Mother Cabrini
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She was born Maria Francesca Cabrini in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, in Lombardy, the youngest of thirteen children of Agostino Cabrini and Stella Oldini. Two months premature, she remained in delicate health throughout her 67 years. She took religious vows in 1877, becoming the Mother Superior of the House of Providence orphanage in Codogno, where she was teaching.
In 1880, the orphanage was closed and she became one of the seven founding members of the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Although her lifelong dream was to be a missionary in China, Pope Leo XIII sent her to New York City on March 31, 1889. There, she obtained the permission of Archbishop Michael Corrigan to found an orphanage, the first of 67 institutions she founded in New York, Chicago, Seattle, New Orleans, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, [link] and in countries throughout South America and Europe. Long after her death, the Missionary Sisters would achieve Mother Cabrini's goal of being a missionary to China. After much social and religious upheaval and only a short time, the sisters left China, and subsequently a Siberian placement.
She was naturalized as an American citizen in 1909.
Mother Cabrini died of complications from malaria at Columbus Hospital in Chicago. Her remains are enshrined on display under glass in the church's altar at St. Frances Cabrini Shrine, 701 Fort Washington Avenue, in the Manhattan neighborhood of Hudson Heights. The street to the west of the shrine was renamed Cabrini Boulevard in her honor.
She was beatified on November 13, 1938 and canonized on July 7, 1946 by Pope Pius XII. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is the patron saint 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. Her body was allegedly incorrupt
The Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago is named after her, due to her work with Italian immigrants in the location. It has since become a haven for underprivleged and poor people and the MSC sisters still work there. Cabrini College, in Radnor, Pennsylvania, also bears her name.
The Cabrini Mission Foundation is an organization committed to advancing St. Frances Xavier Cabrini's mission and legacy of healing, teaching, and caring around the world.
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