SAINT FRANCES CABRINI
She was the youngest
Of thirteen children
Born of an Italian farmer
She was
Brought up in a strict household
But about the age 0f 20
Both her parents died
Two years later
She tried to become a nun
But was refused
For health reasons
She applied a second time
In another order
But was again refused
Now a schoolteacher
Who had taken a private vow of virginity
She was called
By a parish priest
To reorganize an orphanage
This orphanage
Was so badly mismanaged
By its foundress
That it wound up closing
Yet
The bishop encouraged
To be a missionary
Papal approval
Was now obtained for her
“Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart”
Though her first idea
Was to go to
She was now encouraged
To devote herself
To Italian immigrants
In the
She became a citizen
Of the
And later-a canonized Saint
The archbishop of
Invited her to found schools and orphanages
It is estimated that in 1889-when she arrived
There were 50,000 Italians
Only 1,200 of whom were church going
And most lived
In conditions of extreme poverty
The orphanage there had fallen through
And she had plenty of pupils
But no school building
The archbishop
Encouraged her to go back to
But she got the orphanage going
And moved to
There she founded her novitiate
The most important house
Of her congregation
In the
Foundations followed in
Later foundations included
In 1917
Her congregations numbered 1,500 nuns
In eight countries
There were thirty-seven houses
Devoted to education, nursing
And the care of orphans
So much
For her earlier rejection
In character-she was strict
But just and loving
She died December 22nd, 1917
And was canonized
By Pope Pius XII in 1946
Her body rests in Mother Cabrini high school
In
And her feast day is December 22nd
Robert P. Wallman
November 19th, 2012
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