The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland, marked the beginning of two years of celebration on the saint’s feast day Jan. 4.
The shrine, which just unveiled its brand-new $4 million visitor center and museum in September, will be celebrating Mother Seton’s 250th birthday in August and her 50th anniversary of canonization in 2025.
Those celebrations will include participation in the upcoming National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, the release of a new short film detailing the saint’s conversion, the expansion of the shrine’s retreat ministry for the disadvantaged, and a series of other projects.
Born in New York in 1774, the future saint Elizabeth Ann initially married and had five children but was left widowed when her husband, William, died of tuberculosis in Italy. Born into an Episcopalian family, Seton converted to Catholicism in 1805 after her husband’s death.