THE FAITH, ZEAL AND PERSEVERANCE OF MOTHER SAINT FRANCES CABRINI

 

THE FAITH, ZEAL AND PERSEVERANCE OF MOTHER SAINT FRANCES CABRINI

This weekend we welcome Father John Burger, SSC who is a priest of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, whose members are known as the Columban Fathers.  The Pontifical Mission Societies of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, with the endorsement of Archbishop Pérez, ask parishes to sponsor a missionary for a weekend in the summer so that he or she can make an appeal on behalf of their apostolates which do so much good.  Those whom they serve are poor.  Without our help they could not accomplish so much. 

The Church in the United States is in large measure the fruit of the faith and work of many missionaries who came to the United States to serve immigrants who had left their homeland to find a better life here.  In fact, the first citizen of the United States who was canonized came to America as a missionary.  Mother Frances Cabrini was born in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano in Italy on July 15, 1850.  As a young girl she read the stories of missionaries and decided that she wanted to do what they did.  Because of frail health, she was not accepted into the religious order whose sisters had taught her.  Not to be discouraged, she accepted the invitation of a priest to teach at an orphanage.  Other women joined her and they lived like religious.  In 1880 they founded the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Intending to be missionaries in China, Pope Leo XIII suggested to Frances that they go “not to the East but to the West” and minister to Italian immigrants in America.  They had left a Catholic culture to live and work in a majority Protestant culture and were often subject to suspicion, prejudice and mistrust because of their religion and foreign origin.  They needed support from their fellow believers.    

We owe a lot of gratitude to Pope Leo XIII for encouraging the Missionary Sisters to come to America.  Here they cared for the sick, elderly, the young, and the orphaned.  Their zeal and vibrant religious life drew many women to their order.  By the end of her life Mother Cabrini had established 67 orphanages, schools, and hospitals across the country.  She crossed the Atlantic Ocean 23 times mostly to raise money for the works of the sisters.  She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1909.  Eight years later, worn out by her work, she passed away from complications of dysentery at the age of 67.  She was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1946 and her feast day is November 13.  The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus continue to serve throughout the world.

Mother Saint Frances Cabrini was exceptional but she could not have accomplished all she did without the support of helpful bishops and priests, the collaboration of the immigrants and other lay faithful, and the generous donations of Catholics, especially in Europe.  When he canonized her Pope Pius XII said in his homily, “Although her constitution was very frail, her spirit was endowed with such singular strength that, knowing the will of God in her regard, she permitted nothing to impede her from accomplishing what seemed to be beyond the strength of a woman.”  She was successful because of her holiness, perseverance, refusal to give in to discouragement, and trust in divine providence.  Her peace of soul was often noted, and it won over many people. 

Mother could never have done what she did without the support of others.  Our continued support for missionaries, and on this particular Sunday, for the Missionary Society of St. Columban, will assure that the Church will continue to fulfill the Great Commission to bring the gospel to all the world.