Tuesday, November 13, 2018

 Click here for today’s readings

Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, who from a very young age, was filled with the missionary spirit.

When she went to visit to her uncle, Don Luigi Oldini of Livagra,
a priest who lived beside a swift canal, she made little boats of paper,
dropped violets in them, called the flowers missionaries,
and launched them to sail off to India and China.
~ Lives of the Saints – John J. Cauley ~

Frail as a young woman, she was at first rejected for religious life. But eventually, through the often labyrinthine ways of God’s grace, Frances founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Still desiring to be a missionary to China, Frances petitioned the Pope for approval. He, instead, requested that she and her sisters go to the USA to minister to the massive influx of Italian immigrants there.

She did this with an extraordinary and holy distinction. In 1945, Frances became the first citizen of the USA to be canonized a Saint.

To learn more about her life and legacy, see the website of her community:

Click here for Cabrini Sisters webpage

Or this very complete entry in Wikipedia

Click here for full wikipedia article

Not Music today. Instead a short video on Mother Cabrini’s influence, not only in New York, but as far as New Orleans: