The REAL Mother Cabrini

Matthew 19:14- 14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 25:37-40- 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

CABRINI’S LIFE (taken from Catholic Online)

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was born as Maria Francesca Cabrini on July 15, 1850 in Sant' Angelo Lodigiano, Lombardy, Italy. She was the youngest of thirteen children. Frances would live most of her life in a fragile and delicate state of health. Frances became dedicated to living a life for religious work from a young age and received a convent education at a school run by the Daughters of the Sacred Heart.

When Frances was 18, she applied for admission to the religious congregation of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart, but was turned down because of her poor health. Instead, a priest asked her to teach at the House of Providence Orphanage in Cadagno, Italy. She taught at the girls' school for six years and drew a community of women in to live the religious way of life.

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, the great Jesuit missionary to China and India. When the House of Providence Orphanage closed, her bishop asked her, along with six other women from her orphanage in Cadagno, to found the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to care for the poor children in both schools and hospitals. Frances composed both their Rule and Constitution.

In its first five years, the institute established seven homes and a free school and nursery. Frances wanted to continue her mission in China, but Pope Leo XIII urged her to go to the United States, a nation that was becoming flooded with Italian immigrants who needed her help. "Not to the East, but the West," was his advice to her.

On March 31, 1889, Frances arrived in New York City along with six other sisters ready to begin her new journey. 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.  Frances then received permission to found an orphanage in what is now West Park, New York.

Filled with a deep trust in God and blessed with a wonderful administrative ability, Frances founded 67 institutions within 35 years, including orphanages, schools, and hospitals, dedicated to caring for the poor, uneducated, sick, abandoned, and especially for the Italian immigrants.

In 1909, Frances became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Eight years later, on December 22, 1917, Frances passed away at the age of 67, due to complications from dysentery.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was beatified on November 13, 1938, by Pope Pius XI and canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 7, 1946, making her the first United States citizen to be canonized. Her feast day is celebrated on November 13 and she is the patron saint of immigrants.

 SPIRITUALITY IN HER OWN WORDS (from an EWTN article)

Some believe it was Pope Leo XIII who said to Mother Cabrini: "Not to the East, but to the West". This is true, but it is not the whole story. Francesca Cabrini was able to change so rapidly because of her capacity for judgement that she had practiced for many years. We must, therefore, search for the reasons behind her decisions — and not only in this case — which we find in her profound relationship with Jesus. This relationship had made her capable of always discerning, not just between good and evil, but also between what is the good that God wills here and now — not that which would be good for her and her preferences.

From reliable historical records, we know that Francesca was raised in a deeply religious family. Her mother, who had given birth to 10 children, many of whom died prematurely, got up at five a.m. every morning to pray and go to mass. Her father gathered his children in the evening near the fireplace and read to them from the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, telling the stories of missionaries. We know that her father was so upright and honest that they called him the "Christian one". We also know that, since childhood, Francesca had a spiritual director, but at age 15, she wanted a change in order to have a deeper direction. When this new director was faced by the unusual questions the girl asked, he replied: "Go and ask your Jesus...". Jesus was always the privileged companion that accompanied Mother Cabrini throughout her life.

    From this relationship with Jesus, developed through prayer and meditation on the Scriptures, in works of charity, and in knowing how to renounce her personal preferences, Francesca learned to interpret the events of her life and those of her times. Her relationship with Jesus also developed through times of suffering and silence, waiting for God to show her what he wanted from her, even in the darkness of faith. Often Francesca did not see or understand why there were so many deaths in her family, so much illness. She herself was rejected more than once by other religious orders because her health was too fragile. Why was there so much difficulty in achieving her dream of entering religious life? Finally, when she was accepted in the House of Providence at Cadagno, she spent six long years, having her dreams frustrated and encountering obstacles to what was the greatest hope of her life — becoming a missionary. How could she survive this? Only because her relationship with Jesus had matured in the faith and hope that God certainly would never abandon her.

This long formation of faith not only prepared her for the great missionary adventure that she would then undertake in founding the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but also proved to be a great gift from God. This is why the words of St Paul, "I can do all things in him who strengthens me (Phil 4:13)", became the motto for Francesca Cabrini's great missionary adventures.

Faith was the distinguishing note of Mother Cabrini's life and mission. Faith infused her heart and mind with a tremendous ability for decision-making. Every time she was convinced that God's will was steering her towards another path that even she had not foreseen, only then did she seek final confirmation of her judgement in the words of the Pope. Even when leaving for the United States, Mother Cabrini did not question the Pope's mandate to her because he had already understood her. She asked for confirmation because the church, in the person of Leo XIII, had the final word on a judgement that was so important to her Institute's destiny.

She told the Archbishop: "I'm sorry, your Excellency, but the Pope sent me here — and here I will remain!". God illuminated her so that she could add docility to obedience, and strength to docility.

