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American Saint: The Life of Elizabeth Seton
Author:
Barthel, Joan
Biographee:
Seton, Elizabeth Ann, Saint
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Class:
Biography
Age: Adult
Language: English
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LC: BX4700.S
Print Run: 25000
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ISBN-13: 9780312571627
LCCN: 2013030995
Imprint: Thomas Dunne Books
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
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Pub Date: 03/04/2014
Availability: Available
List: $39.99
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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x, 293 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
H 9.21",
W 6.14",
D 0.75",
1.34 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's Insight Catalog: Adult
Brodart's TOP Adult Titles
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Bibliographies:
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Public Library Core Collection: Nonfiction, 16th ed.
Public Library Core Collection: Nonfiction, 17th ed.
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Awards:
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Starred Reviews:
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TIPS Subjects:
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Christian Religion
Biography, Individual
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BISAC Subjects: |
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Religious
RELIGION / Christianity / Saints & Sainthood
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LC Subjects:
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BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Religious
Christian saints, United States, Biography
Seton, Elizabeth Ann,, Saint,, 1774-1821
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SEARS Subjects: |
Christian saints, United States
Seton, Elizabeth Ann,, Saint,, 1774-1821
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Reading Programs: |
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Adult Titles | 12/01/2013 |
| A desperate search for a a tuberculosis cure that could save her ailing husband sends Elizabeth Seton down a road that leads to her adopting the Catholic faith during dangerous times and fighting to give women a voice in the church, a fight that would launch a women's rights battle still being fought today. 304pp., 25K, Auth res: St. Louis, MO |
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| Journal Reviews |
| Booklist | 02/15/2014 |
| Barthel (A Death in Canaan, 1976) provides a fascinating biography of Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint. As founder of both the first order of active American nuns (the Sisters of Charity) and the first Catholic school in America, her spiritual and educational legacy is immeasurable. Born into a prominent family in Revolutionary-era New York, she scandalized genteel society by converting to Catholicism after the death of her husband. Though a widow with five children, she eschewed societal conventions on religious, social, and gender levels, serving as a model to and a standard for devout women determined to make inroads into the male-dominated hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, both then and now. Though her life was brief (1774-1821), her impact was enormous, reverberating through generations of American nuns determined to have a voice and the Catholic-school students they educated and influenced. Flanagan, Margaret. 304p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2014. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 12/01/2013 |
| A biography of the first American saint, who described herself as "the Mad Enthusiast." Elizabeth Seton (1774-1821) was elevated to sainthood in 1975 on the basis of her religious fervor and several posthumous miracles. Barthel (A Death in California, 1981, etc.) vividly brings to life a strong-willed, contradictory, passionate woman. Born into a notable New York family (her father was a famous physician), Seton, like many other wealthy Americans, was raised as an Episcopalian. Catholicism was illegal in New York; even after it became legal in 1790, it was associated with "dirty, filthy, red-faced" immigrants. However, at the age of 30, after her husband died of tuberculosis in Italy, Seton stepped foot into a Catholic church. Overwhelmed by the spectacle of Sunday Mass, she collapsed, sobbing. For the next few months, she lived with devout Italian friends and fell in love with the "handsome, dashing" 39-year-old brother of her host. By the time Seton returned to America, she was determined to convert. Her friends and family were scandalized, but Seton felt that "Jesus came to her in a profoundly intimate way" through the Eucharist, and she felt close to Mary as well. The Catholic Church, she was certain, was "the one, true church of Christ." Seton was not content merely to worship. Through arduous efforts and political astuteness, she founded and directed the first order of American nuns, countering church authorities who wanted to limit women's participation. Whether lured by Seton's own charisma, Catholic doctrine or several attractive young priests, other women joined her. The Sisters of Charity survived and shaped the future of American Catholicism. Barthel sets Seton's life against the roiling political context of the American Revolution and its aftermath, offering a rounded portrait of an ambitious woman who struggled mightily to fulfill the tenets of her faith: to be obedient, merciful and good. 304pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2013. |
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| Library Journal | 02/15/2014 |
| Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (1774-1821) deserves to have her story retold by award-winning author Barthel (Reynolds Professor of American Studies, Wake Forest Univ.; A Death in Canaan). Accessibly written, historical, and descriptive, this book is based on archival research, interviews with scholars, and Seton's own writings, all resulting in a carefully woven portrait of the first American-born Catholic saint, canonized in 1975, the woman who built the foundation for the parochial school system in the United States. Born into a prosperous New York Episcopalian family that was strongly Bible and Eucharist based, Elizabeth married for love, bearing five children in seven years. Barthel uses flashbacks and flash forwards in unfolding her subject's widowhood while in Italy, her conversion encounter there with Roman Catholicism, her return to strongly anti-Catholic New York and her anti-Catholic relatives, and her move to more accepting Baltimore and Emmitsburg, MD, to begin a woman's religious community (Sisters of Charity), educating children of all social levels. Throughout, Barthel keeps an eye on women's issues pertaining at the time. VERDICT Readable and inspiring, this book, complementing Joseph Dirvin's Mrs. Seton, offers a compelling account of an American woman who deserves to be more generally known, one who was drawn to serve others throughout a life of prosperity and later poverty. With a brief foreword by Maya Angelou. [See Prepub Alert, 10/15/13.]. Anna Donnelly, St. John's. Univ., Jamaica, NY. 304p. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2014. |
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| Library Journal Prepub Alert | 09/30/2013 |
| Born and raised in late 1700s New York, at a time when Catholicism was illegal, Elizabeth Seton wore monogrammed slippers to George Washington's 65th Birthday Ball, spent fruitless time in Italy trying to cure her husband of tuberculosis, then converted to Catholicism and saw folks threaten to burn down her house. The author of the best-selling A Death in Canaan gives us the life story of the first American saint and founder of America's first order of nuns. 304p. LJ Prepub Alert Online Review. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 02/10/2014 |
| Nuns in the United States have recently come under fire from the male Catholic hierarchy for not being orthodox enough. So this compelling biography of the first American-born saint, who was also a nun, comes at an excellent time. Bestselling writer Bartel (A Death in Canaan) has constructed an exquisite story of Seton's inspiring life. She was born Elizabeth Bayley into a prominent New York Episcopalian family and, at age 19, married wealthy businessman William Magee Seton. After losing her husband to tuberculosis, she converted to Catholicism during a time of persecution and founded the Sisters of Charity. Seton faced trials in her 46 years of life but remained confident about God's will. That gave her an abiding trust in and awareness of God's constant presence in her life and the lives of others. Readers interested in Catholic history and U.S. history should not overlook this important biography. Agency: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Mar.). 304p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2014. |
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9780312571627,dl.it[0].title
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