“I have started houses with no more than the price of a loaf of bread and prayers, for with him who comforts me, I can do anything.” —St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

The first United States citizen to be canonized, Maria Francesca Cabrini was born on July 15, 1850 in Sant' Angelo Lodigiano, Lombardy, Italy. She was born two months premature and the youngest of thirteen children. Three of her siblings passed away prior their adolescence. Frances also led most of her life in a fragile and delicate state of health.

As a child, Frances knew she was made to be a missionary; she loved crafting little paper boats and sending them off to sail with “missionary” flowers aboard. The flame continued to grow during a childhood full of illnesses, and a young adulthood full of challenges. With five of her colleagues, she formed the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1877, she became Mother Cabrini after she finally made her vows and took the religious habit, also adding Xavier to her name in honor of St. Francis Xavier.

Frances wanted to continue her mission in China, however upon the advice of her local bishop and then Pope Leo XIII she went to stay in the United States to help Italian immigrants. She arrived in New York in March 1889.

However, right from the beginning she encountered many disappointments and hardships. The house originally attended for her new orphanage was no longer available, but Frances did not give up, even though the archbishop insisted she return to Italy. After she refused, Archbishop Michael Corrigan found them housing with the convent of the Sisters of Charity. Frances then received permission to found an orphanage in what is now West Park, New York and now known as Saint Cabrini Home.

Filled with a deep trust in God and endowed with a wonderful administrative ability, Frances founded 67 institutions, including orphanages, schools, and hospitals, within 35 years dedicated to caring for the poor, uneducated, sick, abandoned, and especially for the Italian immigrants. Her institutions were spread out in places all over the United States, including New York, Colorado, and Illinois.

Soon, requests for her to open schools came to Frances Cabrini from all over the world. She travelled to Europe, Central and South America, and throughout the United States. She made 24 trans-Atlantic crossings and established 67 institutions: schools, hospitals, and orphanages.

She went to eternal rest on December 22, 1917, in Chicago. Frances has two miracles attributed to her. She restored sight to a child who was believed to have been blinded by excess silver nitrate, and she healed a terminally ill member of her congregation. In 1946, she was canonized a saint by Pope Pius XII in recognition of her holiness and service to mankind.

Today, the Missionary Sisters and their lay collaborator can be found on six continents and 17 countries throughout the world, wherever there is a need. Her feast day is celebrated on November 13 in the US and on December 22 elsewhere in the world.
-with inputs from Catholic online and Franciscan Media

Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint Flavian of Acquapendente
2. Saint Chaeremon of Nilopolis
3. Saint Hunger of Utrecht
4. Saint Amaswinthus of Málaga
5. Saint Demetrius, Florus and Honoratus - Martyrs of Ostia

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