At that time, the devotion to and spirituality of the Sacred Heart was at the center of the Church’s faith and hope. Devotion to the Sacred Heart generated numerous religious congregations, societies, associations and Christian movements that were renewing the people's faith. The parish of Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, attended by the young Francesca Cabrini, was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1871, as were many families and people. Furthermore, Pope Leo XIII later consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart at the beginning of the 1900s.

Mother Cabrini's faith in the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was well founded. From this spirituality she learned the value of God's merciful love that, through the revelations of the Sacred Heart to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque two centuries earlier, asked for reparation for the sins of humanity through prayer, adoration, sacrifice and above all, the love of God and one's neighbor.
Mother Cabrini answered this request from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in communion with the Church, with her prayer and missionary work in favor of the weakest; and with her motto: "All for the greater honor and glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus". When in difficulty, she always repeated: "I can do all things in him which strengthens me (Phil 4:13)".

And so, when she again met the Archbishop of New York, he asked her: "So, are you here to begin?" she replied: "Yes, your Excellency, but above all to receive your blessing because I know of no other certainty with which to begin than the blessing of the Church".

At times this blessing was late in arriving because difficulties and misunderstandings abounded, but she was sure that her project for the glory of God was working against that evil that was doing everything possible to discourage her, making it seem that she was going against the Church and that her goal was impossible. She fell ill the day before every departure, the sisters she relied upon suddenly disappeared, the people who had to help her make arrangements withdrew their help a few days before the project was to begin.

Her adventure began among a thousand hardships. She was alone. And yet, the Archbishop of New York, who at first opposed the plan, became her dearest friend. Early in the morning, before sunrise, he would set off to find those poor sisters, without means and friends, and teach them strategies to overcome their difficulties in New York. Faith in the Heart of Jesus was her weapon, but it was not a gift to be taken for granted, but a spiritual journey that was always put to the test.

God had taught her the path of abiding faith, but did not spare her from fatigue, doubt, and suffering; in this way, it would be clear that it was God’s hand behind everything. She was in the habit of repeating: "I am only a spectator of God's work". But these achievements were also the fruit of her hard work and uncompromising commitment, motivated by the glory of God.

There is a particular aspect that emerges from this extraordinary faith that Mother Cabrini had in the Sacred Heart of Jesus: the capacity she gained to develop methods for the missions.

She did not attend specialized courses, she did not have special teachers, neither did the local church suggest the means to deal with the thousands of children, teens, and young people that she found on the streets, polishing shoes or selling newspapers. Mother Cabrini realized what was necessary — and the Holy Spirit was her teacher. She used to tell the sisters: "Work, work tirelessly, without losing your spirit; the grace of the Holy Spirit works with you, prays with you, shows you his light, grace and treasure... If you are really zealous, the Holy Spirit will truly illuminate you with his divine light and help you in your work and suffering. He will support you in your endeavors, defend you from internal and external enemies and strengthen you with his virtue. Have faith, tremendous faith! Faith and trust, my daughters! Pray constantly and the Holy Spirit, with all his love, will enter our hearts and spirits to strengthen them with his own strength".

And the Holy Spirit suggested a solution for the enormous problems of immigration of that period, which was education. She would develop an entire educational system, geared to the situation of immigrants in a new land. At the same time, she was also studying methods of educating her people from a religious point of view, because often they only knew their faith through processions and the traditions that went along with them.

Why education above all else? Because talking was not enough. She needed to educate, train and appeal to peoples' conscience, provoking a profound change of mentality. A change had to occur, not only in the Italians, who had to create a new image of themselves, but also in the citizens who were prejudiced and in the people in power. Mother Cabrini fought her hardest battles in offices in Italy and abroad; in the offices of bishops, at the Vatican; in visits to politicians, administrators, priests, and cardinals.

Mother Cabrini worked and fought on different fronts. Even the sisters needed conversion and a new mentality. We must remember that almost all of the first three hundred sisters that followed Mother Cabrini were from northern Italy. In the North, people had received a better education and therefore, to a certain extent, were more developed, even if they were still poor. Before and after the unification of Italy, Italians themselves considered the people of the South ignorant — and this was the population that immigrated more and that the sisters had to serve. As a result, even the Missionary Sisters had to undergo a cultural conversion.

There was a sort of institutionalized prejudice in government allowances. If the sisters wanted to survive in that environment, they had to adapt to the culture, language, and customs. Mother Cabrini did not judge or criticize; on the contrary, she learned new ways of behaving, appreciating many values and studying how not to appear at a disadvantage in front of the Americans.

