Mother Cabrini (1850-1917) |
At 13, she was sent to Arluno to study under the
Daughters of the Sacred Heart at the Normal School, and in 1868, at 18 she was
certified as a teacher. Four years later she contracted smallpox. When she
tried to enter into the Daughters of the Sacred Heart, Mother Superior refused
admission, even though she saw potential in her, because of her frail health.
She helped her parents until their death, and then worked on a farm with her
siblings.
One day a priest asked her to teach in a girls' school and she stayed for six years. At the request of her Bishop, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to care for poor children in schools and hospitals. Although her lifelong dream was to be a missionary in China, Pope Leo XIII sent her to New York City on March 31, 1889, with six other nuns. There, she obtained the permission of Archbishop Michael Corrigan to found an orphanage, which is located in West Park, Ulster County, NY today known as Saint Cabrini Home, the first of 67 institutions she founded in New York, Chicago, Seattle, New Orleans, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and in countries throughout South America and Europe, especially Italy, England, France, Spain. Filled with a deep trust in God and endowed with a wonderful administrative ability, this remarkable woman soon founded schools, hospitals, and orphanages in this strange land and saw them flourish in the aid of Italian immigrants and children.
One day a priest asked her to teach in a girls' school and she stayed for six years. At the request of her Bishop, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to care for poor children in schools and hospitals. Although her lifelong dream was to be a missionary in China, Pope Leo XIII sent her to New York City on March 31, 1889, with six other nuns. There, she obtained the permission of Archbishop Michael Corrigan to found an orphanage, which is located in West Park, Ulster County, NY today known as Saint Cabrini Home, the first of 67 institutions she founded in New York, Chicago, Seattle, New Orleans, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and in countries throughout South America and Europe, especially Italy, England, France, Spain. Filled with a deep trust in God and endowed with a wonderful administrative ability, this remarkable woman soon founded schools, hospitals, and orphanages in this strange land and saw them flourish in the aid of Italian immigrants and children.
She died in Chicago, Illinois
on December 22, 1917. In 1946, she became the first American citizen to be
canonized by Pope Pius XII. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is the patroness of
immigrants. Her beatification miracle involved the restoration of sight to a
child who had been blinded by excess silver nitrate in the eyes. Her
canonization miracle involved the healing of a terminally ill nun. She is
buried in Washington Heights where a shrine is also dedicated to her.
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