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Cabrini, Mother Francesca
Xavier (1850-1917)
Mother Francesca Xavier Cabrini, Saint Cabrini (1850–1917) was the
first American citizen to be declared a saint by the Catholic Church. |
Mother Cabrini was born July 15, 1850, at Sant’Angelo Lodigiano,
Italy, a small town on the plains of Lombardy about 20
miles south of Milan. After being refused entry into a
convent twice due to frail health, she took her religious
vows in 1877, and in 1880 founded a new order, the
Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. After she
established several convents, schools, and orphanages in
Italy
, Pope Leo XIII sent her to
America
, which was at that time designated a missionary country,
to minister to the material and spiritual needs of Italian
immigrants.
On March 19, 1889, she and six sisters of her order sailed for
New York
. They arrived on March 31, 1889. Her mission began at the
invitation of Archbishop Corrigan of
New York City
. Archbishop Corrigan, concerned with the material and
spiritual plight of Italian immigrants, and with the lack
of Italian schools and bilingual (Italian and English)
religious teachers, had requested missionary help from the
Vatican
. With the financial help of the wife of the director of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Countess Mary Cesnola, who
had raised $5,000 for an orphanage and school, Mother
Cabrini and the six Sisters opened her first institution
in
America
.
Throughout her travels, Mother Cabrini founded a total of 67
institutions worldwide, including schools, orphanages,
hospitals, and social service outreach programs. In the
United States, she established institutions in New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Illinois, Colorado, California, and Washington state. She
also established institutions in South America (Nicaragua,
Panama, Argentina, and Brazil), and in France, England,
and Spain, as well as in her native Italy.
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