A primera vista, no hay dos mujeres m\u00e1s diferentes que Santa Isabel Ana Seton y Santa Francisca de Roma.<\/p>\n
Lo \u00fanico que ten\u00edan en com\u00fan era que sus padres pose\u00edan cierta riqueza material y, por tanto, estaban bien conectados con la sociedad en general.<\/p>\n
M\u00e1s all\u00e1 de eso, las mujeres se hab\u00edan criado de forma diferente y ten\u00edan una naturaleza diferente. Eran verdaderos polos opuestos.<\/p>\n
Frances era una 14th<\/sup> que hab\u00eda crecido so\u00f1ando con un claustro y una vida tranquila de oraci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Bayley, nacida en 1774, era una fiel episcopaliana a la que, sin embargo, le encantaba bailar y asistir a actos sociales.<\/p>\n Frances\u2019 family negotiated her marriage to Lorenzo Ponziani, a nobleman from a prominent family; the young woman actively sought to find a way out of the commitment and into the convent she believed she would prefer.<\/p>\n Elizabeth contrajo matrimonio con William Seton, de la c\u00e9lebre, bien relacionada y rica familia Seton, con gran alegr\u00eda y entusiasmo. Era un verdadero matrimonio por amor, y a ella le esperaba una vida m\u00e1s bien previsible de hijos, obras de caridad y reuniones festivas, c\u00f3modamente instalada en la sociedad en la que tanto ella como su marido se hab\u00edan criado.<\/p>\n Frances, una aut\u00e9ntica introvertida, sufri\u00f3 un colapso f\u00edsico y mental al intentar satisfacer las exigencias de su nuevo papel dentro de una familia juerguista y popular, y de la esfera expectante en la que funcionaban. Aunque se encari\u00f1\u00f3 con su marido, odiaba su nueva vida.<\/p>\n Elizabeth, m\u00e1s h\u00e1bil socialmente, cumpl\u00eda con sus obligaciones tanto dentro de la familia como fuera, entre sus amigos, con gran energ\u00eda y diversi\u00f3n.<\/p>\n Frances sufri\u00f3 la muerte de todos sus seis hijos menos uno en la infancia.<\/p>\n Elizabeth tuvo cinco hijos sanos, aunque le doli\u00f3 perder a dos cuando eran adolescentes.<\/p>\n Frances estuvo casada durante cuarenta a\u00f1os y cuid\u00f3 a Lorenzo durante su \u00faltima enfermedad.<\/p>\n Isabel enviud\u00f3 a los 28 a\u00f1os, tras s\u00f3lo nueve de matrimonio, tras lo cual se hizo cat\u00f3lica.<\/p>\n Frances nunca entr\u00f3 en la vida religiosa. Elizabeth Ann Seton s\u00ed.<\/p>\n Sin embargo, a pesar de estas marcadas diferencias, las dos mujeres compart\u00edan un profundo compromiso con sus tradiciones religiosas y el amor por la oraci\u00f3n. Ambas eran conscientes de la llamada a ayudar a los necesitados y respond\u00edan a ella.<\/p>\n Para la joven Frances, eso significaba contribuir con comida y ropa a los pobres, y ofrecer apoyo diario a trav\u00e9s de la oraci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n Para Elizabeth, al principio de su matrimonio, signific\u00f3 hacer rondas de caridad visitando a los pobres, y finalmente (ir\u00f3nicamente) convertirse en miembro fundador de una Sociedad formada para el alivio de las viudas con hijos peque\u00f1os.<\/p>\n Ultimately, their religious convictions drove both women to commit themselves more deeply to the service of others, expanding their outreach with every opportunity. Frances began by walking amid the poor and the hungry. Eventually, with her husband\u2019s support, she practically invented the concept of \u201csocial work,\u201d opening a portion of her own house to the sick and feeding the hungry from her own makeshift \u201csoup kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n Elizabeth Ann Seton, cientos de a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s, pens\u00f3 en formas de ayudar a educar a los ni\u00f1os cat\u00f3licos desfavorecidos de familias pobres, entre otros.<\/p>\n Con el tiempo, ambas mujeres se convirtieron en fundadoras de comunidades religiosas que siguen existiendo hoy en d\u00eda, cuyos miembros contin\u00faan sirviendo activamente a los dem\u00e1s y defendiendo los ideales de las mujeres notables cuyas nociones innovadoras y ejemplos han seguido.