Part 1: Saint Searching

A couple of months ago I did a little research on my confirmation saint St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. When I first chose St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, I had done just surface research, mainly what 5 minutes of googling can find, on her and a handful of other saints. I knew she was American born, knew that she valued education and that she converted to Catholicism like me. Plus, the real deal breaker was the "Elizabeth" and the "Ann". They are the middle names of my two little sisters. Yes folks, that is seriously why I chose her.

And then about a year after I chose her I was left thinking, "Why didn't I chose a cooler saint?" And I never really learned much more about her.

I guess in the grand scheme of things asking for intercession from a saint is something I am pretty new at. I pray the rosary often and pray the prayer to St. Michael often but hadn't really tried to ask for any other saint's intercession. However, it really is a beautiful thing about our Catholic faith.

This past year, and in particular the last 6 months, I have been struggling with a few things. Normal things but then also things I think converts deal with. Expect a full post about this in a bit. :) Anyway, I was a little fed up with my faith......and decided I was going to figure it out. I thought, "I need to talk to other people who have converted to the Catholic faith!". One problem- I don't know any......and I really don't. I am not sure how every single Catholic person I know is a cradle Catholic but they are. However, I thought about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. I remembered she was a convert and just knew I could learn something from her.

Turns out she did struggle with converting just as I do. Dealing with family and close friends who question your faith is hard to deal with. I found letters she had written about her struggles and can't wait to read more about them. I just need to find them in book form because electronic book form is hard for me to read.

Then I found something that made me extremely happy:

It's the Memorare in St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's own handwriting. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton died in 1821, which was only about 200 years ago. The Memorare was made popular in the 17th century from Fr. Claude Bernard, who learned it from his father. However, it is thought to have originated in the 15th century as it is found in a much longer prayer. That longer prayer is all in Latin and therefore I am unable to read anything past the word "remember". Cool thing is that makes the Memorare about 600 years old. I am able to pray a prayer that is 600 years old that my confirmation saint prayed too. Not only that, but we have countless other prayers that are even more rich in tradition, with the Our Father taking the cake. We are blessed indeed. It also makes me wonder what the oldest prayer ever is?

Even though I had only had the prayer memorized since mid-May, and then prayed it during the summer a little, finding that handwritten Memorare made me feel connected to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Then in October, a priest told me I should try to pray it three times each morning before I started my day. Then I found a very old, "I cast myself at your sacred feet" version. It just keeps popping up. That must be why it is around 600 years later.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton pray for us!