As a little girl growing up in New York City, Brooklyn was my world. There were the occasional trips to visit family in New Jersey, Long Island or Connecticut, but my favorite place to visit was the magical borough of Manhattan, known as “the city.”
We might visit a museum or see the tree at Rockefeller Center. Still, every year, without fail, we would take my grandmother on her annual pilgrimage to Mother Cabrini’s shrine in Washington Heights, all the way up at the northern tip of Manhattan.
Family & Faith
My family attended Mass every week without fail. Our parish was a modern church that lacked the grandeur and reverence of the beautiful old churches of the past that I love. Luckily, my grandmother belonged to such a parish; I loved going with her to light candles.
Like many Italians of the time, my grandmother maintained a small home altar in a hallway alcove. The base was a beautiful old enamel ice box in jadeite green (which now stores every imaginable cut of pasta known to mankind!).
On top, were the candles she lit daily, along with a crucifix, a statue of the Infant Jesus of Prague (which I now have), a plaque of St. Anthony, and a prayer card of her favorite saint, Mother Cabrini, the patron saint of immigrants.
A Lifetime of Service
At the time, I thought the reverence for Mother Cabrini was solely because she was an Italian immigrant who became an American citizen –and– the first to be canonized as a saint. But there is so much more to her story.
Mother Cabrini was a pioneer. She was the first person to establish social services for new immigrants; opening schools, teaching English and catechism, as well as U.S. customs so they could more easily assimilate to their new lives.
She opened orphanages and hospitals – a total of 67 institutions in the United States, South America and Europe.
At the age of 30, she founded her own order, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; still active, serving in 16 countries across six continents.
A remarkable feat for anyone, much less an immigrant nun in the 1800s!
Getting Her Due
During the pandemic, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York commissioned a statue of Mother Cabrini which sits in Manhattan’s Battery Park, overlooking the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, important symbols for every immigrant.
At the unveiling, Governor Cuomo said
Today the lesson of Mother Cabrini is even more vital because of the difficulties we are facing. We all know these are challenging times, but as we also know in the book of life it is not what one does when the sun is shining that tests…but it is what one does in the fury of the storm.
And now, Mother Cabrini devotees anxiously await the opening of the new film about her life.
It’s about time she is getting the recognition she deserves – 78 years after her canonization!
I wish Grandma was still here so I could take her to see the movie. She would be so proud.
Learn More about Mother Cabrini
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Love this article.
Thank you! I was thrilled when it was announced they were making a movie about her life. Few people know anything about her.