Which Catholic saint was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized?

Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized.

Born Elizabeth Ann Bayley in New York City in 1774, she was raised in an Episcopalian family and became Catholic in 1805. After being widowed, she founded a school in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and established the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, the first religious community founded in the United States.

Seton’s educational work helped shape the American parochial-school tradition. She also wrote extensively, and her life included the practical challenges of widowhood, motherhood, conversion, and founding a new community. Pope Paul VI canonized her on 14 September 1975.

She is sometimes confused with Frances Xavier Cabrini, who was the first naturalized U.S. citizen to become a saint. Seton, by contrast, was born in the United States, making her the first native-born American saint.