The Music of St Elizabeth Ann Seton

I'm sure St Elizabeth would agree with Plato, who said 'Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.'

From One Peter Five

By Massimo Scapin

On August 28, 1774, Elizabeth Ann Seton, the inaugural beacon of sanctity acknowledged in the United States, came into the world in New York, marking a significant milestone 250 years ago.

Canonized by Pope Paul VI on September 14, 1975, Elizabeth Ann Bayley, later known as Seton after her marriage, lived during the early decades of American independence, marked by a life teeming with adventure and adversity. Initially embracing the roles of a devoted wife and mother to five children, her life took a dramatic turn with widowhood at the tender age of twenty-nine. A devout Episcopalian, after a stay in Italy in the city of Livorno, where the Filicchi family played a pivotal role in her spiritual awakening, “step by step, she found herself within the Catholic Church.”[1]

In 1809, a mere four years after her conversion to Catholicism, she founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, dedicating herself to the education of young women and the welfare of underprivileged children. She also played a pioneering role in establishing parochial school systems across the United States. Elizabeth Ann Seton, affectionately known as “Mother Seton,” breathed her last in Emmitsburg, Maryland, on January 4, 1821.

Elizabeth, also known as Betty, possessed a profound understanding of how music has the power to uplift and inspire. She cultivated a deep passion for the piano from a young age, guided by her father, who recognized the importance of music and French in the education of young women. Elizabeth dedicated countless hours to playing the piano, especially during her stays in New Rochelle, New York, where she often visited her uncle William. In a poignant letter dated November 3, 1798, Elizabeth expressed:

I have so often shared the cheerfulness of the blazing fire and the feeling tones of my piano. I could not help falling on my knees the moment I entered the dear scene of past happiness, and shed tears as abundantly as I was the next moment to quit it.[2]

Despite the bustling household of raising five children, Elizabeth’s love for music never waned. She found solace and joy in imparting her musical knowledge to her children and students at the school she later established. In a letter from January 1805, Elizabeth wrote:

I play the piano in the evening for my children, and after they have danced themselves tired, we gather round the fire, and I go over with them the scenes of David, Daniel, Judith, or other great characters of the Bible, until we entirely forget the present.[3]

As a young socialite, Elizabeth reveled in the vibrant musical scene of concerts, operas, and balls. However, following her widowhood and subsequent religious vocation as Mother Seton, she withdrew from such worldly pursuits. Nevertheless, music remained an integral part of her life, symbolized by the cherished piano gifted to her, now preserved at the historic St. Joseph’s House within the Seton Shrine complex in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Mother Seton’s enduring legacy includes her authorship of the hymn Jerusalem, my happy home, How do I sigh for thee, renowned for its simplicity and ability to inspire devotion. The first stanza is an adaptation of a hymn found in a Methodist collection, written by the English Jesuit Laurence Anderton († 1643), also known as John Brerely, who in turn drew inspiration from Mater Ierusalem, civitas sancta Dei by Pseudo-Augustine (Meditationes, XXV). The subsequent three stanzas and the beautiful traditional melody are all the work of Mother Seton.

It was in a letter addressed to Rev. Simon Bruté († 1839), a French missionary active in the United States of America, that Elizabeth penned four verses of the hymn: “Jerusalem, my happy home, / How do I long for thee! / When shall my exile have an end, / Thy Joys when shall I see?” Continuing, she wrote:

So far from some old Methodist hymn I believe, and your poor Mother, enchanted with the lamentations in the Sanctuary in holy week, turned a music of her own from them, and added [three more stanzas] on Aninas [sic] bed… Everybody cries at the words and music.[4]

The stanzas added by Elizabeth were these:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
No sun or moon in borrowed light
Revolves thy hours away;
The Lamb on Calvary’s mountain slain
Is thy eternal day.

From every eye He wipes the tear,
All care and sorrows cease;
No more alternate hope and fear,
But everlasting peace.

The thought of thee to us is given,
Our sorrows to beguile,
To anticipate the bliss of Heaven
(In) His everlasting smile.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem![5]

It is likely that Elizabeth composed the hymn shortly after the passing of her daughter around the spring of 1812. Its publication around 1818 marked Elizabeth Ann Seton as one of the first American women to have her hymn printed.

The gentle yet resolute figure of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton continues to offer valuable life lessons, encouragement, and good inspiration. Her unwavering commitment to charitable endeavors, education, and sacred music has left an indelible mark on the religious and cultural landscape of the United States of America.

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[1] Pope John XXIII, Homily for the Beatification, March 17, 1963; our translation.

[2] E.A. Seton, Memoir, Letters and Journal of Elizabeth Seton, Vol. I, New York 1869, p. 44.

[3] E.A. Seton, ibidem, p. 210.

[4] E.A. Seton, Elizabeth Seton: Selected Writings, New York 1987, p. 333.

[5] C. Kimberling, Two Early American Women and their Hymns: Elizabeth Ann Seton and Matilda Durham Hoy, The Hymn 67, no. 3, Boston 2016: 19–2.