CNA Staff, Jan 4, 2025 / 04:00 am
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, whose feast is celebrated on Jan. 4, led a bold and faith-filled life, which led to her becoming the first native-born American to be canonized in the Catholic Church on Sept. 14, 1975.
Now, 50 years later, the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland, has begun its yearlong celebration honoring the anniversary of the saint’s canonization. The special events and programming kick off on Jan. 4 with a Mass at the shrine celebrated by Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, which will be aired nationally on EWTN at 6 p.m. ET.
On the same day, a new exhibit will open in the shrine’s museum called “One of Us,” which tells the backstory of Seton’s canonization — one of the most monumental days in the American Catholic Church during the 20th century.
The exhibit aims to take visitors back to 1975 to give them an understanding of the magnitude of Seton’s impact and her relevance today. In addition, there will be special artifacts on display including the canonization decree from Pope Paul VI and personal scrapbooks from those who attended the proceedings in Rome or watched them in Emmitsburg.
Rob Judge, executive director of the Seton Shrine, told CNA in an interview that the shrine wants to use the celebration and the anniversary “as an opportunity to remind people of the significance of that event for the Church in our country.”
“If you take yourself back to 1975, our country had been in existence for 200 years, almost, and we hadn’t had an American saint,” he said. “So, that was just a tremendous boost for the Church, for Americans to see one of their own be recognized for her life of holiness.”
He added that the exhibit aims to “take them [visitors] back to the emotion behind that moment.”
An original mural will also be unveiled by Frederick, Maryland, artist Ellen Byrne, which will depict Seton’s journey to sainthood. A separate wall will contain information about other Americans in various stages of the canonization process.
The shrine will also be organizing a series of events throughout the year leading up to the 50th anniversary of Seton’s canonization in order to bring people closer to better understand the saint’s life and legacy.
These events include an outreach program to more than 200 parishes and schools in the U.S. under her patronage to reintroduce the faithful to Elizabeth Ann Seton through a variety of resources, a digital content campaign showing the personal impacts she and the shrine have had on the faithful, and the expansion of the shrine’s “Seeds of Hope” program, which offers retreats to those living in poverty.
The shrine will also host a series of pilgrimage initiatives, including a partnership with the Camino of Maryland, a 14-day, 218-mile journey in June that will end at the shrine.
“As a shrine, we’re a pilgrimage destination and, of course, that is very analogous to life — we’re on a lifelong pilgrimage to be with God. So, we try to promote pilgrimage in everything we do as an opportunity to encounter Our Lord, to grow closer to him,” Judge explained.
The series of events will end on Sept. 14 with a “Day of Joy,” which will include the celebration of Mass followed by an afternoon of food, music, and prayer at the shrine.
Judge said he hopes that those who participate in the various events celebrating Seton this year will come to realize “that holiness is something that we can all achieve through grace in very little, simple ways.”
He added that he hopes people will see St. Elizabeth Ann Seton “as an ordinary woman who believed that God could be sought and found in this life, that he would take care of her, that he loved her, that he had a plan for her, and [see] those little steps he used that, through his grace, transformed her.”
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“To me as just a layperson, that gives me a lot of hope,” he said. “I don’t have to do great things, I can do simple, little things and respond to God’s grace knowing that he’ll use that.”
