St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was born in Sant' Angelo Lodigiano, Lombardy, Italy, on July 15, 1850, as Maria Francesca Cabrini. She was the youngest of thirteen children and was born two months early. Unfortunately, only three of her siblings survived past puberty and Frances would live most of her life in a poor and sensitive condition of health.
Frances was educated in a convent at a school run by the Daughters of the Sacred Heart and committed herself to a life of religious service at an early age. Upon graduation, she received a teaching certificate and high honours.
Frances applied to join the Daughters of the Sacred Heart religious order when she was eighteen, but her application was denied due to her bad health. Instead, a priest requested that she teach at the House of Providence Orphanage in Cadagono, Italy. She attracted a group of women to follow the holy lifestyle while teaching at the girls' school for six years.
Finally taking the religious habit and making her vows, she was given the name Mother Cabrini in 1877, adding Xavier to her name in honour of St. Francis Xavier.
Her bishop urged her and six other nuns from her Cadagono orphanage to form the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in order to care for underprivileged children in hospitals and schools after the House of Providence Orphanage closed. Frances wrote the religious institute's constitution and rules.
The institute set up seven homes, a free school, and a nursery in its first five years of service. Pope Leo XIII encouraged Frances to travel to the United States, which was being overrun with Italian immigrants in need of her assistance, even though she wished to continue her work in China.
Together with six other sisters, Frances landed in New York City on March 31, 1889, eager to start her new voyage. However, she faced numerous setbacks and difficulties from the start. The archbishop insisted that Frances return to Italy, but she refused to give up even if the house she had originally used for her new orphanage was no longer accessible.
Archbishop Michael Corrigan arranged for them to live at the Sisters of Charity convent after she declined. After that, Frances was permitted to establish what is now Saint Cabrini Home, an orphanage in West Park, New York.
With a strong faith in God and exceptional administrative skills, Frances established 67 organizations in 35 years, including hospitals, schools, and orphanages, to help the sick, the destitute, the ignorant, the abandoned, and particularly the Italian immigrants. Her institutions were dispersed around the United States, notably in Illinois, Colorado, and New York.
Frances was renowned for her resourcefulness and piety. She consistently secured donations of funds, time, and support for her organizations.
In 1909, Frances obtained U.S. citizenship via naturalization.
Frances died of dysentery complications in the Columbus Hospital, one of her own hospitals in Chicago, Illinois, on December 22, 1917, eight years later, at the age of 67.
As part of the canonization process, Frances' body was exhumed in 1931 after initially being interred at the Saint Cabrini Home. In Rome, her head is kept in the chapel of the international motherhouse of the congregation. Her entire body lays at a shrine in New York, while one arm is at the national shrine in Chicago.
Frances is credited with two miracles. She healed a member of her church who was near death and restored sight to a child who was thought to have been blinded by too much silver nitrate.
Pope Pius XI beatified St. Frances Xavier Cabrini on November 13, 1938, and on July 7, 1946, Pope Pius XII canonized her, making her the first American citizen to be canonized. She is the patroness of immigrants, and November 13 is her feast day.
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