St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini | Feast Day November 13

You may recognize the name St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850 – 1917) as the first United States citizen to become a saint. Known for her deep trust in God, she was a courageous woman doing the work of Christ.

Her life of service began when she was first refused admission to the religious order which had educated her to be a teacher. Not one to take things face value, she instead focused her charitable work at the House of Providence Orphanage in Cadogno, Italy, and in 1877, professed vows there and took the religious habit.

When the bishop closed the orphanage in 1880, he named St. Frances Xavier Cabrini prioress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. However, she had a dream she was determined to fulfill. Since her early childhood, she had dreamed of being a missionary in China. Pope Leo XIII, however, urged her to see the need in the west. She traveled with six of her fellow religious sisters to New York City, where they worked with the thousands of Italian immigrants residing there.

Although she experienced many disappointments during this time, she persevered. When she arrived in New York, the house intended to be her first orphanage in the United States was not available. Rather than come back to Italy and the order she oversaw, she instead found a way to establish that orphanage elsewhere — plus a few more. Throughout her life, she is known for founding 67 institutions dedicated to caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated, and the sick. She died of malaria in her own Columbus Hospital in Chicago in 1917.

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