A color guard stands at attention as Eliza Monroe Hay’s remains are carried for reinterment at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Payne/CNA
Richmond, Virginia, Oct 23, 2025 / 17:04 pm (CNA).
Nearly two centuries after her death, the daughter of American Founding Father James Monroe has been laid to rest in Richmond, Virginia, joining her family’s historic burial plot in the city’s famed Hollywood Cemetery.
The Diocese of Richmond held Eliza Monroe Hay’s reinterment at the top of Hollywood Cemetery overlooking the James River on Oct. 23. Hay, who died in 1840, converted to Catholicism several years before her death.
State Sen. Bryce Reeves, who worked with the Eliza Project to repatriate Hay’s remains, said she was “far more than the daughter of a president.”
He described Hay as strong-willed and intelligent. “She served this nation quietly but powerfully in its formative years,” he said.
The historic reinterment came about from a yearslong effort by the Eliza Project to bring Hay’s mortal remains home from the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, a cemetery on the outskirts of Paris.
Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1786, Hay grew up in both the U.S. and Paris, where her father was the American ambassador amid the ongoing French Revolution.
She would later be known for serving as an unofficial First Lady of the White House during James Monroe’s presidency, as her mother Elizabeth’s health regularly kept her away from state functions.
Hay’s husband, Virginia attorney George Hay, died in 1830, as did her mother. James Monroe died in 1831 and was by then one of a dwindling number of prominent U.S. citizens who had led the country through its founding and earliest years.
Hay herself subsequently returned to Paris, where she converted to Catholicism before she died.
A happy ending
Delivering Hay’s eulogy at the event, Virginia resident Barbara VornDick described Hay as “my friend from the past.”
VornDick said in an Oct. 21 press release that the effort “has been a fascinating, enriching journey in many ways,” though she said the “most amazing aspect was how it enriched my faith.”
She told the Arlington Catholic Herald in August that she spent years researching Hay’s life. She discovered that a popular family legend that Hay became a nun was untrue, but her conversion to Catholicism was confirmed by records at St.-Philippe-du-Roule Church in Paris, where her funeral Mass was held in 1840.
Hay also reportedly received a piece of jewelry from the Vatican — a cameo of the head of Christ — along with a note from Pope Gregory XVI’s secretary of state.
During her years at the White House, Hay gained a reputation as an unpleasant, demanding hostess. Reeves said at the Oct. 23 ceremony that Hay was at one time described by John Quincy Adams as an “obstinate little firebrand.”
The Eliza Project, however, says she had a record of “good deeds and generosity” that history has largely forgotten.
“She gained increasing admiration for her nursing of the sick: for family, for friends, and, during two epidemics, for the people of Washington,” the project said.
She also exhibited “a sense of duty and loyalty, strength of character and fortitude, and compassion for the sick and suffering.”
The Diocese of Richmond had earlier held a memorial Mass for Hay at the nearby Cathedral of the Sacred Heart before the interment at Hollywood Cemetery. Father Tony Marques, the rector of the cathedral, presided over the Rite of Committal on Oct. 23. The cathedral’s choir performed at the ceremony.
Describing the yearslong project to repatriate Hay’s remains as a “grassroots effort,” Reeves told the assembled crowd on Tuesday: “The Virginian thing to do was bring Eliza home.”
VornDick told the Herald that the yearslong effort to “bring Eliza home” was motivated by the likelihood that she “never intended to die” in Paris.
“I just wanted to make it right for her,” she said.
At the reinterment, meanwhile, VornDick described Hay as a “daughter, sister, wife, and grandmother,” one who stands out in history for her devotion, service, and forceful personality.
“Today marks the end of the Bring Eliza Home Project,” she said. “But it is a happy ending.”
Read More![New Catholic app hopes to ‘relight the hope of Catholic dating’ #Catholic
Daniël Hussem and Emily Wilson-Hussem are the creators of the new Catholic dating app, SacredSpark. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Daniël Hussem and Emily Wilson-Hussem
CNA Staff, Oct 9, 2025 / 07:10 am (CNA).
