Patroness of immigrants. She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and, encouraged by Pope Leo XIII, crossed the ocean to dedicate her life to Italian immigrants in the United States.
| Celebration | 22 of December Saints of the day |
|---|---|
| Name |
Francisca is a woman's name.
|
| Birth | on July 15, 1850 in Sant'Angelo Logidiano, Lombardía in current Italy Saints born in Italy |
| Death | on December 22, 1917 in Sant'Angelo Logidiano, Lombardía in current Italy Saints dead in Italy |
| Process |
Beatified on November 13, 1938
by pope Pius XI
Canonized on July 7, 1946
by pope Pius XII
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In Chicago, in the state of Illinois, in the United States of North America, Saint Francesca Xaviera Cabrini, virgin, who founded the Institute of Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and with outstanding charity dedicated herself to caring for emigrants.
She was born in Lombardy, Italy, in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano on July 15, 1850, to Augustine and Stella; the second-to-last of eleven siblings. She came from an ordinary family of Christian peasants. The girl was confirmed at eight years old and received her first communion at nine. She pursued her studies and her first work as a teacher was in the town called Vidardo. There she also carried out important apostolic and social work. Later we see her as superior in the Hospice of Divine Providence in Codogno. But it was an adventure that lasted little and ended badly because the bishop had to dissolve that foundation: there were too few of them and they did not get along. On this occasion, the bishop, who knew her abilities, her inclination toward the missions, and the rectitude of her life, recommended that she establish a missionary foundation.
The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart were born. In 1907 they obtained Papal approval and seven professed sisters began. In a short time they multiplied greatly; when Francesca Xaviera died at sixty-seven years of age, she had personally founded sixty-seven houses throughout Europe (Italy, France, England, Spain), the United States (New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia), and Central America (Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua...).
She always nourished in her impulsive, generous, and brave soul the possibility of bringing and spreading the Gospel in the lands of the Far East, specifically in China. Perhaps that is why as a child she amused herself by making little paper boats and, putting them in the river to be carried forward by the current, she would say to them, "To China!" She could not do it.
It was Pope Leo XIII himself who suggested a complete change of direction, guiding her toward missionary work in America, focusing on Italian emigrants who faced difficulties of all kinds at the beginning of the century. Those emigrants came out ahead: hospitals, orphanages, schools, shelters... came to them with Francesca Xaviera and the Missionary Sisters. And above all, instruction, religious formation, the testimonial care of charity. Well, in reality it was not only Italian emigrants... the entire Church was enriched. She died on December 22, 1917, and Pope Pius XII canonized her in 1943.