Subj : December 22nd - St Frances Xavier Cabrini To : All From : rich Date : Sat Dec 21 2019 08:17:57 From: rich December 22nd - St Frances Xavier Cabrini Also known as Francesca Saverio Cabrini Memorial 22 December 13 November (in the United States) (1850-1917) Summary Frances Xavier Cabrini was the first United States citizen to be canonised.= Born in Northern Italy, she wanted to be a missionary in China, her local = Bishop Scalabrini wanted her to work locally but Pope Leo XIII directed her= to work among Italian workers in the United States. There, despite many ad= versities, her deep trust in God gave her the strength to set up many schoo= ls, orphanages and hospitals. Her sisters, the Missionary Sisters of the Sa= cred Heart, have centres today on six continents. Patrick Duffy tells her story. Born in Italy Born in 1850, the youngest of thirteen children of an Italian farmer Agosti= no and her mother Stella; they lived at Sant'Angelo Lodigiano in th= e province of Lombardy, northern Italy. Francesca (her baptismal name) had = a strict upbringing. When she was twenty, both her parents died. She qualif= ied as a primary school teacher and wanted to join religious life, but the = two orders she applied to rejected her. She was less than five feet in heig= ht! Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart She began charitable work with a team of young women at the House of Provid= ence Orphanage in Cadogno, Italy, but this had to be closed down for lack o= f funds. In September 1877, she took religious vows and wanted to go as a m= issionary to China and added Xavier to her name. Seven of her companions at= the orphanage joined her in the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. At= the urging of Bishop John Baptist Scalabrini of Piacenza who had founded a= missionary society of priests for Italian migrants and Pope Leo XIII, she = went instead with six sisters to New York in 1889 to work with Italian immi= grants living and working there. Italian immigrants in New York Here she met with many disappointments. Archbishop of New York Michael Corr= igan was at first unsupportive and advised her to return home. However, she= valiantly began teaching and caring for the sick and orphans. Bishop Scala= brini convinced Corrigan that her work deserved better support and at his r= equest she undertook hospital work for the Italian sick poor in New York ci= ty. In 1890 she set up the novitiate and head house of her congregation in = the USA at West Park on the River Hudson. She later travelled to Chicago an= d Seattle and established other hospitals there. Her sisters staffed a pari= sh school and an orphanage for a colony of Italian immigrants working under= harsh conditions in the mines in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and later= in the Santa Monica Mountains in California. International Soon Mother Cabrini sought to extend her order's missions to Latin = America, at first in Nicaragua and later in Argentina, where she opened a s= chool, Colegio Santa Rosa, at the invitation of the Archbishop of Buenos Ai= res. She crossed the Atlantic to Italy nine times to find new recruits. Alw= ays a prolific writer, during her second voyage, she began the custom of wr= iting letters to her sisters in the form of a travel diary. These letters a= re preserved today and are valuable as biographical documentation. She set = up houses in France and Spain, aware that Italian Sisters alone could not b= e effective where other languages were spoken. In 1907 she became a citizen= of the USA so she could have legal protection of all the properties her Or= der had there. There, despite many adversities, her deep trust in God gave = her the strength to set up many schools, orphanages and hospitals. Her sist= ers, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, have centres today on all = six continents. Her death and legacy When Mother Cabrini died on 22nd December 1917, 67 missions of the Institut= e had been established, ministries of healing, teaching, caring, giving and= reaching out, in cities of the United States, Italy, France, England, Spai= n, Brazil, Argentina, and Nicaragua. In 1946, she became the first American= citizen to be canonised. Pope Pius XII also declared her =E2=80=98patrones= s of immigrants.' Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart Her order, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, is flourishing on si= x continents. Their work is in education, pastoral ministry, religious inst= ruction and outreach to those in need spiritually and materially. For more,= see www.mothercabrini.com Saint Quote: There is a beauty of form, a dignity of language, a sublimity of diction which are, so to speak, spontaneous, and are the natural outcome of great thoughts, strong convictions, and glowing feelings. The Fathers [of the Church] often attain to this eloquence without intending to do so, without self-complacency and all unconsciously. --St. Augustine (354-430) Bible Quote An ancient man rebuke not, but entreat him as a father: young men, as brethren:=C2 Old women, as mothers: young women, as sisters, in all chastity. Honour widows, that are widows indeed.=C2 (1 Tim 5:1-3)=C2 = DRB <><><><> To Jesus Abandoned: With Mary Immaculate, let us adore, thank, implore and console, the Most Beloved and Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. O Divine Jesus, lonely tonight in so many Tabernacles, without visitor or worshipper, I offer Thee my poor heart. May its every throb be an act of love for Thee. Thou art always watching beneath the Sacramental Veils; in Thy love Thou dost never sleep and Thou art never weary of Thy vigil for sinners. O lonely Jesus, may the flame of my heart burn and beam always in company with Thee. O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine! --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .