Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Bringing Christ's love to the world

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A Very Eventful “Cabrini Week” in Colorado

A Very Eventful “Cabrini Week” in Colorado

A week of celebrations at Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden began with the Feast Day of St. Frances X. Cabrini on Monday, November 13.

Gala Fundraiser
The following Friday, the Shrine’s 22nd annual gala fundraiser took place at the Pinnacle Club at the Grand Hyatt in Downtown Denver. The gala was not only a celebration of Mother Cabrini herself, but of the people who continue to support and make the Shrine what it is today. Over the last three years, friends and donors have come together to raise over $5.5 million for the Heart of Jesus Capital Campaign to expand and renovate the Shrine’s gift shop and chapel, and retreat facilities so that visitors can have the best experience possible for decades to come.

Please be sure to view these heartwarming gala videos. Don’t miss them! Please click here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxjuHdap9vE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4dK7qbJ66w&t=25s

Chapel Re-Dedication
With joy and gratitude, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and the staff of Mother Cabrini Shrine were delighted to celebrate the rededication of the chapel on Saturday, November 18 after ten months of renovations. Fr. John Lager, O.F.M., Cap., re-consecrated the chapel as a place of prayer where the sacraments and its mysteries are celebrated daily.

It was a powerful ceremony that included the anointing of the altar and walls as well as the incensation and lighting of the altar and the church. Sr. Diane Olmstead, MSC, Provincial and seven additional Missionary Sisters, Shrine staff, volunteers and donors participated in the dressing of the newly dedicated altar and the offertory procession. We are so grateful to everyone helped make this beautiful and sacred space possible.

To see the livestream video of the chapel re-dedication Mass, click here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNfc93Z4z4k&t=29s

Spanish Mass of Thanksgiving
On Sunday, November 19, Denver Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving in the newly rededicated chapel at the regular Sunday 2 p.m. Spanish Mass. The bishop encouraged those in attendance to pray for their special intentions to Mother Cabrini especially at her Shrine. He also invited all of the children in attendance to the altar and then led them in a procession to the statue of Mother Cabrini to pray for all immigrants, especially children and families who are suffering. The Spanish community faithfully fills every seat in the new chapel each week, and this Mass of Thanksgiving was the perfect culmination to our Cabrini week in Colorado.

To see photos from all three celebrations, please click here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141021425@N02/albums

Multi-Day, Multi-Lingual Feast Day at NYC Shrine

Last weekend was busy, joyous, and celebratory as St. Frances Cabrini Shrine held five Masses over two days for Mother Cabrini’s Feast. Thank goodness for collaboration! Shrine staff extend special thanks to the MSC novices, Sr. Bernadette Anello, MSC and Sr. Ayantu Abera, MSC for their epic effort and endurance.

The marathon weekend began with the Mass in Italian. In addition to two van loads of people from Cabrini University we welcomed the knights of the Sacred Order of Constantinian and St. George and busloads of people from two of the original Cabrini churches: Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newark, NJ and Our Lady of Pompeii in Manhattan. A group from the Church of St. Frances Cabrini in Brooklyn also attended.

Next up was the Filipino Mass, featuring a Filipino choir from Staten Island and a Franciscan priest from Queens.

The final Mass on Saturday was the high-energy French Mass, led by a French African choir that had everyone dancing and singing, even if we didn’t know what we were saying.

Sunday’s English Mass had a full house (the chapel’s capacity is 375). The girls from the Ursuline School sang, and Fr. Brain McWeenie, the Director of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, celebrated. Finally, the Spanish Mass was celebrated by Bishop Josu Iriondo was attended by roughly 300 people.

Mother Cabrini in the Spotlight at USCCB

This week the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (the USCCB) began their plenary session on Mother Cabrini’s feast day. The homily at the opening Mass by the president of the USCCB, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, mentioned Mother Cabrini several times. He concluded by saying, “Saint Frances Cabrini even obliged the poor to give from their poverty to help those more needy than they. It was also a way of insisting on the dignity of all and the common responsibility for others. It is a message that is very appropriate today and every day…Charity demands our attention to the little ones, the weak, the simple, fraternal correction and unlimited pardon to those who ask.”

The stained-glass image of Mother Cabrini at St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in NYC was included on the slides used at the plenary session. Each bishop attending received prayer cards from the Shrine: one with a Cabrini prayer of thanksgiving for receiving communion, and one designed for use by new migrants containing the location of each of the three shrines.

Cabrini University Observes the Feast Day

A multi-faceted feast day observance took place at Cabrini University.  The day began with Mass with Fr. Fidelis  Olokunboro presiding.  At the conclusion of the Mass students and alumni shared their reflections on what the Cabrini experience has meant to them; how the Cabrinian charism has shaped their outlook on the world, and how they will carry the mission with them throughout their lives.

A beloved Cabrini Feast Day tradition is the luncheon in the cafeteria for the campus community during which faculty and staff serve as celebrity chefs.  Immediately following the luncheon was a special showing of the new film CABRINI which is set to debut in March 2024.  There was standing room only for the movie!

 

The day was interwoven with academic presentations by students.

