Saint Frances Cabrini - "Mother Cabini"

Saint Frances Cabrini

Mother Cabrini

Our story begins with Saint Frances Cabrini. Born in northern Italy in 1850, thirty nine years later, in 1889, she would sail for the United States, the first of many voyages she would make in her sixty seven years of service to the Lord. She is the first American citizen to be raised to the Communion of Saints, a member of the Church Triumphant. The story of Saint Francis  Cabrini, as she has been called throughout the Twentieth Century, is very simple. The Lord asked her to do something; she said yes. Although it sounds simple, it was by no means an easy task. Someone had to take care of the Italian brothers and sisters in the United States; she saw the need and filled that need. The living out of that commitment is what made her a Saint.

Saint Frances Cabrini - Early Years

We travel to the northern part of Italy, east of Turin and south of Milan, to the little farming village of Sant’ Angelo Lodigiano to find the birthplace of our future Saint Frances Cabrini. She was born in that small rural community on July 15, 1850, the thirteenth in a family of thirteen children.

Saint Frances Cabrini was the youngest and the last of the family of Stella and Agostino Cabrini, saintly parents. She was baptized the same day or the following day, given the name Maria Francesca, and in later years when she became a religious, she added Saverio (Xavier) to her name, after her most special Saint, Francis Xavier, who evangelized in India.

There were many unusual, unexplainable, or what we would term miraculous occurrences in the life of Mother Cabrini. The very first one happened on the day she was born. On the modest little farm of the Cabrinis, a flock of doves settled in the back yard of their home. This was extremely unusual because doves never settled in this area; pigeons yes, doves no. Her father, Agostino, a simple man, had no idea what it signified, so he tried to shoo them away. They wouldn’t budge. This was the beginning of many special gifts and signs given to this selfless servant of God. Humble, she never gave any importance to these gifts. But she never denied them either.

Her mother and father were holy people. They taught their children everything they knew about the Church and their Faith. The children especially looked forward to their father reading them stories on the Lives of the Saints. They all gathered around him, as he spun tales of these brothers and sisters in Christ who had passed the test of time, had been washed in the blood of the Lamb, and were part of the Church Triumphant. This was the family into which this future Saint was born.

Saint Frances Cabrini was frail all her life, which accounted for her father rushing her off to Church to be baptized right after her birth. He feared she might not live. Isn’t it just like the Lord to choose someone who’s weak to do the work of ten strong people? She was in good company. Most of our powerful women in the Church have been sick all their lives, like St. Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Mother Angelica, just to name a few. People were amazed at her remarkable energy.

Saint Frances Cabrini - Education

Saint Frances Cabrini was the youngest; what with her mother having so much to do and because of the toll that years of caring for the family had taken on her, little Frances was assigned to Rosa, the oldest girl, who was fifteen years old. It was a good choice in that Rosa had dreamed of becoming a nun, as well as a school teacher. She taught little Francesca, or Cecchina, (as she was called because she was so delicate), everything she knew. Rosa was an excellent teacher, and so Francesca had the gift of private tutoring. She received an excellent education - gaining both secular and religious values from her sister.

Rosa became her confidante, as well as her teacher and second mother. She could tell Rosa anything. Francesca told her about her hunger to go to China as a missionary, giving credit for this burning desire to the stories her father had told the family on cold winter evenings, about the brave missionaries and their fervor and desire to work in the Missions.

We believe that Saint Frances Cabrini was infused with a great love of Jesus and the Holy Family, but her family’s love of the Church and their influence on her enriched it. She had a longing to embrace Our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. In those days, the acceptable age to receive First Holy Communion was twelve. But this was a terrible hardship, as Frances had an urgency to be joined to Jesus in this Sacrament. Couple this with the fact that she knew her Catechism extremely well, thanks to Rosa’s teaching, the bishop could do nothing short of giving her permission at age nine to receive her First Holy Communion. We believe the Bishop secretly believed as the future Pope St. Pius X did, who in his pontificate brought about the practice of children receiving the Eucharist at an early age.

Saint Frances Cabrini - Missionary Zeal

There’s nothing written about Saint Frances Cabrini’s reaction to the gift of receiving Our Lord Jesus for the first time. Our Little Flower, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, wrote beautifully about the emotional and spiritual feelings she experienced when she was given that first “Sweet Kiss of Jesus.” Let it suffice to say she loved Jesus so much that two years later Francesca requested from her Parish priest, permission to make a vow of virginity. He questioned her extensively before giving permission, and then allowed it for one year, to be renewed at the end of the year. Francesca kept that vow her entire life.

Although she wanted to be a missionary, her parents felt that a vocation of a school teacher, following in the footsteps of Rosa, would be better for her. So they sent her to a convent school in Arluno, where she excelled. She remained there until she was eighteen, at which time she earned her teaching credentials and began teaching in the village school at Sant’ Angelo. She did very well there, and the children loved her.

Saint Frances Cabrini was not aware of it, but she was preparing herself for the life she would lead as a religious. She was learning how to mother and nurture children, one of her major attributes by which the Lord would draw young girls to her Ministry. Whatever she did, it was with her goal of becoming a Missionary for Christ in India or China, or wherever the Lord called her. She knew that meant entering a religious order.

Her temperament throughout her entire life was one of “Let’s get on with it.” To that end, as a young girl, she applied to various religious orders for acceptance. Despite her energy, she was turned down, because of poor health. She couldn’t understand how they couldn’t see what an asset she would be to their communities, how she wanted to serve God so passionately. But she was always a woman of obedience. Like all the Saints and other Powerful Men and Women we have researched, Francesca Cabrini ranked obedience as the most important virtue she could practice and required the same virtue from all who worked in the Lord’s Vineyard through her.

Saint Frances Cabrini - fights smallpox

A plague of Smallpox hit the village. Saint Frances Cabribni and Rosa worked tirelessly helping the victims of the epidemic. Francesca contracted Smallpox, but was never afflicted with permanent signs of the disease. When she recovered, she was sent to another small village, Vidardo, to take the place of a teacher who had fallen ill. It was there she met Fr. Antonio Serrati, who became a lifelong friend and advisor. He could see in Francesca what others may have missed, her love of Jesus manifested in her serving His suffering children. He may have seen the Lord’s plan for her even when she could not. He was her confidante; but he was also very straight with her.

When Saint Frances Cabrini shared her desire to be a missionary in China, he dismissed it immediately with “You’re too weak for such a life.” Basta cosi! (end of story!) He may have judged she thought it romantic to be a missionary in the fields of China. Or he may have been given infused knowledge as to the mission fields to which she would be called, and in which she would accomplish great things for the Lord.

Saint Frances Cabrini - book - dvd - cd available

This Vision book for 9 - 15 year olds tells the exciting story of this missionary from Italy who came to America to spread the Faith. She founded a new order nuns, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, to teach the Faith and work with the poor in our country. She was a tireless missionary who crossed the ocean 37 times to expand her order across the world to France, England, Spain; in Central and South America; in the United States from coast to coast including New York, New Orleans, Denver, Seattle (where she took the oath of U.S. citizenship) and Chicago, where she died in 1917, a saint of our time. Cover art by Chris Pelicano

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