EMMITSBURG, MD (June 2, 2021) – The life and lessons of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton will come to video, as part of a monthly series exploring her life and the lessons of her spiritual legacy.
The Seeker to Saint series, produced by The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, is part of a year-long commemoration of the 200th anniversary of her passing into heaven.
Seton, the first native-born American saint, embodies what it is to be a wife, mother, friend, teacher, spiritual seeker and servant of the poor in ways that people can identify with today. Everyday people see an ordinariness in how she lived and an extraordinariness in her response to these roles and the challenges she faced.
The first video in the series, “I Am a Mother,” will be distributed by Catholic News Service and appear on the National Shrine’s website and social media channels. Each video will also be accompanied by a written story, with the first being an interview with Luci Baines Johnson, the youngest daughter of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and a Catholic convert. In the story, Johnson discusses her deep devotion to Mother Seton and the ways that she and many other women can identify with her.
“Mother Seton’s life is filled with stories that people at all stages of their lives can relate to,” said Rob Judge, executive director of The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. “The videos bring these stories to life for a new generation seeking spiritual heroes and the healing power of love and service that she represents.”
The video series is part of a year-long celebration of Mother Seton that began in January with a Mass at the Shrine that was celebrated by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore. In July, the Shrine will debut “The Seton Family Treasures,” a special exhibit featuring rarely seen artifacts from her life. These include the iconic bonnet she wore, her writing table and a christening dress worn by her daughter. Many of these artifacts were donated to the National Shrine earlier this year by The Sisters of Charity of New York, which traces its lineage to the order of sisters that Mother Seton founded.
Mother Seton was a native of New York and lived there before converting to Catholicism and establishing a school and religious community in Emmitsburg.
The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Md., is a place of God and of history, where visitors can walk in the footsteps of a saint. The Shrine offers pilgrims prayerful comfort from Mother Seton’s story and her intercessions as a friend in heaven. It is an active Basilica and has a wide range of historical buildings and programs that show what life was like when Mother Seton lived here more than 200 years ago. It was here that she founded the first community of religious women established in the U.S., created the first free Catholic school for girls staffed by sisters in the U.S. and fulfilled her mission of serving those in need. Today, her legacy includes several religious communities with thousands of sisters, who serve others through schools, social service centers and hospitals throughout the world. She was canonized in 1975. Her remains are entombed at the National Shrine that bears her name. For more information, please visit https://setonshrine.org/.
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