MOTHER FRANCIS XAVIER CABRINI 2020
JULY 19, 2020
ON THURSDAY A GROUP OF PEOPLE MET AT THE COLUMBUS MONUMENT IN FRONT OF THE CATHEDRAL. I WAS ASKED TO OFFER A PRAYER ON THAT OCCASION. AS YOU KNOW THERE ARE A GROUP OF WELL-MEANING PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THE MONUMENT REMOVED.
MANY THOUGHTS CAME TO MY MIND AS I WAS LISTENING AND PRAYING.
I THOUGHT OF WHAT PRESIDENT OBAMA SAID ON COLUMBUS DAY IN 2016: “MORE THAN FIVE CENTURIES AGO, ONE JOURNEY CHANGED THE TRAJECTORY OF OUR WORLD -- AND TODAY WE RECOGNIZE THE SPIRIT THAT CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS'S LEGACY INSPIRED. AS WE REFLECT ON THE ADVENTURERS THROUGHOUT HISTORY WHO CHARTED NEW COURSES AND SOUGHT NEW HEIGHTS, LET US REMEMBER THE COMMUNITIES WHO SUFFERED, AND LET US PAY TRIBUTE TO OUR HERITAGE AND EMBRACE THE MULTICULTURALISM THAT DEFINES THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.”
I THOUGHT OF SOMETHING THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP SAID IN HIS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO PROTECT THE MONUMENTS: HE SAID: “THESE STATUES ARE NOT OURS ALONE, TO BE DISCARDED AT THE WHIM OF THOSE INFLAMED BY FASHIONABLE POLITICAL PASSIONS; THEY BELONG TO GENERATIONS THAT HAVE COME BEFORE US AND TO GENERATIONS YET UNBORN.”
I THOUGHT OF A STATEMENT MADE BY THE NATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICANS FOUNDATION in WASHINGTON, D.C. THEY SAID THAT THOSE WHO HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE STATUE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THAT THE REMOVING OF THIS STATUE IS AN AFFRONT TO MILLIONS OF ITALIAN AMERICANS. THIS MASSIVE WAVE OF IMMIGRANTS WHO CAME TO THESE SHORES OVERCAME DISCRIMINATION AND SCRAPED UP MONEY TO MAKE THE STATUES POSSIBLE.
THEN I THOUGHT OF AN ITALIAN AMERICAN WHOSE MONUMENT IS PRESENTLY BEING BUILT IN NEW YORK CITY. I WANT TO TELL YOU ABOUT HER TODAY.
FRANCES CABRINI WAS BORN ON JULY15, 1850 IN A SMALL VILLAGE NEAR THE CITY OF MILAN, ITALY. SHE GREW UP ENTHRALLED BY THE STORIES OF MISSIONARIES AND MADE UP HER MIND TO JOIN A RELIGIOUS ORDER. SHE WAS NOT ACCEPTED BY THE DAUGHTERS OF THE SACRED HEART BECAUSE OF HER FRAIL HEALTH.
FRANCES CABRINI DID NOT GIVE UP. IN 1880, WITH SEVEN YOUNG WOMEN, FRANCES FOUNDED THE INSTITUTE OF THE MISSIONARY SISTERS OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. SHE TOOK HER VOWS AND CHANGED HER NAME IN HONOR OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. THE PATRON SAINT OF MISSIONARIES; SOON AFTER, SHE BECAME KNOWN AS MOTHER FRANCIS XAVIER CABRINI.
MOTHER CABRINI PLANNED TO FOUND A CONVENT IN CHINA, BUT POPE LEO XIII SUGGESTED THAT SHE GO WEST, NOT EAST. POPE LEO ASKED HER TO GO TO THE UNITED STATES AND TO CONCENTRATE HER WORK AMONG THE NEGLECTED ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS. SHE SAILED WITH A SMALL GROUP OF SISTERS FOR THE UNITED STATES IN 1889.