 

While surely festive, the day was bittersweet in that all who attended acknowledged that this will be the final Feast Day celebration at Cabrini University.

The Feast Day of the Patroness of Immigrants

The Feast Day of the Patroness of Immigrants
November 13, 2023

In the early years, the Missionary Sisters worked in northern Italy. But Mother Cabrini was eager to spread the love of Jesus around the world. She still longed to go to China. Then a different opportunity presented itself.

In 1887, Mother Cabrini was approached by Bishop Giovanni Scalabrini, now Saint Scalabrini. The bishop was deeply concerned about Italians who had emigrated to the Americas. In a single decade, nearly a million had fled poverty in southern Italy. Few had much education, and few possessed skills that allowed them to get good jobs. Instead of finding the better life they envisioned, they faced deep prejudice, poor wages, a padrone system of contract labor, and bad housing.

In those days, the U.S. was considered mission territory. There were few priests in the United States who spoke Italian. Bishop Scalabrini asked Mother Cabrini to go to New York to help.

Mother Cabrini prayed deeply about this. Then she obtained an audience with Pope Leo XIII to seek his advice. The Pope told Mother Cabrini to go “not to the East, but to the West” to tend to the immigrants in the United States. So, Mother Cabrini and six of her Missionary Sisters set off for New York City in 1889.

They found a mass of human misery: families crammed into foul tenements, parents working 12-hour days for meager wages, and children who lacked food, supervision, and basic education.

Within days of her arrival, Mother Cabrini organized catechism classes and schooling for the children. She and the Missionary Sisters knocked door to door through rough neighborhoods, facing humiliating insults to gather funds to do their work. Their convent quickly became a haven for children from the notorious Five Points neighborhood in New York City. An orphanage was established, followed by schools and a hospital.

Soon requests for Mother Cabrini’s help poured in from other cities in the United States, as well as from Europe and Central and South America. Renowned as a woman of deep faith, Mother Cabrini was also an astute businesswoman. Over the course of 34 years, she established an astonishing 67 hospitals, orphanages, and schools. Her energy was fueled by an intense focus on serving Jesus in whatever was asked of her.

In Seattle in 1909, Mother Cabrini became a citizen of the United States. Following her death at the age of 67 in 1917, she was canonized in 1946 and given the title Patroness of Immigrants four years later.
~excerpts from the St. Frances X. Cabrini Shrine website

A new film, entitled CABRINI, chronicles the missionary zeal of Mother Cabrini, her work in New York to establish ministries on behalf of immigrants, and is set to debut in March 2024.
To watch a trailer of the movie, please click here

 

An Interesting Historical Footnote… Countess Spottiswood Mackin, Mother Cabrini and the MSCs in Paris

An Interesting Historical Footnote…
Countess Spottiswood Mackin, Mother Cabrini and
the MSCs in Paris
~ by Dr. Maria Patricia Williams

125 years ago, on 29th September 1898, Mother Cabrini established the first MSC house in France. It was a short walk from the Arc de Triomphe at 20, Rue Dumont d’Urville, Paris. It was not possible to establish a school in France due to anti-clerical legislation, so Mother Cabrini opened a residence for ladies to gain a foothold and raise funds for an Italian orphanage. The first resident was an American, the Countess Sarah Maria Aloisa Spottiswood Mackin (1850 – 1923).

She was a wealthy widow. Her father had been Mayor of St. Louis, MO, and her late husband, James Mackin, State Treasurer of New York. From a Protestant family, she had been educated by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth at aNazareth Academy, Kentucky. She became a Catholic in Rome in 1895. Pope Leo XIII gave her the title of Countess for her charity work for the Church.

The Countess was introduced to Mother Cabrini by Monsignor Montagnioni, the secretary at the Papal Nunciature in Paris. He brought her to collect two letters that Mother Cabrini had brough for her from Rome, a blessing from Pope Leo XIII and one from Cardinal Parocchi, Secretary of the Holy Office, asking the Countess to assist the Sisters. She had an extensive network of contacts. Mother Cabrini wrote in her 1898 Travel Letter that she ‘used all her efforts to bring us into contact with persons who could help us’.

She found other boarders, persuaded a rich Italian to donate 50 Lire, and organized a fund-raising concert. In 1921, in her memories of Mother Cabrini, found in the The Cabriniana Collection, the Countess wrote:

“Madame Cabrini interested all of Paris Society’ and as a result ‘under the presidency of HRH the Infanta Eulalie of Spain and my presidency it was easy to organize concerts and fetes that were very successful.’

Mother Cabrini was impressed by her organization of the first concert:

‘She, the Countess Spottiswood, arrange the affair so well by reason of her excellent and energetic personality and her beautiful disposition, that one would imagine she is capable of putting a whole country into movement when it is a question of assisting those whom the Holy Father favors.’
By 1899, there was enough funding to open the orphanage for daughters of Italian families, requested by Cardinal Richard de Vergne, Archbishop of Paris. It opened at 149, Rue Perronet in Neuilly-sur-Marne, approximately 13 Kilometres (8 miles) from the center of Paris.

