Born into wealth in 1774, Elizabeth Bailey was baptized in the Episcopalian Church. Her life was one of comfort and high society. She married William Seton when she was 19 and together they had five children. The family business was shipping and trade, but business losses along with the illness of her husband brought great stress. She moved her husband to Italy for the gentler climate, but sadly, William died and Elizabeth became a widow at age 29.

While in Italy Elizabeth and her husband were befriended by the Filicchi Family who were business acquaintances of her husband. Through them she was introduced to Catholicism. She entered the Catholic Church, drawn by her belief in the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and her devotion to Mary. Mary, to Elizabeth, was the ideal of a woman of faith.

Because of her conversion many of her Episcopal family opposed her. Friends abandoned her and she found herself in dire financial straits. She started a school and later a boarding house in New York City. Later she was invited to Baltimore to open a school for girls. After she did so she gathered round her a group of like-minded women and established a congregation of nuns. On March 25, 1809 she took her first vows as a religious. The community adapted a religious habit, took the name of the Sisters of St. Joseph, and followed the rule of the French Daughters of Charity.

In June 1809 she moved her school and new community to Emmitsburg, Maryland. The order grew and she eventually also opened schools and orphanages in Philadelphia and New York. Mother Seton and her Community are rightly considered the founders of the American parochial school system.

Mother Seton died in Emmitsburg on January 4, 1821. At the time of her death her Community, the first to be founded in America, had spread to some twenty houses across the United States. In 1850 her Community chose to unite with the French Daughters of Charity. It was through this union that the Daughters were brought to the United States. Their work and influence continues to be a great presence today both here and abroad.

Today Emmitsburg is the National Shrine dedicated to Mother Seton. Thousands of pilgrims travel there annually to pray at her tomb and to walk the land that has been made holy by her presence. She was canonized by Pope Paul VI on September 14, 1975. She is buried under an altar in the chapel of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Seton in the provincial house of the Daughters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Another brief Seton biography from Catholic Online.

An older (1912), longer Seton biography from the New Advent Encyclopedia.

A longer historical Seton biography from the Emmitsburg Area Historical Society.

A Seton biographical outline listing key dates, her relationships, an image gallery, several quotations, and further references.

The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.