St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (affectionally known as “Mother Cabrini”) was a healthcare pioneer in the United States, establishing 67 institutions during her short life. This number includes schools, orphanages, hospitals, and social service outreach programs.
St. John Paul II describes her as having, “remarkable boldness,” never being afraid of large projects or insurmountable odds. Furthermore, she took her faith with her in all of our missionary activities.
This was especially the case in hospitals, where she believed that faith should hold a primary place in healthcare. This is highlighted in a 1918 article for the Catholic World magazine.
[I]t was now evident that hospitals offered the best chance to win back adult Italians who had abandoned their faith and to influence deeply those who could be brought in no other way under Christian influences. After an Italian had been under the care of these devoted Italian Sisters, it was, indeed, hard for him to neglect his religion as before, and many a family returned to the devout practice of the Faith when the father had had his eyes opened to the practical virtues of religion by his stay in the hospital.
She believed that helping the sick and serving the poor was a method of evangelization, opening the doors of the heart to God.
Furthermore, when faced with an impossible crisis, she stood firmly in her beliefs and continue forward.
This holy woman brought to the service of her zeal for religion such good sound common sense and business acumen and efficiency, as to call forth the admiration of all who knew her and who realized what she was accomplishing in the face of unlooked-for and almost insurmountable difficulties.
A favorite expression of hers, often repeated to her Sisters and often uttered even in her dealings with secular people, was: “I can do all things in Him that strengthens me.” Her entire confidence in God, her utter lack of self-sufficiency, her constant confession that she was but a poor little nun,” bore her triumphantly over all difficulties.
Above all things, she could not have made such strides in healthcare without a life rooted firmly in God and in prayer, as St. John Paul II wrote in a letter to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
Her extraordinary activity — as you well know — drew its strength from prayer, especially from long periods before the tabernacle. Christ was everything to her. Her constant concern was to discern his will in the directives of the Church’s Magisterium and in the events of life themselves.
Mother Cabrini is the perfect example for all healthcare workers, and she can also help those on the frontlines with her prayers. She knows exactly what it feels like serving the sick and suffering, and is a powerful intercessor for all who call upon her aid.
Read more:
New York City unveils Mother Cabrini monument
Read more:
Mother Cabrini’s helpful tip for correcting an employee
And today we celebrate...