Mother Cabrini: A new movie, an amazing woman

BEACON FILE PHOTO | JOE GIGLI

FIRST AMERICAN SAINT  Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli is pictured dedicating a stained-glass window in honor of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson on April 22, 2007.
 

BISHOP EMERITUS ARTHUR J. SERRATELLI
 

In 2018, New York City launched the initiative She Built NYC. It was an effort to commission a public monument to honor women who made historic contributions to New York City. A commendable effort in a city whose monuments overwhelming honored men. When the public was asked to nominate women, Mother Cabrini (Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, M.S.C.) won by a landslide. Yet, New York City ignored the results and commissioned statues for seven other women.

The decision to exclude Mother Cabrini sparked a major controversy. But that only increased interest in this amazing woman. On March 8, 2024, the new movie Cabrini will be released in theaters. It documents the inspiring life of America’s first canonized saint and honors her in a way that a lifeless statue cannot.

As a young child in Italy, Mother Cabrini had nurtured the strong desire to be a missionary to China. However, Pope Leo XIII saw the desperate plight of the Italian immigrants in New York. He told her, “Not East, but West.” Along with six other sisters of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart – the community she founded – Mother Cabrini arrived in New York on March 31, 1889. Her welcome was less than felicitous. Archbishop Corrigan told her she was not needed and should return immediately to Italy. In obedience to the Holy Father, she remained, and the rest is history.

Mother Cabrini did not limit her work to New York. People took notice of her, and soon, requests for her and her sisters poured in from every direction. For 28 years, she traveled not only across the entire United States, from New York to California, but also to Central and South America. She sacrificed her comfort. She faced many disappointments and opposition. Yet, by the time she died in Columbus Hospital in Chicago in 1917, she had made 23 trans-Atlantic crossings and established 67 institutions for the needy and marginalized: orphanages, schools, and hospitals.

Throughout her life, Mother Cabrini encountered prejudice, misogyny, and bigotry. She had to face lawsuits in Italy and revolutions in South America. Nothing could keep her from her work, not even the lack of funds or the hostility of the clergy.

“Difficulties, difficulties,” she would say. “They’re merely scarecrows to frighten children!”

A religious dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she was nonetheless an astute businesswoman and entrepreneur. A frail woman, even from childhood, she was strong in her mission. This great saint overcame so many obstacles. She broke every record.

In 1958, long before New York City became embroiled in a controversy about honoring this great saint, a statue of her was placed in a small park across from Newark’s Penn Station. As a young altar boy, I was present when it was blessed. I soon discovered the reason why that location was chosen.

The park was a few steps away from my home parish of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Newark. And Mother Cabrini had worked there. In 1899 she had started our parish’s first school. There were no desks, no chairs, no books. But she was there with her sisters. They loved the children, and they increased attendance to 400. Scant material resources but great spiritual faith, abundant zeal, and much love!

My home parish never forgot Mother Cabrini. As a young priest, I celebrated the Funeral Mass of a woman who was the last parishioner of those taught by Mother Cabrini. To my surprise, my mother then told me that my own grandmother had been cared for and taught by Mother Cabrini. No wonder every year, my family would visit her shrine. I am grateful that over the years, I have learned more and more about this amazing saint who continues to inspire me. I hope the new movie Cabrini will do the same for many others at a time when we too often encounter prejudice, bigotry, and opposition to the faith.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Patroness of Immigrants, pray for us.