Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was born in New York in 1774. Elizabeth was raised Episcopalian and received an excellent education. She married and became a mother of five children. After her husband died, she converted to Catholicism and founded the American Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The sisters began Catholic schools throughout the United States and helped educate poor children. Mother Seton laid the foundation for what became the American parochial school system, and was the first native-born American to be canonized. She also opened orphanages in Philadelphia and New York City.

She is the patron saint of in-law problems, death of children, loss of parents, opposition of Church authorities, people ridiculed for their piety, and widows.