St. Elizabeth Ann Seton named patron saint of Maryland

Published: 2006-04-24

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Maryland has a new heavenly protector. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first U.S.-born saint and a founder of what would become the Catholic school system in the United States, has been named the official patroness of Maryland by the Vatican. Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments at the Vatican, announced the title earlier this year in a letter to Baltimore Cardinal William H. Keeler. The idea for the special designation came from Paul and Janet Vater, parishioners of Mother Seton Church in Germantown, Md., located in the Archdiocese of Washington, who asked Cardinal Keeler to seek the title from Rome. The Baltimore prelate liked the idea and petitioned the Vatican for the special designation in a letter also signed by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington and Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli of Wilmington, Del., whose dioceses cover parts of Maryland.

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