Mother Cabrini
In honor of Women’s History Month, we recognize the economic, cultural, political, and social contributions of influential immigrant and refugee women who’ve helped shaped the vibrant tapestry of America. Today, we spotlight the tireless work of Mother Cabrini, the canonized Catholic sister and the patron saint of immigrants.
Maria Francesca Cabrina was born in Lombardy, Italy, on July 15, 1850. She was the youngest of 13 children born to tree farmers, Agostino and Stella Cabrini. Sadly, only four of the family’s children survived beyond their adolescent years. Maria, born two months premature, was small and weak as a child and remained in fragile health throughout her life.
She took her religious vows in 1877 and added Xavier to her name to honor the Jesuit saint, St. Francis Xavier. She became the Superior of the House of Providence orphanage in Codogno, reopening it herself in 1880 after its initial closure. She and six other women founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with Cabrini writing its rules and constitution. In its first five years of operation, the congregation quickly established seven homes, a free school, and a nursery.
Mother Cabrini’s altruistic work soon gained the attention of Pope Leo XIII, whom she visited at the Vatican to seek approval to establish missions in China. Instead, he asked her to go to the U.S. to assist the many Italian immigrants living there, most in poverty-laden environments. Cabrini arrived in New York City in 1889 and quickly obtained permission from New York Archbishop Michael Corrigan to open an orphanage, Sacred Heart Orphan Asylum, known today as the St. Cabrini Home. It was the first of 67 missionary institutions she founded to treat sick and poor communities. She established homes in South America and Europe, as well.
In New York, she also founded the Colombus and Italian Hospitals, which later merged into the Cabrini Hospital.
Mother Cabrini gained her U.S. citizenship in 1909.
She died in 1917. Her body was exhumed in 1931 and enshrined at St. Francis Cabrini Shrine in Manhattan. She was canonized in Rome in 1946 and is the patron saint of immigrants. St. Francis Xavier Cabrini was the first U.S. citizen to be declared a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
A film depicting the life of Mother Cabrini, filmed partially in Buffalo, will be released later this week.
Like Mother Cabrini, the International Insitute of Buffalo helps immigrants and refugees. Learn how we do it by clicking on this link.