The National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini welcomed over 170 people for the Fra Noi pilgrimage on September 15, 2024. Fra Noi Editor Paul Basile organized the pilgrimage to the National Shrine. The Shrine welcomed Italian Americans from several different areas across Chicagoland. They came from Casa Italia, Highwood Bocce Club and the Old Neighborhood Club for Mass, tours of the Shrine, and a visit to the gift shop. A classic Italian feast, prepared and executed by Mr. Ron Onesti, President of Onesti Entertainment Corporation was enjoyed after Mass.
Monsignor Ken Velo, who celebrated Mass, is chairman of the Big Shoulders Fund, and DePaul’s university liaison to the archdiocese Catholic life. He gave an inspiring homily on the extraordinary and tireless work of Mother Cabrini in Chicago and beyond.
Fra Noi Magazine has been the cultural magazine in Chicagoland for the Italian American community for many decades. It was started in April of 1960 as a newsletter for an elderly facility in Melrose Park, Illinois. Since its meager beginning as a newsletter, it has very quickly morphed into a magazine read by thousands, but it had remained a newsletter for many years.
The editor of Fra Noi, Paul Basile, has published articles on St. Frances Cabrini several times in the past few years. Those articles have stimulated a great deal of renewed interest and memories of stories about Mother Cabrini among Chicagoland’s Italian community, as they recall the devotion their parents and grandparents had for Chicago’s own saint. Many of their ancestors actually knew Mother Cabrini and were beneficiaries of her kindness and love at the “three C’s” —Columbus Hospital, Cabrini Hospital, and Cuneo Hospital, as well as Assumption School.
It was a very special day at the Shrine, as excited attendees were embraced once again by the love of Mother Cabrini. Many of them expressed that they were so grateful to come to the place they had heard about since they were little children, and that they enjoyed themselves immensely. Paul Basile reported that everyone thought it was an extraordinary pilgrimage and would like to make it an annual event.
was Mother Cabrini’s habit, along with Mother’s room. Executive Director Laurie A Halaska shared how Mother Cabrini was working up the day she died and also spoke about how all the intentions received by the Shrine are placed under Mother Cabrini’s pillow.