In these troubled times, we hear, “America needs a hero.”
We’ve had such a hero all along, but few know about her.
Now, the biographical drama "Cabrini" will detail the struggling life of New York charity organizer and missionary Francesca Cabrina.
During the late 19th century, she struggled with resistance to her charitable and missionary work.
The movie is based on the inspiring true story of the first American Saint. It opens nationwide on March 8, including Auburn, Opelika, Montgomery, Prattville, Oxford, Pell City, Birmingham, Alabaster, Alexander City, Bessemer, Hoover, Birmingham, Gadsden, Trussville, Albertville, Centre, Mobile, Daphne, Spanish Fort and Orange Beach.
Other locations and dates in Alabama and ticket information are here.
The story is based on Sister Cabrini’s service among the Italian immigrants of New York City, Chicago, New Orleans and Colorado. Her full story is on this website.
While still in her native Italy, she and seven other sisters founded the Order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They desired to be missionaries to China, but Pope Leo XVII dispatched them to New York City to serve the poverty-stricken Italian immigrants. That proved a wise decision.
Their work in New York was a struggle. They did not speak English. They encountered resistance to being female, poor and Italian. Nevertheless, they established orphanages, schools and a hospital for the Italian community.
Word of their work in New York spread to the Italian community in Chicago, where Mother Cabrini went, establishing orphanages and Columbus Hospital. It operated for 97 years.
Word spread to New Orleans, where she traveled and established an orphanage and treated Yellow Fever victims, which had devastated the Italian immigrant community.
She traveled to Colorado, where she established an orphanage in Golden, Colorado and a camp for girls named “The Stonehouse” for its masterpiece exterior (Pictured below). It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
“…in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” — Acts 1:8 KJV
Word of the Sisters' work spread worldwide, and Mother Cabrini traveled to 13 countries, inspiring and teaching others to duplicate her successful work.
Despite resistance due to her being a woman, an Italian and a Catholic, she and the Sisters blessed the lives of hundreds of thousands of “the least of us.”
She was canonized as a Saint in 1946 by Pope Pius XII and designated Patron Saint of Immigrants in 1950.
Part of the decision to canonize Mother Cabrina was based on investigations of Godly miracles widely attributed to her service.
“I travel, work, suffer my weak health, meet with a thousand difficulties, but all these are nothing, for this world is so small. To me, space is an imperceptible object, as I am accustomed to dwell in eternity.” — Mother Francisca Cabrini
Jim Zeigler is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at ZeiglerElderCare@yahoo.com.
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