MOTHER CABRINI AND HER SIX SISTERS BEGAN THEIR WORK IN THE NEW YORK SLUMS. TO SUPPORT THEIR FIRST ORPHANAGE THEY BEGGED THEIR WAY THROUGH THE SQUALOR OF LITTLE ITALY. LATER THEY MANAGED TO SET UP A TINY, ILL-EQUIPPED HOSPITAL FOR THE ITALIAN POOR. THOUGH FUNDS CAME MOSTLY IN SMALL CHANGE, MOTHER CABRINI‘S MASTERFUL WILL AGAIN & AGAIN OVERCAME OBSTACLES THAT SEEMED INSUPERABLE.
FOR THE NEXT 28 YEARS SHE TRAVELED TIRELESSLY, SETTING UP SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ORPHANAGES AND NOVITIATES IN CHICAGO, NEW ORLEANS, PHILADELPHIA, LOS ANGELES, SEATTLE, DENVER AND OTHER U.S. CITIES.
SOON, REQUESTS FOR HER TO OPEN SCHOOLS CAME TO FRANCES CABRINI FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. SHE TRAVELED TO EUROPE, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA AND THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. SHE MADE 23 TRANS-ATLANTIC CROSSINGS SHE ESTABLISHED 67 INSTITUTIONS: SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS AND ORPHANAGES.
MOTHER CABRINI BECAME A NATURALIZED CITIZEN IN 1909. THAT CITIZENSHIP WOULD EARN THAT ITALIAN NUN THE TITLE OF THE FIRST AMERICAN SAINT.
HER ACTIVITY WAS RELENTLESS UNTIL HER DEATH. SHE DIED ON DECEMBER 22, 1917, IN CHICAGO. IN 1946, SHE WAS CANONIZED A SAINT BY POPE PIUS XII IN RECOGNITION OF HER HOLINESS AND SERVICE TO MANKIND AND WAS NAMED PATRONESS OF IMMIGRANTS IN 1950.
TODAY THE MISSIONARY SISTERS, THEIR LAY COLLABORATORS AND VOLUNTEERS WORK AS TEACHERS, NURSES, SOCIAL WORKERS, ADMINISTRATORS AND MEMBERS OF INSTITUTIONAL BOARDS OF TRUSTEES. THEY CAN BE FOUND ON SIX CONTINENTS AND 15 COUNTRIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
THE WORK OF MOTHER CABRINI ON THIS EARTH WAS NOT FINISHED. IN 1921 A FEW YEARS AFTER HER DEATH, AN INFANT WAS BORN IN COLUMBUS HOSPITAL. THE INFANT, PETER SMITH, WAS BLINDED WHEN A NURSE ACCIDENTALLY ADMINISTERED 50 PERCENT SILVER NITRATE SOLUTION TO HIS EYES, CAUSING SEVERE INJURIES.
THE SPIRITUAL DAUGHTERS OF FRANCES CABRINI, GATHERED IN THE CHAPEL OF COLUMBUS HOSPITAL IN NEW YORK. THE SUPERIOR AND THE SISTERS SPENT THE NIGHT PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE.THE FOLLOWING MORNING, THE DOCTORS AND NURSES DISCOVERED THAT THE BABY'S EYES HAD BEEN HEALED. THIS WAS THE MIRACLE USED FOR HER CANONIZATION.
THE COMPASSION AND DEDICATION OF MOTHER CABRINI IS STILL SEEN IN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF HER FELLOW CITIZENS WHO CARE FOR THE SICK IN HOSPITALS, NURSING HOMES, AND STATE INSTITUTIONS.
BECAUSE THE PAST IS ALWAYS AT RISK OF BEING FORGOTTEN, MONUMENTS WILL ALWAYS BE NEEDED TO HONOR THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE. WILL WE HONOR HERO’S FROM THE JUDAIO- CHRISTIAN CULTURE, OR WILL WE HONOR HERO’S FROM THE SECULAR CULTURE?
