Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/664

Rh Founder and first Superioress of the Sisters of Charity. Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in New York City, the 28th of August, 1774, and was the daughter of Dr. Richard Bayley, a distinguished American physician. Her mother died when she was but three years of age. Miss Bayley was brought up in the doctrines and practices of the Protestant Episcopal Church, to which her parents belonged. At the age of twenty she became the wife of William Seton, a merchant of New York City, whose early life had been spent in Leghorn. About the beginning of the year 1800, Mr. Seton's affairs became much embarrassed from the consequences of the war and other vicissitudes incident to trade. Mrs. Seton rose to the necessities of the occasion. She not only cheered him by her unfailing courage, but aided him in the arrangement of his affairs. Mrs. Seton was the mother of five children. Her influence was not only confined to her own family circle, but she sought wherever it was possible to draw the hearts of others to the consideration of their true welfare. So zealous was she in this respect that she and another relative were frequently called the Protestant sisters of charity. In 1801, Mrs. Seton's father, Dr. Bayley, died, but although her father had married a second time, Mrs. Seton was very devoted to him during his entire life. In 1803 Mr. Seton's health became so precarious that they resolved upon visiting Italy. Owing to many calamities and a form of contagion and sudden illness among her children, and the extreme kindness and devotion of the Catholic friends of Mr. and Mrs. Seton, she was brought under the influence and lived in the atmosphere of the Roman Catholic Church, and ultimately she became a convert to this faith. While away she was in constant correspondence with Father Cheverus, and owing to the counsel and advice of Bishop Carroll she