St. Frances Xavier Cabrini,
was born in Lombardia, Italy in 1850, the youngest of thirteen children. Two
months premature, she remained in delicate health throughout her 67 years. As a
young girl, Francesca was taken care of by her older sister Rosa, because her
mother was 52 when Maria Francesca was born. 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 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.
Friday 13 November 2020
St Frances Xavier Cabrini
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