Again, things didn't go according to plan - she was asked to go west, not east - heading to New York City to care for the thousands of Italian immigrants who had no spiritual support. Arriving in NYC, their promised housing fell through, but Mother Cabrini was determined to stay.
By the time Frances died (in 1917), she had begun 67 badly needed schools, orphages and hospitals. These were located in the United States, Central and South America, Italy, France and England. In all [despite a fear of water], Frances crossed the ocean 30 times. After she died, her sisters fulfilled her dream and did missionary work in China. (Companion to the Calendar by Mary Ellen Hynes. LTP, 1993)How does her story apply to us today? Consider this commentary from AmericanCatholic.org
The compassion and dedication of Mother Cabrini is still seen in hundreds of thousands of her fellow citizens, not yet canonized, who care for the sick in hospitals, nursing homes and state institutions. We complain of increased medical costs in an affluent society, but the daily news shows us millions who have little or no medical care, and who are calling for new Mother Cabrinis to become citizen-servants of their land.She is the patron saint of immigrants.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, pray for us!
The selflessness and love of the unnamed saints, as well as St. Frances X. Cabrini, is one of a number of reasons I became a Catholic. I'm not sure I've ever mentioned it to the RCIA class, but the very last event in my life to send me, finally, knocking on the church's door, was the illness of my niece, who was then just a month old. I flew up to Albany to take care of my other niece and the house while my sister and her husband spent their days at the hospital, where there were a number of religious women counseling and nursing. I felt powerless and I prayed from a Catholic prayer book I found. I remember, at some point, thinking to myself, Please spare her and I will not forget these prayers. She was spared, she's happy and healthy now, and I was immensely grateful. I came to the Catholic Church, in part, because I wanted to know what those prayers were, what they had meant, and how to keep doing whatever it was I had been doing, if anything. I love those prayers now, I'll never forget them.
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