Abstract
Elizabeth Seton’s response to suffering is examined to help us respond to suffering in our own lives. There were three “clusters of sufferings” in her life, which correspond to the three periods of her life, childhood and adolescence, marriage and young womanhood, and mature womanhood. Each cluster of sufferings helped prepare her for the challenges of the next phase of her life. Three perspectives are used to interpret Elizabeth’s experience: human wisdom (in the form of Erik Erikson’s psycho-social theory of human development), Scripture (particularly “Israel’s journey of gift and conversion”), and tradition (the theology of the Dark Night in John of the Cross).
Recommended Citation
Bechtle, Regina M. S.C. and Trombley, Fay S.C.I.C.
(1993)
"Toward Eternity: Elizabeth's Experience of Suffering and Hope,"
Vincentian Heritage Journal: Vol. 14:
Iss.
2, Article 8.
Available at:
https://via.library.depaul.edu/vhj/vol14/iss2/8