PRINTER'S NO. 2271
No. 167 Session of 1975
INTRODUCED BY REED, IRVIS, BUTERA, GLEASON, KOWALYSHYN,
SCHWEDER, GEORGE, LAUGHLIN, J. P. BRADLEY, JR. AND
A. P. KELLY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1975
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, OCTOBER 1, 1975
In the House of Representatives, September 30, 1975
1 WHEREAS, Mother Elizabeth Seton established the Order of the
2 Sisters of Charity on January 17, 1812 and Saint Joseph's
3 Academy in Maryland after years of exemplary charitable and
4 religious work; and
5 WHEREAS, Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in New York on August
6 28, 1774 and, upon the establishment of the new Nation of the
7 United States of America, became one of the first citizens. In
8 1796, she helped found the Widow's Society of New York and began
9 her noted career of charitable works; and
10 WHEREAS, Elizabeth Seton, widowed and mother of five
11 children, reared as an Episcopalian and later a convert to the
12 Roman Catholic faith, was a forerunner in the leadership of
13 women in society and universal events. She worked to establish
14 education for the young, health care for the poor, help for the
15 disadvantaged, the aged, the homeless and the social outcasts.
16 She based many of her activities in Emmitsburg, Maryland; and
17 WHEREAS, Mother Elizabeth Seton sent members of the Order she
1 founded to establish the first Catholic orphans' home and
2 Catholic school in Philadelphia. Her Order, following her death
3 in 1821, established Catholic schools in Pittsburgh and today
4 Sisters of Charity staff schools throughout the Commonwealth of
5 Pennsylvania including Seton Hill College, as well as hospitals
6 and special institutions including the DePaul Institute for the
7 Deaf; and
8 WHEREAS, The Roman Catholic Church has canonized Mother
9 Elizabeth Seton in 1975 and thus has made her the first American
10 born saint; therefore be it
11 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
12 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does hereby pay tribute and
13 recognition to Mother Elizabeth Seton and to the Order of the
14 Sisters of Charity on this historic event and celebrates the
15 canonization of America's first native born saint in the Roman
16 Catholic Church as the Nation and Commonwealth prepare to
17 celebrate its bicentennial; and be it further
18 RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the Order
19 of the Sisters of Christian Charity and The Mother Elizabeth
20 Seton Guild in Emmitsburg, Maryland, 21727.
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