These brief reflections are taken from homilies given at the time of Mother Seton’s canonization.
Here is a definition of a saint, American style…
…a person who, like Elizabeth Ann Seton, puts it all together in her life and works,
…reconciling in herself all the roles she was called upon to play in the plan and providence of God,
…loving and serving both God and her neighbor,
… a woman of firm faith and good works, a prayerful and practical woman,
…a woman of her times but belonging to all ages.
Mother Seton lived timelessly in time, one hand held out to those in need of her, the other pointing to her true home and theirs, the reign of God.
(Monsignor James Feeney, adapted)
Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint!….Rejoice, we say to the great nation of the United States of America. Rejoice for your glorious daughter. Be proud of her. And know how to preserve her fruitful heritage.
(Pope Paul the Sixth)
In Elizabeth Ann Seton, we have a saint for our times….
We have a woman of faith for a time of doubt and uncertainty…
We have a woman of love for a time of coldness and division…
We have a woman of hope for a time of crisis and discouragement.
Thanks be to God for this saintly daughter of New York, for this valiant woman of God’s Church!
(Cardinal Terence Cooke)