She worked with powerful civil, economic, and religious organizations to gain rights for her people, involving the same Italians that were able to take advantage of the situation. She visited the Italian "big shots". In Italy she was able to address the Chamber of Deputies to claim the immigrants' suspended benefits. Sometimes she was rejected, at times she was admired and even feared for her quality of facing and overcoming obstacles. But her power of persuasion managed to transform her worst opponents into excellent supporters of her project.

"She fights on the side of the immigrants themselves", Lucetta Scaraffia reports in her book on Mother Cabrini.  Even the immigrants needed a change of mentality. Even they had to learn not only how to gain respect, to earn an honest salary, to have rights, but they also had to win the admiration of others through their honest work, their behavior, their active participation in American society. Mother Cabrini's work was not, however, just social and cultural; it was also apostolic. She insisted on the tremendous dignity that everyone has as a child of God, supported by his love and his providence. It was not for nothing that she said that the Italian identity was founded on the Catholic faith.

We can say the same thing regarding the foundation of her hospitals. Mother Cabrini became an expert in hospital organization and management, but she did this not just through the grace she received from God, but also the ability she developed to read the signs of the times, and through her Christian discernment.

Mother Cabrini also had to understand the world of business, the value of money,  the humiliation of being considered incompetent. For Mother Cabrini, faith in the Sacred Heart of Jesus was an infallible weapon in living the Christian life and for the mission, but it required total abandonment to God's providence, a radical detachment from her own patterns of thought and plans, to embrace the plan of God.

One of her writings gives us the key to the faith and trust that St Frances Cabrini had in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She writes to the sisters: "Therefore, work with commitment and do not get discouraged by the difficulties that you will naturally face. When they tell you "no", you must continue all the stronger, as if they had said "yes". If you keep hitting the same nail, it will finally go in. The most important thing is that your faith never lessens but becomes stronger through difficulty; that is the way of the saints. If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could move mountains.

"Like good women then, always go forward, despite the difficulties; make light of them and strengthen your wills... In the meantime, work diligently and put your hearts into praying, have great faith in your beloved Jesus and always fully surrender yourselves to his beloved Heart. Trust and confide in him, not in yourselves. No matter how poor and weak you may be, you can certainly do great things. Always remember: 'I can do all things in him who strengthens me' (Phil 4:13).

The Cabrinian Charism (from Missionaries of Sacred Heart website)

Today, the Missionary Sisters and their lay collaborators are active in 16 countries and on six continents. They have a common mission: to be “bearers of the love of Christ to the world”.

Cabrinian Spirituality

At its core, this commitment implies nothing less than a desire to love as Jesus loved, with the total self-gift of their lives, seeking to reach those most vulnerable, neglected or marginalized.  With God’s grace working in them as in Frances before them, this is their ideal: no work will be too difficult, no land too distant, no person too wounded for the love of the heart of Jesus and for all those invited to be bearers of the love of Christ in the world.

Apostolic Priorities

As Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus they have a special apostolic focus upon women, children, frail elders and immigrants. The cry of the poor and the excluded, abandoned or marginalized children, suffering elders, the tragedy of so many of our immigrant brothers and sisters; the exploitation of women and the modern-day slavery of human trafficking challenge the Cabrinian community and urge them to move forward.

The world is too small to limit ourselves to one point; I want to embrace it entirely and to reach all its parts.   

Mother Cabrini to Monsignor Scalabrini, 1887

Beyond American Shores

The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus had been in America only two years. They were hardly well established and yet Mother Cabrini sought to extend their missions to Latin America. Her objective was Nicaragua and in ensuing years, Argentina, where she opened a school, Colegio Santa Rosa, at the invitation of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Expanding Horizons in the United States

At the turn of the 20th century, Mother Cabrini traveled to Chicago where there was a large Italian colony and established a parish school. From Chicago, she traveled to Scranton, Pennsylvania where the Italian immigrants asked for schools. From Scranton, she proceeded to Newark, New Jersey, where she accepted the task of establishing and running a parish school there.

She looked for solutions which would afford her the means to subsidize free schools.  In Dobbs Ferry, New York, on the Hudson River, she founded Sacred Heart Villa, a school for daughters of now well-to-do Italian families.

Cabrini headed to the Rocky Mountains where a needy colony of Italian immigrants worked mostly in the mines under very harsh conditions.  Her sisters staffed a parish school and later, an orphanage.

In 1903, Mother Cabrini traveled seven days by train from Chicago to Seattle where she founded a school and an orphanage for Italian immigrants. She dreamed of establishing missions in Alaska and had she lived longer, this may have come to pass.  Her dream of going to China persisted throughout her life.  Her works on the western coast of the United States brought her closer to the Far East, but she never did make it to China, although her sisters did.

She extended her educational and childcare missions to California where there were settlements of Italian as well as Mexican immigrants. By September 1905, a school and an orphanage had been opened. Later, a hospital for tubercular children, would be established in the Santa Monica Mountains north of the city.