November 13 : Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

Frances Cabrini was born in Italy in 1850, one of thirteen children. When she was eighteen years old, poor health kept her from becoming a Sister. She helped her mother and father until their death, and then worked on a farm with her brother and sister. A priest asked her to teach in a school for girls. She taught for six years. Because a bishop asked her, she started a missionary order in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to care for poor children in schools and hospitals. Frances wrote to Pope Leo XIII, and he told her: “Go to the United States, my child. There is much work awaiting you there.” She came to the United States with six Sisters in 1889, and began working among the Italian people of New York. She became an American citizen. Mother Cabrini started 67 orphanages, schools, and hospitals in 35 years. She was the first American citizen to become a Saint, 7 July 1946.