Sisters of Charity Reflect on Elizabeth
The Blessings of Being a Docent
By S. Rita HawkS. Patricia Newhouse and I have had the privilege of serving as docents at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton at Emmitsburg, Md., the past three summers. Many blessings have come from the time there: learning more about and from Mother Seton herself; meeting very interesting people; and becoming even more grateful for our Setonian roots.
Sisters Pat Newhouse and Rita Hawk (right) have served as docents at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton at Emmitsburg, Md., for the past three summers
“What a wonderful way to end my golden jubilee year – with Mother Seton in the Valley where she started our Community 200 years ago,” S. Pat said. “It’s an experience every Sister should have, and it gives you an opportunity to get to know Mother Seton in a very personal way.”
As for me, my favorite places are the Stone House and the White House, especially, because that is where Mother Seton spent most of her 11 years in the Valley. I love the room where, I believe, she worked, as well as where she died.
One day last fall, as I was alone in the White House, I went into the room located just off the original chapel and noticed that all the doors would close giving her complete privacy. I imagined Mother Seton greeting women who wanted to follow her; consoling a homesick 8-year-old girl who had recently arrived; counseling a teenager who was having boyfriend issues; or spending family time with her five children, as she has said in her letters to Julianna Scott. The boys, Richard and William, would come down from Mount St. Mary’s every Wednesday for family time.
S. Pat noted being a docent is an opportunity to welcome visitors to the Shrine from all over the world – people who don’t know much about Mother Seton and others who have a deep relationship with her because she has touched their lives in a very personal way. S. Pat shared this experience:
“During the bicentennial celebration, I had the privilege of visiting with Ann Theresa O’Neill and her mother. Ann was cured of acute lymphatic leukemia at the age of 4 through Mother Seton’s intercession. She was one of the three miracles necessary for her canonization.”
We were quite busy this summer with visitors from as far away as Spain and California and as close as Frederick, Md., and Gettysburg, Pa. – people who had driven by many times, but just never stopped.
While I waited for visitors in the White House, the Stone House, the Basilica or the Museum area, I read Mother Seton’s letters from Volume II of “Elizabeth Bayley Seton” by Sisters Judith Metz and Regina Bechtle. What a privilege it is to sit in the Stone House and read the letters Mother Seton wrote while living there.
I have come to know her, her children and our early Sisters while reading her letters and journals written in the White House. I continue to be inspired and challenged by Mother Seton’s courage, self-sacrifice and faith. Just imagine, for six months she and her daughters slept on mats on the cold stone floor at the Stone House. In the morning, very early, they would roll up their mats, put them in the cupboard and use the room for spinning, weaving, class or whatever else was needed.
I continue to be grateful for those early women who truly pioneered us, especially for Mother Margaret George who, along with our other Mystic Seven, carried on Mother Seton’s spirit and vision in the Ohio Valley and beyond. I hear Mother Margaret echoing the counsel of Mother Seton: “keep well the grace of the moment ... do your best and leave the rest to God.”
Several Sisters have inquired: what do you do? Do you stay in one place the whole time? There are five sites to be covered: the reception desk, which is located in the Museum; the introductory video, which is shown several times as needed during the day; the Stone House where Mother Seton and the early Sisters lived for six months; the Basilica where her Shrine is located; and the White House where the Community and school grew very rapidly.
Docents serve in a different place each day. They receive a schedule and a guide for each of the sites. The Docent Guidebook gives some historical background and other significant details. On Mondays the Shrine is closed and each docent gets at least one other day free each week.
Both S. Pat and I cherish the time we have been docents and she plans to return to the Valley next summer.
