Not to be confused with Saint Francis Xavier, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was a religious sister. She purposefully took the “Xavier” of her name in honor of the Jesuit patron saint of missionary service, St. Francis Xavier.
Often known as Mother Cabrini, she was the first naturalized American citizen to be canonized a saint.
Today, her saintly life as a religious sister dedicating her time to charitable works might seem distant. But her life was full of a deep trust in God that we would do well to imitate in our own lives as Catholic singles.
Trust God in the difficult years
Frances was born in 1850 in Italy. Her parents were cherry tree farmers, and they had already had twelve children before she was born.
Because Frances was born two months premature, she was small and weak as a child. Her health remained fragile for the rest of her life.
From an early age, Frances felt called to religious life. She was particularly attracted to missionary work.
As a child, she once visited her uncle, a priest who lived next to a canal. She made little paper boats, filled them with flowers, and called the flowers missionaries. She pretended to send these missionaries to India and China.
Frances was educated at a school run by the Daughters of the Sacred Heart religious order from ages thirteen to eighteen. She graduated with a teaching certificate and received the highest honors.
Frances’ parents died in 1870. She then attempted to enter the Daughters of the Sacred Heart. But the same sisters who used to be her teachers sadly turned her away because of her continuous frail health.
Stay open to God’s Will
Though Frances must have been disappointed at her rejection from the Daughters of the Sacred Heart, she was ready and willing to discover what God had in store for her next.
When a priest asked her to teach at an orphanage for girls, Frances agreed. Though she had been turned away from official entry to religious life as she had desired, she was now able to live in community with several other women as religious sisters.
She was able to officially take vows and a habit in 1877. However, the orphanage at which she taught eventually closed.
Then, the bishop asked her to establish a religious order with the mission of running schools for poor children and caring for children in hospitals.
Frances wholeheartedly devoted herself to this task, establishing the Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart. In the order’s first five years, she was able to bring about the establishment of many orphanages and schools.
Always eager to serve God in new ways, Frances began to consider traveling to China as a missionary. She sought permission for this endeavor from Pope Leo XIII, but he suggested instead that she should travel to the U.S. to serve the poor Italian immigrants there.
Frances readily dove into this new endeavor and arrived in New York City with six other sisters in 1889.
Rely on God’s providence
Frances’ work in New York was full of difficulties from the start.
There had been an arrangement for her order to use a house there for their orphanage, but she discovered when she arrived that the house wasn’t available.
Frances adapted to this setback quickly, securing lodging for herself and her sisters with the Sisters of Charity. Soon, she found the means to establish an orphanage in West park.
Time and again, as Frances set about doing charitable work in an unknown land, she was faced with great difficulties and what seemed like impossibility for her to continue in her plans.
But she had a deep trust in God’s Providence, and he rewarded her trust. God continually sent her the many resources that she needed, and he worked through her deep prayer life and natural gifts to bring about much good.
During her years working among Italian immigrants in the United States, Frances was able to establish sixty-seven institutions for the care of the poor. Several of these institutions are still functioning today.
A powerful example of trust
Frances Cabrini became an American citizen in 1909, eight years before her death. As the first U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint, she is the patron saint of immigrants and hospital administrators.
But even for those of us who aren’t immigrants or hospital administrators, Frances Cabrini can be a powerful saint to turn to for inspiration and intercession.
Her deep trust in God and her openness to serving him in unexpected ways can be a great example for each of us in our daily struggles with trusting God and with submission to his will when our lives aren’t going as we might have expected.
Frances Xavier Cabrini, pray for us!
