50th anniversary of Mother Seton’s canonization sparks pilgrimages
A statue of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in the Seton Legacy Garden at the Seton Shrine in Maryland. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Seton Shrine
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 6, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
This month the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is hosting two pilgrimages to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the canonization of the first American-born saint.
The Footsteps of Mother Seton pilgrimage and the Camino of Maryland will both offer a chance for the faithful to walk together in prayer and travel through some of the same places that Seton did more than 200 years ago.
“As the late Pope Francis once said, ‘Making a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is one of the most eloquent expressions of the faith of God’s people,’” the executive director at the shrine, Rob Judge, said in a press release.
“We see every day how our sacred and historical spaces at the shrine enable pilgrims to encounter Our Lord, grow in their faith, and receive answers to their prayers,” Judge said.
*Footsteps of Mother Seton*
Footsteps of Mother Seton is a four-day pilgrimage organized by the shrine that will guide pilgrims along the same path Seton took from Baltimore to Emmitsburg, where she founded the first community of religious sisters in the U.S., the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph.
The pilgrimage will begin on June 19 with a Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption in Baltimore and then proceed on the 61-mile trek to the shrine in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
The shrine was “inspired” to do the pilgrimage “because even before the jubilee was announced, we knew it was going to be the 50th anniversary of Mother Seton’s canonization,” Becca Corbell, associate director of programs for the shrine, told CNA.
“It’s totally God’s timing because we’re in a jubilee year,” Corbell said.
Throughout the journey, pilgrims will stop at three jubilee sites and four parishes to pray with parishioners and to share and reflect on Mother Seton. Along the way, participants will have the opportunity to attend Eucharistic processions, Holy Hours, adoration under the stars, Mass, and community meals.
“We wanted to do things that help people encounter God the way Elizabeth Ann Seton did, and we thought this might be a good fit. The parishes along the way have been super supportive and [are] excited to partner with us. They’re just as big of a part of it as we are,” Corbell said.
There are expected to be 12-15 pilgrims who will walk the full four days, but the pilgrimage is accessible for those who want to join for only parts of the travels or just the evening events.
“We wanted to structure it in such a way that even people that can’t walk long distances are still pilgrims. We didn’t want there to be any barrier to entry with that type of spirituality program.”
“It’s more to us about the spirituality of pilgrimage. That [is] something a lot of people don’t know about Elizabeth Ann Seton, she really was focused on ‘this world is not our home, eternity is.’”
“That’s why she made the decision to convert to Catholicism,” Corbell said, because “eternity was “a real guiding light for her.”
*The Camino of Maryland *
The Camino of Maryland hosted by the Avalon School in Wheaton, Maryland; the Brookewood School in Kensington, Maryland; and the shrine is also taking place this month. The two-week-long pilgrimage begins June 9 at Point Lookout in southern Maryland and will end at the shrine.
The Camino of Maryland journey will cover 218 miles as pilgrims travel through multiple landscapes in Maryland and the nation’s capital. They will have access to daily Mass, confession, and time for the rosary. They will stop at seven jubilee sites throughout the route.
The camino’s “mission is to not only provide a unique experience of physical and spiritual growth but to also foster an environment of friendship, understanding, and appreciation of the beauty that surrounds us,” the pilgrimage’s website indicated.
The camino will also end on June 22, the feast of Corpus Christi, which Corbell shared was unintentional but rather “God’s timing.” The two pilgrimages will come together and end with a solemn Eucharistic procession together on the historic shrine grounds.
If people wish to participate, but are not local to either pilgrimage, the shrine’s website is accepting prayer intention submissions and the pilgrims will “carry those and pray for them every day,” Corbell said.