By Jessica Easthope
She’s been called a “true daughter of the Revolution,” but St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is more famously known for being a mother.
A Manhattan shrine that once housed the first American-born saint is now saving lives in a very different way on State Street.
The area has ties to George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay — and it’s where St. Elizabeth Ann Seton laid the foundation for a legacy of faith and unwavering courage.
There’s plenty of courage there to this day: Several days a week at noon, time stops as the Sisters of Life come together in prayer with volunteers to thank God and ask for His blessing in their work at the Visitation Pregnancy Center.
“We’re blessed to accompany women who find themselves pregnant and might be thinking about abortion,” the sisters say. “What are her fears? What are the pressures? And we also ask her dreams, like, what are your hopes for your life?”
Sister Gianna Maria Solomon, the Superior of the House, found it providential when the Sisters of Life moved to this historic address two and a half years ago.
It is home to the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. The work the sisters do and the work Mother Seton did overlap, with women in crisis at the center.
“It’s providential,” Sister Solomon tells Currents News. “Her love for her students and for supporting moms and children when she was in New York… that just fits so tremendously with our mission.”
Women facing unplanned pregnancies receive free ultrasounds, material support, counseling, and hope — just feet away from the Shrine Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Mother Seton — or Betty, as she was called — lived here as a young wife and mother during the early days of the Republic.
Widowed at just 29, she converted to Catholicism against her Episcopalian socialite background, founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, and opened the first free Catholic school for girls in the United States.
She spent her life caring for orphans, widows, and the sick, eventually becoming America’s first native-born saint.
Now, as America prepares to mark its 250th birthday, this same address continues a mother’s giving spirit.
“People would call her Mother Seton. And it was this term of endearment and affection, but also just true to who she was,” says Sister Solomon.
A daughter of the Revolution, Mother Seton never took up arms but opened her own to help shape the soul of a new nation through education and charity. Today, her legacy lives on in the center’s rooms.
“I think the best things about America and what we stand on are these virtues of faith, desiring that each person can have true freedom, to seek the good and allow that for everyone,” Sister Solomon explains. “And I think Elizabeth Ann Seton reminds us that, if our country is to go forward in peace, it must seek the true good of each person, the most vulnerable, those who are forgotten about.”
As the country looks back on 250 years, the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton reminds us that some of the most lasting contributions to America came not from the battlefield or Founding Fathers, but from the enduring strength of mothers — biological, spiritual, and communal.
The Visitation Center is open to any woman who needs support.
It operates five days a week and is closed on Fridays and Sundays. The Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine operates on the same hours. Visitors can simply ring the bell, though the sisters encourage people to call ahead.