Deacon Digest

America’s First Citizen Saint and
“Universal Patroness of Immigrants”

Had it not been for the strong influence of her home parish, Mother Cabrini (1850-1917) might not have been able to preserve for countless Italian newcomers to United States the Catholic faith of their heritage.

The Church of St. Anthony the Abbot served the people of Saint’ Angelo Lodigiano, a small town in the diocese of Lodi on the plains of Lombardy, 20 miles south of Milan. It was there that Maria Francesca Cabrini, the 10th of 11 children, was born in 1850. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, particularly strong in the diocese, parish, and her family home, nurtured the child, who would, in 1880, become the foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Mother Cabrini saw divine love epitomized in the person of Christ. Her particular devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus took the form of an adherence to the loving Christ, devoid of any 19th century pietistic excess—hers was a spirituality of love which drew her toward God by living a life of love of neighbor.

At the personal request of Pope Leo XIII, Frances Cabrini put aside her dreams of bringing the love of Jesus’ Sacred Heart to Asia and undertook evangelization of Italian immigrants in the United States by establishing schools, orphanages, and hospitals in the major cities of America to which poor Italian immigrants migrated. Each Cabrinian institution became a center where the socio-religious needs of the immigrants could be met and from which extensive immigrant outreach programs were launched. Concomitantly, Mother Cabrini, responding to needs and/or the entreaties of bishops, visited Nicaragua, Panama, Argentina, and Brazil and sent her Sisters to serve the needs of Catholic education in these countries. Her “education of the heart” permeated the curriculum in each of the schools she established. Teachers were to love their students. Corporal punishment was forbidden. Mother Cabrini modeled her pedagogical pursuits after the example of her contemporary, (Saint) John Bosco of Turin.

The Constitutions of the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus state that the Missionary Sister is called to “share the dispositions of the heart of Jesus” (Cs.3) “to become one with Jesus” (Cs.4), by participating in the greatness of his divine Heart.

Mother Cabrini’s mission was to communicate to all the certainty of their being loved by the Father and called to salvation. She sought to announce the gospel through catechesis, education, health care, and social works, and in other activities which responded to the needs of the Church. (Cs.6)

We Missionary Sisters of Sacred Heart of Jesus live our vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in community, “nourished by the Eucharistic bread of life and unity…strengthened to live the mutual experience of his love with a true missionary spirit” (Cs.7).

In 1912, with her health becoming more and more fragile, the sisters in London hoped to surprise Mother Cabrini with passage to New York on a new, quicker, and more comfortable ocean liner, but business of the Institute recalled her to Italy and the sisters had to cancel tickets on the ill-fated “Titanic”! God was to give her five more years of life and apostolic endeavors before calling Mother Cabrini home to heaven in Chicago in 1917.

During her life, Mother Cabrini also established educational works in England, France, Spain, and Italy. Her long cherished dream of evangelization in China was not realized in her lifetime, but Missionary Sisters of Sacred Heart of Jesus were present in schools, orphanages, and medical dispensaries in China from 1926 to 1949, when they were expelled by the Communists. Mother Cabrini established hospitals in New York, Chicago, and Seattle.

Today, in addition to vowed members of the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Cabrinian charism is shared by men and women Cabrini Lay Missionaries, Cabrini Mission Corps Volunteers, and Cabrini Companions present in North, Central, and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia where “Cabrini Sisters” have served or continue to serve.

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, beloved spouse of Jesus, pray for us.

Source for further information:

To learn more about the life and spirit of Saint Frances Cabrini, consider Too Small a World by Theodore Maynard (New York: St. Cabrini Shrine, 1990) and Mother Cabrini: “Italian Immigrant of the Century by Mary Louise Sullivan (New York: Center for Migration Studies, 1992). These books are available from the Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini Shrine in New York City (701 Ft. Washington Ave., New York, NY 10040). To learn more about the work of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, please visit www.mothercabrini.org.

A gratis subscription to the Mother Cabrini Messenger can be requested from Mother Cabrini League, 434 W Deming Place—1st Floor, Chicago, IL 60614.

____________________________

Sister Mary Louise Sullivan, is a Missionary Sister of The Sacred Heart of Jesus. Sr. Sullivan is President Emerita of Cabrini College, Radnor, PA, and the author of Mother Cabrini “Italian Immigrant of the Century” as well as several articles on Mother Cabrini. An acclaimed lecturer, she is highly regarded for her research, educational accomplishments and her work with immigrant and ethnic groups at the USCCB, St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia and The Center for Migration Studies, New York City. She is past president of the American Catholic Historical Society.