Saint Elizabeth was born Elizabeth Ann Bayley in New York City on August 28 1774. She was raised as a devout Episcopalian. Elizabeth was just 3 when her mother died in 1777. After Elizabeth sailed to Italy with her husband and eldest daughter her husband died of tuberculosis. She was a widow at age 29 penniless and raising 5 children two of whom died at a young age. She became Catholic because….she came to believe in the Real Presence Elizabeth opened a school in Baltimore to support her children "She eventually felt called to convert Catholicism seeing the faith in action through family friend s."