|
One of thirteen children raised
on a farm. She received a convent education, and training as a teacher.
She tried to join the order at age 18, but poor health prevented her
taking the veil. A priest asked her to teach at a girl's school, the House
of Providence Orphanage in Cadagono, Italy, which she did for six years.
Took religious vows in 1877, and acquitted herself so well at her work
that when the orphanage closed in 1880, her bishop asked her to found the
Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to care for poor children
in schools and hospitals. Pope Leo XIII then sent her to the United States
to carry on this mission.
She and six Sisters arrived in New York in 1889. They worked among
immigrants, especially Italians. Mother Cabrini founded 67 institutions,
including schools, hospitals, and orphanages in the United States, Europe
and South America. Like many of the people she worked with, Mother became
a United States citizen during her life, and after her death she was the
first US citizen to be canonized.
Born
1850 at Lombardy, Italy
Died
22 December 1917 at Chicago, Illinois, USA of malaria; interred at 701
Fort Washington Avenue, New York, New York, USA
Beatified
13 November 1938; her beatification miracle involved the restoration of
sight to a child who had been blinded by excess silver nitrate in the eyes
Canonized
7 July 1946 by Pope Pius XII; her canonization miracle involved the
healing of a terminally ill nun
Patronage
emigrants, hospital administrators, immigrants, orphans
Readings
We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend
on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither
does it depend on arms and human industries, but on Jesus alone.
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inspired by the grace of God, we join the saints in honoring the holy
virgin Frances Xavier Cabrini. She was a humble woman who became
outstanding not because she was famous or rich or powerful, but because
she lived a virtuous life. From the tender years of her youth, she kept
her innocence as white as a lily and preserved it carefully with the
thorns of penitence; as the years progressed, she was moved by a certain
instinct and supernatural zeal to dedicate her whole life to the service
and greater glory of God.
She welcomed delinquent youths into safe homes, and taught them to live
upright and holy lives. She consoled those who were in prison, and
recalled to them the hope of eternal life. She encouraged prisoners to
reform themselves, and to live honest lives.
She comforted the sick and the infirm in the hospitals, and diligently
cared for them. She extended a friendly and helping hand especially to
immigrants, and offered them necessary shelter and relief, for having left
their homeland behind, they were wandering about in a foreign land with no
place to turn for help. Because of their condition, she saw that they were
in danger of deserting the practice of Christian virtues and their
Catholic faith.
Undoubtedly she accomplished all this through the faith which was always
so vibrant and alive in her heart; through the divine love which burned
within her; and finally, through constant prayer by which she was so
closely united with God from whom she humbly asked and obtained whatever
her human weakness could not obtain. Although her constitution was very
frail, her spirit was endowed with such singular strength that, knowing
the will of God in her regard, she permitted nothing to impede her from
accomplishing what seemed beyond her strength.
From a homily at the Canonization of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini by
Venerable Pope Pius XII
source:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintf07.htm
|
