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The saints

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

A small Italian nun, afraid of water, who crossed the ocean dozens of times for immigrants.

Feast: 13 November (feast on the U.S. calendar) · 1850 to 1917 · The modern era · Lombardy, New York and Chicago

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Black-and-white photograph of St. Frances Cabrini in a dark veil, a cross on her chest.

Unknown author, 1880. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

New York, 1889

Frances wanted to be a missionary to China, and Pope Leo XIII told her to go west instead, to the Italian immigrants of America.1

She arrived in New York with six sisters.1

She was frail and afraid of water, and crossed the Atlantic many times.

Patron of immigrants1; hospital administrators1

01St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Sixty-seven institutions

She founded schools, orphanages and hospitals across the Americas.1

She became an American citizen and was the first U.S. citizen to be canonized.1

Live it this week

Welcome an immigrant family

Cabrini spent her life on immigrants. This week, help one immigrant family near you: a meal, help with forms, English practice, a ride.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.