Seton Day

Seton (Mother) Day

December 1The Company of the Daughters of Charity, a community of Catholic women ministering to the "poorest of the poor," was founded in France in 1633 by St. Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac. In 1809 an American woman, Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (1774-1821), modeled her Emmitsburg, Maryland-based community after the French Daughters, which she called the American Sisters of Charity. The French and American congregations united in 1850 and formed an international community of women serving the poor worldwide.
On September 14, 1975, Mother Seton, as she is known to her followers, became the first American-born saint to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul continue to observe December 1 as the anniversary of the founding of their order. Many also observe January 4, the day she died, as her feast day ( see St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Feast of).
CONTACTS:
Sisters of Charity Federation
6301 Riverdale Ave.
Bronx, NY 10471
718-549-9200
www.sisters-of-charity.org
SOURCES:
RelHolCal-2004, p. 84