Saints That Inspire: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton & Saint Katharine Drexel

Welcome to the Christ by the Sea, Catholic collaborative podcast for the parishes of Saint Anthony in Cohasset and Saint Mary of the Assumption and Hall. Now, to start off the show, here's father Scott.

Hi. This is father Scott Uvard. I'm the pastor of Saint Anthony of Padua Parish in Cohasset, Massachusetts, as well as Saint Mary of the Assumption Parish over in Hull, Massachusetts. And together, these two parishes form the Christ by the Sea Catholic Collaborative. Here we are just over one month into the new year, 2026, a year during which both our country and our church will celebrate significant anniversaries.

First, our country. We know that this year, we will be celebrating the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence, in effect, the two hundred and fiftieth birthday of our country. And during this significant year, we, of course, want to celebrate that, and we want to celebrate it by highlighting different Catholic Catholic contributions to the development of the nation. One way that we'll do that is by taking each month and focusing on a particular American Catholic who has contributed to the church, but equally important, has contributed to the development of the nation by living out their Catholic faith. And our first saint of the month was Elizabeth Ann Seton in January.

Her feast day is on January 4. Be hard pressed to think of a better way to start this series of celebrating Catholic contributions to the development of The USA. Elizabeth Ann Seton spent, much of her life as a very devout Episcopalian, but was received into the Catholic Church in eighteen o five. And so she only spent the last part of her life, having been received into the Catholic Church. She was a devout Episcopalian at first, very serious about her faith, about her reading of the Bible, praying with the Bible, studying the Bible, and, we're so grateful that she had that strong foundation that eventually led her to be received into the Catholic church.

She was a wife, having married at the age of 19, with her husband. They had five children, and, unfortunately, her husband died at an early age, which left Elizabeth as a widow with five children at the age of 29. Well, as I mentioned, she'd eventually be received into the Catholic church in eighteen o five in New York City, but she would go on to do more than that. She would go on to found the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph, centered in Emmitsburg, Maryland, And in founding this order, to promote, the need for education, especially the education of girls and young women, she made a significant contribution not only to the church but to our country. And so she proceeded along the path of canonization after her death, and she was the first American to be canonized a saint.

And that was done in 1975 on September 14. Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross was done by pope Paul the sixth. He had some beautiful words during her canonization. Pope Paul the sixth at the canonization of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton said, Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton is an American.

All of us say this with special joy and with the intention of honoring the land and the nation from which she sprang forth as the first flower in the calendar of the saints. Elizabeth Ann Seton was wholly American. Rejoice for your glorious daughter. Be proud of her and know how to preserve her fruitful heritage. So we had a great start with Elizabeth Ann Seton.

And this month, the month of February, we're focusing on mother Mary Lane, and mother Mary Lane, contributed a lot to the church and also to the country. She has not been canonized yet, but her cause for canonization is progressing. And as such, in June 2023, pope Francis, declared mother Mary Lane's venerable, now known to us as venerable mother Mary Lane. We're gonna spend the month learning about this incredible woman who was born in what we know to be Haiti, but fleeing, the Haitian revolution there, ended up, in Baltimore, Maryland where she recognized the need to provide education for African American children. And so she started a school right out of her home.

Of course, she faced some difficulties in doing that, difficulties of financing, difficulties of racism still prevalent at the time, and, this was so important to her. And like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Mother Mary Lane started a religious order in 1829, the religious order of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. She and three other women took vows, made vows and started this order, particularly for, with a mission of providing for education and support to African American children and also providing a way for African American women to join a religious order. And so she started the All Blight Sisters of Providence, and we look at the incredible work that Mother Mary Lane has done. We'll be reading a couple of books.

One is Mother Mary Lange and the Birth of Black Catholic Education by Charles Oodie, and the other is just a couple of chapters in the small book, Black Catholics on the Road to Sainthood. It was edited by Michael Heinlein with a forward by archbishop Jose h Gomez. And so, we'll be reading, those materials and getting together to learn more about mother Mary Lane and to discuss her contributions to the church and to the country, contributions made as she lived out her Catholic faith. And then in the month of March, we will be looking at Saint Katharine Drexel, another very interesting American saint. So one of the ways we want to celebrate our country's 200 birthday is by highlighting Catholic contributions to the development of the nation.

