St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton

Sister Margaret Farrall George

 

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St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton

Elizabeth Bayley Seton was the founder of the first active community of Catholic women religious in the United States and the first U.S.-born canonized saint. She was born Elizabeth Bayley into a prominent New York family August 28, 1774. Her father, Dr. Richard Bayley, was a prominent physician, professor of medicine, and the first health officer of New York City. Her mother, Catherine Charlton Bayley, daughter of an Episcopal minister, died when Elizabeth was only three years old.

Elizabeth's entire young life was spent in the New York area where, in 1794, she married William Seton, a member of one of New York's prominent merchant families. The couple had five children between the years 1795-1802. During these years Elizabeth was an active and devoted member of Trinity Episcopal Church and her writings from this period demonstrate a deepening spirituality. The Setons had a happy family life although at the same time they experienced the death of both the elder Mr. Seton and Dr. Bayley. Elizabeth raised not only her own children but fell heir to her husband's younger siblings as well. In addition she put her energies into improving the lot of those less fortunate by participating in the newly formed Society for the Relief of Poor Widows With Small Children.

By 1798 a double tragedy visited Elizabeth. The family business was moving inexorably toward bankruptcy due to raids on Atlantic shipping, and her husband was becoming increasingly debilitated by tuberculosis. With the hope of arresting the disease, Elizabeth decided on a sea voyage to Italy. After spending a month in quarantine, William died in Italy December 27, 1803. Elizabeth, along with her oldest daughter, Anna Maria, remained there for several months with the Fillichi family, business associates of her late husband. It was during this time that she was exposed to the Catholic faith.

Upon her return to the United States Elizabeth converted to Catholicism. After three years of economic struggle and social discrimination because of her choice, she and her family moved to Baltimore where Bishop John Carroll had encouraged her to open a school for young women. While Elizabeth was running the school, Catholic women from around the country came to join her, and the beginnings of a religious congregation emerged. The women moved to Emmitsburg, Md., in the summer of 1809, where they formally began the Sisters of Charity July 31. Elizabeth Seton was named the first superior and served in that capacity for the next 12 years.

As the community took shape, Elizabeth Seton directed its vision. Constitutions from the French Daughters of Charity were adapted, a novitiate was conducted and the first group, including Elizabeth, made their religious vows in July 1813. Shortly after that event, they accepted their first work outside Emmitsburg when Sisters were set to Philadelphia to conduct an orphanage. By 1817 they had also opened a mission in New York.

During her years at Emmitsburg Elizabeth suffered great personal loss. Her oldest daughter succumbed to tuberculosis in 1812 and her youngest daughter, Rebecca, died of the same ailment in 1816. Her spiritual growth and abandonment to God's will during this period are apparent in her writings.

By 1818 Elizabeth herself began to weaken from the effects of tuberculosis. She spent the last years of her life directing St. Joseph's Academy and the Sisters of Charity but also preparing herself for the inevitable outcome of her condition. She died January 4, 1821, and was canonized September 14, 1975.

Bibliography

Dirvin, Joseph I., C.M., Mrs. Seton. New York: Avon Books, 1962.

Dirvin, Joseph I., C.M., The Soul of Elizabeth Seton: A Spiritual Portrait. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990.

Kelly, Ellin and Annabelle Melville, eds., Elizabeth Seton: Selected Writings. Sources of American Spirituality Series. New York: Paulist Press, 1987.

Melville, Annabelle M., Elizabeth Bayley Seton 1774-1821. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951.

 

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Sister Margaret Farrall George

Margaret Farrall (sometimes also spelled “Farrell”) was a founding member of the Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Md., and the first superior of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. She was born in Sligo, Ireland, December 27, 1787, the daughter of John and Bridget Farrall. When Margaret was about six years old her family emigrated to the United States. Shortly after their arrival, Mr. Farrall and Margaret's siblings died in a yellow fever epidemic.

Margaret and her mother soon moved to Baltimore, where Margaret received a formal education at a private school. When she was nearly 20 Margaret married Lucas George, a professor at St. Mary's College in Baltimore. Shortly after their marriage, Lucas was injured in an accident. He died in November 1808. A few weeks later Margaret gave birth to a baby girl. Again tragedy struck; her daughter lived only a short time.

It was during this time of tragedy and sickness that Margaret met and was deeply influenced by Elizabeth Seton, who was running a school in Baltimore. Within a few years, Margaret moved to Emmitsburg, the small Maryland village where Elizabeth Seton had begun the religious community of the Sisters of Charity. Margaret was a member of the first group of Sisters of Charity to make religious vows.

Margaret spent her first years as a Sister of Charity teaching in St. Joseph's Academy at Emmitsburg and as treasurer of the community. In 1819 she went to New York as head of St. Patrick's Orphanage. Upon Elizabeth Seton's death in 1821, she returned to Emmitsburg to become director of the academy, where she set about the task of reorganizing and revitalizing the school. The institution was in flourishing condition by the time she left in late 1824.

In Frederick, Md., her next location, Margaret pioneered a school and orphanage. What began in a small log cabin grew into a large and recognized establishment during her nine-year stay. Her success in Frederick led to her next assignment, opening a day school, boarding school and orphanage in Richmond, Va. After three years there she returned to Emmitsburg for another term as treasurer of the congregation. Margaret was then sent to head the school and orphan asylum operated by the Sisters of Charity in Boston where she spent nearly four years. During these years Margaret kept several journals, which are important records of the early history of the community.

In 1845 Margaret headed west to take charge of St. Peter's Orphanage and School in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was during her tenure there that the superiors in Emmitsburg made the decision to affiliate with the French Daughters of Charity. Feeling strongly the wish to be free to respond to the needs of the American church, Margaret rejected this decision. She, along with six other Sisters, formed the diocesan community of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati March 25, 1852. Margaret was elected the first mother of this community and served in that capacity for six years. Under her leadership the community expanded its work to include the first Catholic hospital in Cincinnati as well as additional orphanages and schools. In 1859 she assisted Bishop Richard Bayley of Newark, New Jersey, in establishing the diocesan congregation of The Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth.

In her later years, Margaret served as superior and director of St. Joseph's Orphanage in Cincinnati until she suffered a debilitating stroke. She died November 12, 1868, one of the last surviving members of Elizabeth Seton's initial group of Sisters of Charity.

Bibliography

Barker, Sister Rosanna, S.C., "Mother Margaret Cecilia George First Superior of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, OH." MA thesis, St. Louis University, 1944.

McCann, Sister Mary Agnes, S.C., "A Short Biographical Sketch of Mother Margaret Cecilia George." Mount St. Joseph: Sisters of Charity, 1912 (pamphlet).

Metz, Judith, S.C., and Virginia Wiltse, Sister Margaret Cecilia George—A Biography. Mount St. Joseph, OH: Sisters of Charity, 1989.

 

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