FOR EXAMPLE ON JUNE 20, 2018 THE DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN NEW YORK CITY ANNOUNCED A NEW EFFORT TO COMMISSION A PUBLIC MONUMENT THAT HONORS WOMEN'S HISTORY IN NEW YORK CITY. THEY CALLED THE PROJECT SHE BUILT NEW YORK CITY. THE EFFORT KICKED OFF WITH AN OPEN CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC.
GUESS WHO WON THE NOMINATION. YOU WILL NEVER GUESS. SAINT FRANCES XAVIER CABRINI OVERWHELMINGLY CAME IN FIRST PLACE WITH 219 NOMINATIONS. HOW DO YOU THINK THE SECULAR CULTURE RESPONDED?
DESPITE THE PUBLIC’S CLEAR-CUT CHOICE, A SPOKESPERSON FOR SHE BUILT NYC SAID CABRINI WAS TAKEN OUT OF THE RUNNING BECAUSE THE SAINT ALREADY HAD A SHRINE DEDICATED TO HER IN UPPER MANHATTAN. SO YOU SEE, THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY REMAIN THE SAME.
MOTHER CABRINI REPRESENTED A PRODUCT OF THE JUDAEO- CHRISTIAN CULTURE. THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE PREFERRED SOMEONE FROM THE SECULAR CULTURE.
YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN KNOWING WHO THE COMMITTEE PREFERRED TO MOTHER CABRINI.
THESE ARE THE WOMEN WHO WERE EVENTUALLY AGREED UPON TO RECEIVE THE HONOR OF A MONUMENT IN NEW YORK CITY: SINGER BILLIE HOLIDAY, REP. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, AND LGBTQ ACTIVIST MARSHA JOHNSON, EDUCATOR ELIZABETH JENNINGS GRAHAM, AND ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST HELEN RODRIGUEZ TRÍAS, TRANSGENDER ADVOCATE SYLVIA RIVERA AND LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER KATHERINE WALKER.
YOU CAN DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THERE IS A CULTUAL WAR GOING ON.
THAT IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY. THE ITALIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY THAT NOMINATED MOTHER CABRINI DECIDED TO BUILD A MONUMENT TO MOTHER CABRINI ANYWAY.
DECEMBER 19,2019 - GOVERNOR CUOMO ANNOUNCED HIS FULL SUPPORT FOR A NEW MEMORIAL HONORING MOTHER CABRINI, AN ITALIAN-AMERICAN NUN WHO CAME TO THE UNITED STATES AS AN IMMIGRANT AND DEDICATED HER LIFE TO PUBLIC SERVICE ON BEHALF OF THE LESS FORTUNATE.THE GOVERNOR DEDICATED $750,000 IN STATE AID TO FUND THE PROJECT.
THE STATUE OF THE PATRON SAINT OF IMMIGRANTS WILL BE LOCATED IN THE SOUTH COVE OF BATTERY PARK PROVIDING THE MONUMENT WITH SWEEPING VIEWS OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY IN New York HARBOR.
AS MONUMENTS AND STATUES FALL ACROSS THE UNITED STATES, AND AROUND THE WORLD, ACTIVISTS AND TOWNS ARE LEFT WONDERING WHAT TO DO WITH EMPTY SPACES THAT ONCE HONORED HISTORIC FIGURES TIED TO CONFEDERATE GENERALS AND SPANISH CONQUISTADORS. THEY ALSO ARE DEBATING HOW TO REMEMBER CIVIL RIGHTS FIGURES AND EVENTS IN AREAS WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN.
THE OPPORTUNITY TO REIMAGINE SPACES HAS CREATED A DEBATE: WHAT HEROES WILL WE NOW HONOR AND WHY? WILL WE CONSIDER NOMINATIONS OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO MODEL THE VALUES OF THE JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN CULTURE OR WILL WE CONSIDER ONLY THOSE WHO MODEL THE SECULAR CULTURE? TIME WILL TELL.
MOTHER FRANCIS XAVIER CABRINI PRAY FOR US.