And one way we'll do that is by looking at a different American Catholic each month, Catholic saint or someone on the road to sainthood, to discover their impact on church and on country. Another way that we'll be celebrating our country's 200 birthday is by offering a pilgrimage in October, October. Father Hung Tran, our parochial vicar, will be leading a pilgrimage to the California missions, those Franciscan missions, 21 of them, all the way from San Diego up to San Francisco. Of course, the pilgrimage won't, stop at every one of the Franciscan, missions, but will be visiting the key missions. And so that is another way because that's such an important part of our history as a country, the Franciscan missions that were established there on the West Coast.

Well, I mentioned another anniversary. Not only is our country celebrating its two hundred and fiftieth birthday this year, this year in the church, we will be marking the eight hundredth anniversary of the passing of Saint Francis of Assisi. And this is something we want to certainly, celebrate. We want to mark, this significant anniversary by looking at his contributions, to the church. And as I just mentioned with those Franciscan missions, the contributions to the church, which also made an impact in our country.

So we'll have that mission, that pilgrimage in October, October the seventh. So that pilgrimage brings together these two anniversaries, looking at the impact of those missions on the development of our nation, our country, but also looking at those missions in light of the eight hundredth anniversary of the passing of Saint Francis of Assisi. We'll be looking at other ways to, celebrate this anniversary. Of course, Pope Leo has proclaimed the year of Saint Francis in light of this anniversary. He's written a beautiful prayer himself, Pope Leo has, for the occasion of this anniversary.

Of course, we are probably almost all familiar with the great prayer of Saint Francis. And another thing we'll be doing at some point is, spending some time with that prayer of Saint Francis. Make me a channel of your peace. And looking at it and making some connections with the mass, the Eucharistic celebration. So this year of 2026 is off to a great start for all of us.

We want to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our country and the eight hundredth anniversary of the passing of Saint Francis of Assisi. Wanna thank you for listening in, to this podcast, this episode of the podcast. You'll be able to find in the notes for the podcast some, references to the materials which I've mentioned about Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, about venerable mother Mary Lane, about Saint Catherine Drexel, and about the eight hundredth anniversary of the passing of Saint Francis, with specific information about the pilgrimage which father Hoeng Tran will lead this October. And a great coming together of things, they'll actually be out at the Franciscan missions during, the celebration of the feast of Saint Francis. So that brings added meaning to the, pilgrimage.

Thanks again for listening in to this episode of the podcast, and until next time, may God bless you.

Speaker 2: You know, when we think about the blessed virgin Mary, there's a great lesson waiting for us. No matter who you are, life brings suffering your way, and how we deal with it matters more than the suffering itself. Her heart was pierced, but she remained ever faithful. Remember the crucifixion. She's standing at the foot of the cross, watching her only son bleed and die.

Every sword of sorrow, foretold by Simeon years before, stabs right through her immaculate heart. Most of us would crumble, run away, or at least scream at the sky asking why. But Mary stays. She doesn't bargain. She doesn't demand answers.

She doesn't even try to fix it. She just surrenders quietly, completely. This is the heart of her example. True love for Jesus doesn't require having all the answers. It starts in that small, hidden place of letting go, handing over the fear, the hurt, the need to control.

Mary shows us it's okay if your heart feels shattered. Faithfulness isn't about never feeling the pain. It's about staying anyway. Choosing to love him even when everything in you screams to protect yourself. Her heart keeps burning, steady and bright, through every tear and every silence.

And that quiet fire becomes the example for all of us. Love like that doesn't flicker out. It just keeps going, endless, because it's rooted in him. But Mary's sorrow wasn't isolated. The church gives us other saints whose lives echo this same mystery, suffering met with faithful surrender.

Let's look at a few, starting with one whose pain stretched over many years. Saint Monica. While Mary's sorrow was intense and concentrated at the foot of the cross, Monica's was prolonged day after day, year after year. She was a Christian woman married to a pagan husband named Patricius, hot tempered, unfaithful, often abusive. She endured emotional wounds quietly, winning him over not with arguments, but with patient example and prayer.

