this week's feasts
St. Francis Xavier Cabrini
Maria Francesca Cabrini was born in 1850 in Italy. She was born two months premature and was very small and sickly. She struggled with her health throughout her life because of this. Her parents died in 1870, and she applied to join the Daughters of the Sacred Heart, who had been her teachers. They rejected her application because they believed that she was too sick and frail for the work they did.
After serving as headmistress in an orphanage for a few years, a few women had gathered around her as a leader of prayer and formation. She added Xavier to her name because she wished to be a missionary. In 1880, she and seven other young women formed the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and took vows. Travelling to Rome, she asked the pope if she could go to China as a missionary. He said no, but that he wanted her to go to the United States, because there was a large number of Italian migrants there who needed her help.
Mother Cabrini, as she was called, and her sisters went to New York, and began work there in very difficult situations. Eventually, she would found orphanages and schools and hospitals for the poor, eventually opening 67 institutions for the poor in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and other cities around the USA.
She died in Chicago in 1917 and was canonized in 1946 by Pope Pius XII.
There was a tremendous movie about the life of Mother Cabrini, entitled Cabrini, that was released last year. We showed it at Mother of God a few months ago. You can stream the movie online. If you have not seen it, I highly encourage you to watch it. It is the best “Catholic” movie I have seen in a long time.
The Feast Day of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is this Wednesday, Nov. 13.
After serving as headmistress in an orphanage for a few years, a few women had gathered around her as a leader of prayer and formation. She added Xavier to her name because she wished to be a missionary. In 1880, she and seven other young women formed the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and took vows. Travelling to Rome, she asked the pope if she could go to China as a missionary. He said no, but that he wanted her to go to the United States, because there was a large number of Italian migrants there who needed her help.
Mother Cabrini, as she was called, and her sisters went to New York, and began work there in very difficult situations. Eventually, she would found orphanages and schools and hospitals for the poor, eventually opening 67 institutions for the poor in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and other cities around the USA.
She died in Chicago in 1917 and was canonized in 1946 by Pope Pius XII.
There was a tremendous movie about the life of Mother Cabrini, entitled Cabrini, that was released last year. We showed it at Mother of God a few months ago. You can stream the movie online. If you have not seen it, I highly encourage you to watch it. It is the best “Catholic” movie I have seen in a long time.
The Feast Day of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is this Wednesday, Nov. 13.
St. Margaret of Scotland
Margaret was Queen of Alba, in Scotland from 1070 to 1093, married to King Malcolm III. She was the mother of four kings of Scotland, and her daughter Matilda was the Queen Consort of the King of England.
Queen Margaret encouraged the religious and moral growth of the Church in Scotland, was dedicated to working with the poor, got up at midnight every night to attend Mass, and encouraged the Order of Benedictines to come to minister to the people of Scotland.
The Feast of St. Margaret of Scotland is Saturday, Nov. 16.
Queen Margaret encouraged the religious and moral growth of the Church in Scotland, was dedicated to working with the poor, got up at midnight every night to attend Mass, and encouraged the Order of Benedictines to come to minister to the people of Scotland.
The Feast of St. Margaret of Scotland is Saturday, Nov. 16.
