First native born American Saint - Wife, Mother, Educator, Foundress
Mother Seton was born to wealth of English ancestry, daughter of a doctor. Through her deep devotion to God and the influence and example of the Filicchi family of Italy, she entered the Catholic Church soon after becoming widowed at the early age of twenty-nine. Stricken to poverty, a condition she bore the rest of her life, she dedicated her life to helping the poor. She was the mother of five children, William who lived to be the father of a priest and a nun; Catherine who became a nun and lived to be ninety-one and converted prisoners who were condemned to death; and three who preceded her in death. Mother Seton founded the first native American Religious Community—The Sisters of Charity—the first American Parish School, and the first American Catholic Orphanage.