<\/p>\n Francisca cre\u00f3 una ins\u00f3lita comunidad de Oblatas Olivetanas de la Virgen Mar\u00eda (ahora llamadas Oblatas de Santa Francisca de Roma), mujeres que viven y rezan en comunidad mon\u00e1stica pero no hacen votos, sino promesas en manos de una superiora benedictina. Sirven a la Iglesia atendiendo a los pobres en el coraz\u00f3n bullicioso de Roma, hasta nuestros d\u00edas.<\/p>\n Mother Seton established the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, which sparked the first congregations of the Sisters of Charity, and would later became the first community of the Daughters of Charity in the United States. These Sisters created elementary and secondary schools \u2013 thereby virtually inventing the Catholic educational system in America \u2013 and built hospitals and orphanages (and prominently nursed soldiers on the battlefields of the Civil War) along the way.<\/p>\n We wonder how it can be that two such disparate women could end their lives in circumstances so far removed from their youthful realities, yet so similar in form to each other\u2019s. Surely Frances, once married, never believed she would create a model of social service that would become common to the Church. Surely, Elizabeth \u2013 a popular society matron of \u201cgood Protestant\u201d background \u2013 could not have considered that she would spend the greater part of her life alienated from her social circle and even from some members of her family as she embraced a life of endless work and service.<\/p>\n The answer may be to go back to the one common thing they both shared \u2013 a love of prayer, and the inclusion of times of prayer, contemplation and scripture study in their lives.<\/p>\n Both of them would have been familiar with St. Paul\u2019s urgent advice to \u201cRejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, for you.\u201d (1 Thess 5:16-18).<\/p>\n Apparently both Frances and Mother Seton took his words to heart, and that is remarkable when we consider that they are not \u201ceasy\u201d words.<\/p>\n De hecho, son palabras que exigen voluntad de confiar<\/em> that no matter what is happening in one\u2019s life, God has a plan for each of us, if we will only say \u201cyes\u201d in the good circumstances, and \u201cyes\u201d in the challenging ones, as well. And that is hard, hard work, because it\u2019s easy to rejoice, to give thanks and find the will of God in what meets our dreams and expectations.<\/p>\n It\u2019s incredibly difficult to do so, however, when those dreams, those expectations, are irretrievably shattered, and it feels like we are left with no good options before us, nothing firm on which to rely.<\/p>\n In essence, what St. Paul insists is that God is the consistent good option \u2013 the firm Being upon whom we may always depend, if we will only believe that his purposes are always for our benefit \u2013 and that we will discover the truth of it if only we\u2019ll say \u201cyes\u201d when we want to say \u201cno\u201d, and do so with grateful and trusting hearts.<\/p>\n That is essentially what two remarkable women did over the span of centuries. Their lives give eternal testament to the gracious reality of Paul\u2019s promise.<\/p>\n La prueba puede estar en algo que escribi\u00f3 la propia Madre Seton: \u201cWe must pray without ceasing, in every occurrence and employment of our lives\u2014that prayer which is rather a habit of lifting up the heart to God as in a constant communication with Him.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s good advice. There is greatness to be ground out of us with our every humble and obedient \u201cyes\u201d to what is before us, if we can only cast aside our fears and say the word, as did these great women who have helped show us the way.<\/p>\n Santa Francisca de Roma, St.<\/em> Elizabeth Ann Seton, ora pro nobis. ELIZABETH SCALIA<\/strong>\u00a0es el galardonado autor de\u00a0<\/em>Dioses extra\u00f1os, desenmascarar a los \u00eddolos de la vida cotidiana<\/em><\/a>\u00a0y\u00a0<\/em>Little Sins Mean a Lot: Kicking Our Bad Habits Before They Kick You.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n
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