On the day of your canonization as the first saint born in the United States, I happily anticipated the well-deserved attention your remarkable life would receive. But the title saint is not without its drawbacks. Of course, one must have died to be declared a saint, but sometimes the saints’ stories become little more than predictable facts in a volume such as the one I read as a child, Butler’s Lives of the Saints. Some of these don’t do justice to you as a saint who, like Jesus, was not only deeply spiritual but also profoundly human. Every time I open the volumes of your letters and journals, I reconnect—spiritually and humanly—with you more deeply than in previous readings.
I will end this letter of gratitude with a final thank-you for all that makes you a role model for me. Thanks especially for often reminding me to find grace in the present moment, something I aspire to every day, as I imitate you in my goal of being both holy and profoundly human.
—from St. Anthony Messenger‘s ‘Dear Elizabeth Ann Seton’
by Elizabeth Bookser Barkley, PhD
