MOTHER CABRINI
Wisdom, Chapter 6, Verse 7-8
7 For
the Ruler of all shows no partiality, nor does he fear greatness, because he himself made the great as well as the
small, and provides for all alike;
8 but
for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends.
No matter how big or important you are God is greater.
If you are in a position of power exercise your power as if you are working for
God; for the power, you have been given to you is from him. Whether you are
great or small complete your duties as if it is for the Lord. In all things do
your best. If you are in power take care of and listen to your people do not
lord, it over them. Your authority has been given to you by the Lord.
St. Elizabeth,
Duchess of Thuringia, it is said that the servant of God lost her mother,
Gertrude, Queen of Hungary, about the year 1220. In the spirit of a holy
Christian daughter, she gave abundant alms, redoubled her prayers and
mortifications, exhausted the resources of her charity for the relief of that
dear soul. God revealed to her that she had not done too much. One night the
deceased appeared to her with a sad and emaciated countenance; she placed
herself on her knees next to the bed, and said to her, weeping, “My daughter,
you see at your feet your mother overwhelmed with suffering. I come to implore
you to multiply your suffrages, that Divine Mercy may deliver me from the
frightful torments I endure. Oh! how much are those to be pitied who exercise
authority over others? I expiate now the faults that I committed upon the
throne. Oh! my daughter, I pray you by the pangs I endured when bringing you
into the world, by the cares and anxieties which your education cost me, I conjure
you to deliver me from my torments.” Elizabeth, deeply touched, arose
immediately, took the discipline to blood, and implored God, with tears, to
have mercy on her mother, Gertrude, declaring that she would not cease to pray
until she had obtained her deliverance. Her prayers were heard.
Frances
Xavier Cabrini, born in the province of Lodi in Lombardy, eventually came to
the United States toward the end of the nineteenth century. It was due to total
serendipity that she became the saint for Italian immigrants in this country. It
is also a sweet paradox that she, from the north, arrived during the great wave
of southern Italian emigration to the United States. Having taken her vows in
1877, three years later she and six other nuns founded the religious institute
Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As we read erlier, wanting to
provide help to immigrants beginning in the U.S., Pope Leo XIII suggested
instead that she go west, where, according to him, the already thousands of
Italian immigrants in the U.S. were in great need of assistance. Mother Cabrini
and six others arrived in the United States in 1889 and hit the ground running,
so to speak. As they did in Italy, here, too, Mother Cabrini and her
team founded the requisite housing, a series of schools and orphanages, and the
necessary hospitals that chiefly served the Italian immigrant communities.
Actions supported by the Church, for sure, but actions also emblematic of what
Italians can do in order to help other Italians in need. In all, they
founded close to 70 institutions of all types in numerous cities throughout the
United States — Chicago and New York the two principal cities associated with
Mother Cabrini today, as well as Cabrini College in Pennsylvania. Undoubtedly,
Mother Cabrini was an exemplar of all things possible and thus a symbol of hope
for all. She herself had crossed the ocean in 1889 and, in so doing, had
followed the same route that thousands of other immigrants had and were taking.
Privileged as she was in her role as nun — and let us underscore at this
juncture her gender — she was a woman of great acumen, having succeeded in
overcoming great obstacles of the time and demonstrating how all things were
possible. In this sense, then, she was also an example of how one can get
things done and, more important, how we can still today — and let us say should
— open doors for all people who are in need of such assistance. Her legacy
clearly lives on both within and beyond the Italian/ American community. Italian
Americans continue to serve and donate to many Catholic and social institutions
today, at times even beyond. If there is one thing to bemoan, it is that her
medical institutions of New York — Columbus Hospital and the Italian Hospital,
which eventually became the Cabrini Medical Center — could not be sustained and
consequently closed in 2008. Nonetheless, Mother Cabrini remains that shining
light not only for all those whom she helped, but to be sure, that exemplar par
excellence that we, today, should emulate for the dedication so necessary to get
things done for the better good.
Things to Do:[3]
·
If you live in or pass through Colorado, visit the
western Mother
Cabrini Shrine.
·
Read more about St. Francis
Cabrini.
·
Prepare an Italian dinner in honor of St. Francis
Cabrini. For dessert make a ship cake (symbolizing her missionary work), a
heart cake (she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart) or a Book
Cake (symbolizing her founding a religious order).
·
Say the Little Rosary of St. Francis Xavier Cabrini.
·
Read the Encyclical, On Consecrated Virginity, by Pius XII and if you are
single consider the possibility of a vocation to this life.
·
Read the Pope Benedict XVI's Address for World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 2007.
·
If you know someone who has immigrated to this
country, try to help them feel welcome, perhaps by inviting them over for the
Italian dinner.
Daily Devotions
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