When Emily Wilson-Hussem began sharing “matchmaking” posts on Instagram, inviting Catholic singles to share their names and locations to connect with others, she wasn’t expecting that her lighthearted experiment would lead to 12 marriages, 20 engagements, hundreds of dating couples, and even a baby.The Catholic speaker and digital content creator realized that young Catholics are in search of holy marriages but need help finding one another. This led her and her husband, Daniël Hussem, to create a new Catholic dating app — SacredSpark.The new matchmaking app blends technology and tradition to foster meaningful online connections with the goal of creating lasting offline relationships.“Over these years I have seen the difficulty singles [have] to connect with one another, especially of the same age, and a lot of the young single Catholics I met were having a really hard time, and so I felt like a nudge from the Lord,” Wilson-Hussem told CNA.After seeing the immense response from young people on her matchmaking posts, yet realizing the downfalls of trying to help connect people on Instagram, the Hussems decided to create an app that was intentional and focused on the fact that each user was made in the image and likeness of God.SacredSpark is a Catholic dating and matchmaking app that is blending technology and tradition to foster meaningful online connections with the goal of creating lasting offline relationships. Credit: SacredSparkOne of the main features of SacredSpark is its commitment to more meaningful connections between people. To foster that, all profile pictures are blurred. Photos become unblurred once both individuals match with one another. So instead of simply swiping through images of a person, users can record audio messages introducing themselves and other users can listen and determine if they believe there could be a connection.Hussem explained that this feature was created “because we want to start meaningful connections beyond just the appearance.”The couple also pointed out that unlike other dating apps that allow users to place filters on things like physical traits, including eye color, hair color, or even height, SacredSpark does not allow for any filters to be placed on physical qualities.“For us, we want it to be extremely intentional about the person as a whole, not just their physical appearance,” Hussem shared. “If you’re looking at the general scope of a sacramental marriage, are those things — someone’s color of their eyes or the color of their hair or their height — I think those are more superficial things that people can get sidetracked by versus just these intentional things.”“Our focus is on the image and likeness of God in each person you will connect with on the app. That’s a huge part of the core of what we’re doing,” Wilson-Hussem added.The app also includes a matchmaking feature, which allows the user to invite a friend or family member to act as a matchmaker on their behalf on the app. Wilson-Hussem explained that this feature was added into the app because of the great success matchmakers had on her Instagram posts. “A huge part of the success was a girl saying, ‘I have a brother, Jeff. He’s 31 and he lives in Wisconsin. If there are any great gals out there, I would love to connect you,’” she shared. “I would say at least half of the marriages have been from one person who put one person out there and was linking two other people and we thought, ‘Wow. A, that’s amazing because a lot of people know single Catholics, they have fun with it, but B, our singles need support. They need to feel like people are in their corner.’”She added: “You can hire a matchmaker for thousands of dollars — a person who has to get to know you, a person who has to look at who you are on paper. The people who have known you your whole life know you best. They know what you’re looking for. So, why don’t we find a way to activate those people and support our singles?”SacredSpark will be launched and open to the public in mid-October, but interested singles can already sign up to join the waitlist. The Hussems said they hope the new app will “relight the hope of Catholic dating.”“The overall mission is actually to help build up the Church one relationship at a time,” Daniël Hussem said.“I think a big part of the cultural breakdown is the breakdown of the family, and we want SacredSpark to really be a place, down the road, where we can connect people who will build up the Church because they’ve entered into a sacramental marriage and will build up the family,” Wilson-Hussem added. “The restoration of the family is going to be a huge part of the next many years and we think SacredSpark, hopefully, will play a part in that.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/new-catholic-app-hopes-to-relight-the-hope-of-catholic-dating-catholic-daniel-hussem-and-emily-wilson-hussem-are-the-creators-of-the-new-catholic-dating-app-sacredspark-cred.webp)
