Today December 22

Yesterday was the (old) feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850 - 1917). Her early life was a series of frustrations and disappointments. Taught by the Daughters of the Sacred Heart (and on her part, an excellent student with a bent toward education -- she even got her teaching certificate -- and especially a bent toward serving in the Far East), she thought to apply as a postulant there, but . . . rejected! Then she tried the Sisters of Cannossa . . . same thing. So she obeyed her bishop, who asked her to take over the religious House of Providence, an orphanage run by would-be sisters. These greedy and thoroughly incompetent women made her life hell and "realising the hopelessness of the task, the bishop closed down the orphanage, and thus addressed Sister Cabrini: 'You want to be a missionary. I know no institute of missionary sisters, so found one yourself.' " - Angelus Book of Saints. So she did. Taking some of the girls from the orphanage who were interested, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. No money, no experience, and no support for the Cardinal Vicar and others of the clergy, they still threw themselves into missionary work locally, still with the goal of serving in the Far East. But when her bishop suggested she emigrate to America to help the downtrodden Italians there, she balked. She approached the pope, Leo XIII, who famously said: "Not to the east, but to the west. You will find a vast field for labor in the United States." That settled it. She gave up her own will and arranged for passage. After a long, difficult journey, she was met with: opposition from the clergy! The bishop, who twice had begged her to come, told her when she got there that the deal was off and to go home to Italy. It turned out he'd had a fight with one of the "big givers," who'd pulled the money for the planned orphanage, school, and convent. Never a "halfway woman," Mother Cabrini sought her out and got her to change her mind. The first institution went up in New York. Soon -- and almost miraculously, for they had no money -- schools, convents, hospitals and orphanages went up all over the country, from New York to Seattle. She really was an answer to the poor people's prayers.

How did she do it? Well, for one, whenever a problem arose, Mother Cabrini would look at the work and ask, "Who is doing this? We -- or the Lord?" She had total trust in God. Money came in as she needed it. She would do her homework; she even made her sisters tape measure a building she wanted to purchase to make sure she was not being short-changed. She put medals on the property she needed and prayed to the saints. She accosted the owners when she knew who they were and somehow, some way, persuaded them to sell. And when she, for instance, only knew the last name of the owner of a hotel she needed -- and it was the fairly common one of "Clark" -- she got her intrepid sisters to call every Clark in the New York phone book til she got him! Wow.

"She is an encouraging saint. Certain natural characteristics might have made her an unlovable woman. Very able -- there was 'no fooling Mother Cabrini,' said one who tried -- a strict disciplinarian, she could have been an autocrat. . . . Owing to want of experience, she was a first narrow in some respects. But grace perfected nature. She had faith, she was a woman of prayer, and she was humble. She was ready to learn, to recognize her faults and to work at them." She had a knack for working with prisoners. At Sing Sing she worked among the most hardened criminals, and had good fruits there.

She died in Chicago on this date ninety years ago. Intrepid Mother Cabrini, we love you; pray for us.