He converted on his deathbed. The deeper wound came from her son, Augustine. Brilliant, restless, he rejected the faith she taught him. He lived immorally, embraced the heresy of Manichaeism, fathered a child outside marriage, and wandered far from God. For seventeen years, or longer, Monica prayed, wept, fasted.

She followed him across cities, from North Africa to Rome to Milan. She begged bishops like Ambrose for help. One bishop, tired of her pleas, told her to stop. God would handle it. But she persisted.

Her tears became her prayer. She surrendered control to God, turning her anguish into persistent intercession. And grace broke through. Augustine converted dramatically in Milan, became a priest, a bishop, a doctor of the church, one of the greatest minds and hearts in Christian history. Monica's faithfulness bore fruit she could never have forced.

She teaches us that some sufferings stretch over years. Faithfulness means trusting God's timing, offering our tears as prayer, and never giving up on those we love, even when it feels hopeless. Now let's consider Saint Rita of Cassia, the patroness of impossible causes. Rita endured an abusive marriage for eighteen years. Her Her husband was cruel, violent, caught in feuds.

She offered her suffering in love, forgiving deeply. When he was murdered in revenge, her twin sons planned to avenge him. Rita prayed fervently that God would take them before they committed mortal sin. And both died young, peacefully. Later, as an Augustinian nun, she begged to share in Christ's passion.

A wound appeared on her forehead, like a thorn from his crown, causing her pain for fifteen years until her death. Rita shows us forgiveness in the face of betrayal and loss, and how hidden physical suffering can unite us to Jesus. She didn't seek escape. She embraced it, offering it back to him. Then there's Saint Josephine Bakhita.

Kidnapped as a child in Sudan around age seven or nine, she was enslaved, trafficked, tortured. Her captors scarred her body with over a 100 cuts from a razor. She forgot her own name. They called her Baquita, meaning fortunate. Forced to convert to Islam at first, she later encountered the Kenosian sisters in Italy.

There, she discovered Christ, the true freedom. After her emancipation, she became a nun. If she ever met her former captors, she said she would kiss their hands for the suffering that led her to faith. Bakita's story is one of unimaginable trauma redeemed. She forgave completely, seeing even evil as a path to greater good in God's hands.

Her life reminds us that suffering from injustice or cruelty can become redemptive when offered in love. God can transform the deepest wounds into sources of grace. We could also look to Saint Therese of Lisieux, the little flower. In her final years battling tuberculosis, she entered a profound dark night. A spiritual dryness where heaven felt like an illusion.

Doubt assaulted her. Yet she clung to trust. She said even if God seemed absent, she would hope in him. Her small way of love persisted through interior pain. Each of these saints faced different sorrows, sudden loss, prolonged family heartbreak, injustice, illness, spiritual darkness, but all chose to stay faithful.

They offered their pain to God without resentment, letting it draw them closer to Christ. So what does this mean for us? Like Mary at the cross, Monica in her long vigil, Rita in forgiveness, Josephine in redemption, Therese in trust. Our sufferings, whether acute or chronic, are invitations to deeper love. Family struggles, illness, betrayal, doubt, unexplained pain, they all come.

It's okay if your heart feels pierced. Faithfulness means staying anyway. In your pain, surrender the need for answers. Hand over the fear, the hurt, the control. Let your quiet fire burn steady, rooted in him.

Mary stands with you. Monica prays with you. These saints intercede. And Jesus, who suffered first and most, walks beside you. Let us pray together.

Oh sorrowful mother, whose heart was pierced by a sword of sorrow, intercede for us. Help us to remain faithful when our own hearts break. Saint Monica, teach us patient perseverance in prayer. Saint Rita, show us the power of forgiveness. Saint Josephine Baquita, remind us of redemptive love.

Saint Therese, guide us through darkness with childlike trust. Mary, ever faithful, pray for us. That in our suffering, we may stay close to your son and one day share in his endless light.

Amen. Thanks for listening to the Christ by the Sea Catholic Collaborative Podcast. You can follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This has been a production of The Parish Podcast Project.