Roman Catholic Saint. Born the thirteenth child to Augustine and Stella Cabrini in Sant Angelo Lodigiano, a town in northern Italy. Her parents were both devout Catholics who definitely had an influence on her future vocation. She was christened Maria Francesca. A secular school teacher at age 20, upon the death of her parents, she pursued a religious vocation. From birth, she was afflicted with bad health, so she was rejected by all the religious communities in the northern part of Italy. The various orders did not want to be burdened by a sick novice. Finally, the Bishop gave her permission to start an Institute of Missionary Sisters. She took the name Frances Xavier Cabrini (after St. Francis Xavier, a patron saint of missionaries) and was soon labeled "Mother" by her seven recruits. They took over an abandoned Franciscan friary. Here, she drew up constitutions for the community. Their principal work was to be the Christian education of girls. The new order was called The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She was asked by the Bishop if her community would go to America and help with the education of Italian immigrants who had migrated by the thousands. With six sisters, she landed in New York on March 31, 1889. She founded a school at West Park on the Hudson River on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This was followed by many. The order was expanding rapidly. By 1907, the order had increased to over a thousand sisters in eight countries. In her lifetime, she was to see sixty-seven convents: free-schools, high schools, hospitals, and other establishments. Mother Cabrini was to be burdened her entire life by poor health. She died at Columbus Hospital in Chicago. Completion of the three steps necessary for sainthood was realized and Mother Cabrini was canonized in 1946, becoming the first citizen of the United States to become a saint. Her feast day is November 13th.
Roman Catholic Saint. Born the thirteenth child to Augustine and Stella Cabrini in Sant Angelo Lodigiano, a town in northern Italy. Her parents were both devout Catholics who definitely had an influence on her future vocation. She was christened Maria Francesca. A secular school teacher at age 20, upon the death of her parents, she pursued a religious vocation. From birth, she was afflicted with bad health, so she was rejected by all the religious communities in the northern part of Italy. The various orders did not want to be burdened by a sick novice. Finally, the Bishop gave her permission to start an Institute of Missionary Sisters. She took the name Frances Xavier Cabrini (after St. Francis Xavier, a patron saint of missionaries) and was soon labeled "Mother" by her seven recruits. They took over an abandoned Franciscan friary. Here, she drew up constitutions for the community. Their principal work was to be the Christian education of girls. The new order was called The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She was asked by the Bishop if her community would go to America and help with the education of Italian immigrants who had migrated by the thousands. With six sisters, she landed in New York on March 31, 1889. She founded a school at West Park on the Hudson River on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This was followed by many. The order was expanding rapidly. By 1907, the order had increased to over a thousand sisters in eight countries. In her lifetime, she was to see sixty-seven convents: free-schools, high schools, hospitals, and other establishments. Mother Cabrini was to be burdened her entire life by poor health. She died at Columbus Hospital in Chicago. Completion of the three steps necessary for sainthood was realized and Mother Cabrini was canonized in 1946, becoming the first citizen of the United States to become a saint. Her feast day is November 13th.
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