It was exactly three quarters of the way into the 20th century before the United States could claim its first native-born saint: Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton. It was—she was—well worth the wait.

On the eve of the American Revolution the wealthy and distinguished Episcopalian Bayley family from New York welcomed Elizabeth into the world. It was 1774. Elizabeth’s physician-father, William, quickly bonded with the child who shared his hunger for learning and inherited his humanitarian instincts.

The Great Famine of 1845-1850 is one of the most highly charged chapters of Irish history. Whatever lay behind and beneath the so-called “potato famine” that wracked Ireland 150 years ago—the viewpoints are many and often contentious—the Famine has moved to center stage.