Catholic, and very American.\u00a0As John Adams said, \u201cOur Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.\u201d<\/p>\n Self-government\u00a0only works for\u00a0a moral people who\u00a0are able to improve themselves, and don\u2019t require others to intervene.<\/p>\n St. Elizabeth Ann thought big.<\/strong><\/p>\n Americans have always had a genius for thinking bigger and bolder, from the\u00a0desire to build a new nation from scratch in the wilderness, to modern America where everything is\u00a0literally big compared to the rest of the world: Our houses are bigger, our washing machines are bigger, and our stores are bigger. Clearly, this is\u00a0a mixed blessing. Thinking big often shows a\u00a0lack\u00a0of\u00a0humility and\u00a0an insensitivity to the weak and vulnerable.<\/p>\n But Catholicism is a beautiful marriage of the big and the small. The same reality enlivens St. Peter\u2019s Basilica as it does your parish\u2019s tabernacle,\u00a0the universal church and your parish\u00a0council,\u00a0the great saints and the volunteers at the local soup kitchen.<\/p>\n Thinking small, but focused on the immensity of God,\u00a0lands us in a big place. St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux\u2019s\u00a0Little\u00a0Way leads to\u00a0big change. Small contributions to the Church from immigrants led to big, beautiful churches.\u00a0Each of our small, focused sacrifices yields big results.<\/p>\n St. Elizabeth Ann\u00a0embraced this paradox.\u00a0\u201cWe must often draw the comparison between time and eternity,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is the remedy of all our troubles. How small will the present moment appear when we enter that great ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n Her formula was simple:\u00a0\u201cThe first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God;\u201d she wrote, \u201csecondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will.\u201d<\/p>\n So, how to sum up St. Elizabeth Ann Seton?<\/strong><\/p>\n She had an adventurous spirit, she made a home in hard circumstances, she \u201cbecame all things to all\u201d for Christ, and she left a giant legacy.\u00a0She embodied many of the best virtues of being American.<\/p>\n As Pope Paul VI said when he canonized her in 1975: \u201cSaint Elizabeth Ann Seton is an American.\u201d<\/p>\n TOM HOOPES<\/strong>, autor m\u00e1s reciente de El Rosario de San Juan Pablo II, es escritor residente en el Benedictine College de Kansas, donde imparte clases. Es anfitri\u00f3n de La extraordinaria Stor<\/a>y podcast sobre la vida de Cristo. Su libro Lo que dijo realmente el Papa Francisco<\/a> ya est\u00e1 disponible en Audible<\/a>. Antiguo reportero en la zona de Washington, D.C., fue secretario de prensa del Presidente del Comit\u00e9 de Medios y Arbitrios de la C\u00e1mara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos y pas\u00f3 10 a\u00f1os como editor del peri\u00f3dico National Catholic Register y de la revista Faith & Family. Su trabajo aparece con frecuencia en el Register, Aleteia y Catholic Digest. Vive en Atchison, Kansas, con su esposa, April, y tiene nueve hijos.<\/em>Imagen: Dominio p\u00fablico<\/em><\/p>\n Esta reflexi\u00f3n se public\u00f3 anteriormente.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" St. Elizabeth Ann Seton had a bold spirit, embraced new identities, made a home in hard circumstances, and left a giant legacy. She embodied many of the best virtues of being American.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":49519,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1187],"tags":[3714,3713,3712,3653],"class_list":["post-49518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seton-reflections","tag-american-saint","tag-independence-day","tag-july-4th","tag-saint-elizabeth-ann-seton"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n