We are happy to announce the launch of one of our America 250 Projects, celebrating the many, many legacies of the United States in the years surrounding the 250th anniversary of America’s independence in 2026.
Mother Seton, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, adopted and modified the Vincentian rule for the United States. Her community laid the foundation for six separate communities of apostolic religious women to commence world-changing service to those in need, among them being the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, with whom the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s joined in 1850. Her virtuous life and her groundbreaking work led to her becoming the first native-born canonized American citizen in 1975.
The legacy of charity and groundbreaking work in education continues through the Sisters of Charity Federation.
Along with our partners at DePaul University, we have begun to digitize the entirety of Mother Seton and her entire family’s writings, so that they may be searchable and usable to researchers, discerners, and the general public in the most timely way possible. For the writings in the English language, full transcription is provided. (If you would like to volunteer to help provide translation for French, Italian, and Latin writings, please reach out via email at archives@doc.org).
This will not be an easy project. The materials from Box 1 of the collection are now available – for the record, there are 34 more boxes. While the work will extend past the Semiquincentennial year of 2026, accessibility of these materials will as well, and we hope this can be a lasting impact of the Seton Legacy.
We welcome all visitors to the site!: https://via.library.depaul.edu/seton_family_papers/
Sincerely, the Staff at the Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives, Emmitsburg, Maryland.
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