EMMITSBURG, Md. (OSV News) — In a revolutionary year, the spirited celebration of America’s 250th anniversary throughout 2026, the national shrine dedicated to the first U.S.-born saint is aiming to help patriotic revelers discover the place of “Mother Seton” among the pantheon of iconic nation-builders.
On her Jan. 4 feast day — which this year coincided with the U.S. observance of the Feast of the Epiphany — The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland, both closed a 50th anniversary commemoration of her canonization and launched a yearlong America250 initiative exploring her life in post-Revolutionary War America and the ongoing impact of the religious communities she founded.
“She’s born in 1774, which puts her inside the founding of the country,” Rob Judge, the Seton Shrine’s executive director, told OSV News.