Robert Seton (August 28, 1839 – March 22, 1927) was a descendant of the New York "aristocratic" Seton and Bayley families, Seton was also a

monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

titular archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Heliopolis.

Biography

Robert Seton was born in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, Italy on August 28, 1839, one of nine children of William and Emily Prime Seton, seven of whom survived to adulthood. He was a grandson of Saint

Elizabeth Ann Seton Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (August 28, 1774 – January 4, 1821) was a Catholic religious sister in the United States and an educator, known as a founder of the country's parochial school system. After her death, she became the first person bo ...

, nephew of Mother Mary Catherine Seton, RSM, and cousin of Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley. Robert grew up at "The Cedars", an estate in the Edenwald section of

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

which his grandfather, banker

Nathaniel Prime Nathaniel Prime (January 30, 1768 – November 26, 1840) was a New York broker and banker. Early life Prime was born in Rowley, Massachusetts on January 30, 1768. He was the son of Joshua Prime and Bridget Hammond Prime. In his early years, h ...

had given to Robert's mother, Emily. During the time of the Great Famine of Ireland, his father sent sacks of meal and flour and potatoes and barrels of apples from the estate to a relief ship loading in New York Harbor. He was educated in

Mount St. Mary's College Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles (known as Mount St. Mary's College until January 2015) is a private, Catholic university primarily for women, in Los Angeles, California. Women make up ninety percent of the student body. It was found ...

Emmitsburg, Maryland Emmitsburg is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States, south of the Mason-Dixon line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania. Founded in 1785, Emmitsburg is the home of Mount St. Mary's University. The town has two Catholic pilgrima ...

, and in the

Academia Ecclesiastica The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy ( la, Pontificia Ecclesiastica Academia, it, Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica) is one of the Roman Colleges of the Catholic Church. The academy is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic c ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

from 1857 to 1867. He was ordained to the priesthood in Rome in 1865. He received the degree of

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

from the

Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

.Seton, Robert. ''An Old Family: Or, The Setons of Scotland and America'', Brentano's, 1899, p. 355
/ref> Joseph RCC 257 Baldwin Av jeh

In 1866 he was raised to the rank of private

chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

. He was the first person from the United States that was honored with the Roman Prelatura, and was the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of all the monsignori in the United States. He was made

prothonotary apostolic In the Roman Catholic Church, protonotary apostolic (PA; Latin: ''protonotarius apostolicus'') is the title for a member of the highest non-episcopal college of prelates in the Roman Curia or, outside Rome, an honorary prelate on whom the pop ...

in 1867, and chaplain to the

Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth are a Roman Catholic apostolic congregation of pontifical right, based in the Convent Station area of Morris Township, New Jersey, USA. The religious order was established in 1859 in Newark, New Jersey, ...

at their motherhouse near Morristown. In 1876, he became

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of St. Joseph's Church,

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Diocese of Newark, New Jersey; he was a trustee of

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan un ...

. Seton returned to Rome in 1901 and was appointed Archbishop of the titular See of Heliopolis in Phoenicia by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

in 1903. Financial considerations forced a return to America, where the Sisters of Charity looked after him during his final years.McNamara, Pat. "The Setons, the Bayleys, and the Roosevelts", McNamara's Blog, January 7, 2011
/ref> Upon his retirement in 1921, Seton returned to Convent Station. He died at the

College of Saint Elizabeth Saint Elizabeth University (SEU) (formerly College of Saint Elizabeth) is a private Catholic, coeducational, four-year, liberal arts university in Morris Township, New Jersey. Portions of the campus are also in Florham Park. SEU has 25 underg ...

in Morristown, New Jersey (now Morris Township) on March 22, 1927, and is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Newark.

Works

"Robert Seton was remembered as a fairly eccentric character who made a good deal of his family background." He wrote ''Memoirs, Letters, and Journal of Elizabeth Seton'' (2 vols., New York, 1869) and ''Essays on Various Subjects, chiefly Roman'' (1882). He privately published ''An Old Family, the Setons of Scotland and America'' (1899), which is a well-researched

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

of the Seton family. He was also a frequent contributor to Roman Catholic periodicals.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seton, Robert 1839 births 1927 deaths 20th-century American Roman Catholic titular archbishops Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...