Frances Xavier Cabrini

Born Maria Francesca Cabrini in Italy in 1850, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was a religious sister who founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Devoted from a young age to missionary life, she was encouraged by Pope Leo XIII to go to the United States to serve the numerous Italian immigrants. Arriving in New York in 1889, she established numerous orphanages, schools, and hospitals across the Americas and Europe, demonstrating unwavering energy and faith. She became an American citizen in 1909. Mother Cabrini died in Chicago in 1917 and was the first American citizen to be canonized by the Catholic Church in 1946.