We are Pilgrims on a Journey…

“We are Pilgrims on a Journey…”

Staff members from Cabrini Health in Australia led by Julie Fleming, the Director of Mission Services, are currently on a pilgrimage to Codogno, Italy to walk in the footsteps of Mother Cabrini. They are being joined by Cabrini Mission Foundation (CMF) Board Member Dave DeCerbo and his wife, Linda, and CMF Executive Director Christopher LaBianco.

Sr. Therese Merandi, MSC and Sr. Maria Barbargallo, MSC have been accompanying the group during their stay in Codogno.

In their own words:

Julie Fleming, Cabrini Health shares:
“How many people are blessed enough to literally walk in the footsteps of a saint?

“The whole pilgrim experience has been deeply moving; learning details of Mother Cabrini’s life and her faith in the Sacred Heart of Jesus plus the passionate storytelling by Sr. Therese Merandi, MSC has been inspiring and has brought to life the Cabrini charism in a vibrant way.

Meeting the senior Missionary Sisters who have given so much of their life to service of others is so humbling. We feel a deeper and more familial connection with Saint Frances Cabrini and know that we will become better torchbearers of her charism in our ministries.

Jenny Nicholson, Cabrini Health, Australia:
I did not expect to be overcome by the profound impact this immersion experience would have on me.
To walk on the very floorboards, St. Frances Cabrini walked on in her home; to be in the rooms where she listened to the stories told by her father; where she slept, ate and prayed. All these things I had only read of.

The passion of those who continue the work of St. Frances, living their life through her, in her spirit, living out the gift of our charism. The incredible stories of Sr. Maria Barbagallo, the passion, fervour and spirit of Sr. Therese and Allesandra Bergamaschi. To receive the blessings of the many Sisters of the Codogno Spirituality Centre every day…we are blessed in God’s love to be here.

Miranda Coombs, Cabrini Health, Australia
I have been moved by the stories of the sisters and mother Cabrini, delivered with so much illumination and conviction. But above all else, I have been moved by their openness to love. I have been moved with love, to be open to love and more giving of love. I have felt so much love for my family, for my friends and fellow pilgrims who are also on this journey.


“It has been a profound experience to walk in the footsteps of Mother Cabrini as part of a Codogno pilgrimage with my fellow Guadalupe Province lay leaders from Australia. I have had the opportunity to bear witness to Mother Cabrini’s birthplace, schools she attended and taught at, places of worship, and missionary institutions she opened. Mother Cabrini’s story has always inspired me — her resilience, perseverance, business acumen. Today, history has taught me so much more about her suffering, her love, her leadership, and her strategic approach and mission focus. I am grateful to have participated, and look forward to the opportunity to further the mission in my daily life.”

 

 

 

 

Happy 173rd Birthday, Mother Cabrini! July 15, 1850 – 2023

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini is best known for her extraordinary apostolic activity in the United States and South America in the service of Italian emigrants to whom she was sent by Pope Leo XIII. Her apostolic mysticism matured in the light of two great sources: the spirituality of the Sacred Heart and her missionary life – a mission which forced her to travel continuously, crossing the ocean over 24 times, traveling widely by train, carriage, on horseback, and even on foot, all with the sole purpose of bringing the consolation of God’s love to the most lonely, marginalized and desperate people.

in Sant’Angelo, Lodigiano into a modest family of farmers on July 15, 1850, Frances Cabrini came to know suffering at a young age, due to the fragility of her health, the deaths of several siblings, the strict teaching methods of her older sister Rosa, as well as innumerable other painful setbacks and disappointments. In fact, ardently desiring to consecrate herself to God in a convent led to the disappointment of being rejected several times due to her ill health. Also, the local priests looked upon her as the person to entrust with responsibilities in the diocesan and parish institutions and did not want to lose her as a pastoral asset.

She worked as a teacher in Vidardo followed by a devastating six-year experience in the House of Providence.

Then, in 1880, the Bishop of Lodi, Msgr. Domenico Gelmini, seeing the impossibility of changing the situation at the House of Providence, released Frances from her obligation there and exhorted her to fulfill her missionary dreams, saying to her, “I know you want to be a missionary. I do not know of any missionary institutes. You shall found one.” Frances simply replied, “I’ll look for a House.” Thus, she became the Foundress of the Institute of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and from that moment was called “Mother Cabrini”.

In this way, her missionary adventure began, entirely oriented toward preparing for the missions of China that she had desired since childhood, but the rapid development of her institute and foundations, the fame of her abilities, and the impressive number of young women who asked to join her Institute attracted the attention of Monsignor – now Saint – Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, Bishop of Piacenza. He invited her to devote herself to Italian immigrants who left for the Americas in search of fortune and who were living in desperate conditions, especially in North America.

Mother Cabrini waited for the illumination of the Holy Spirit before accepting, and above all, she sought in herself the valid reasons that could have made her consider such a radical change to her missionary course. It took Pope Leo XIII, with whom she had established a deep filial relationship, to make her definitively decide to relinquish her long-cherished dream of missionary work in China.

Her adventure through the Americas and in Europe, underwent to no periods of inactivity. The groundbreaking activity in favor of the Italian immigrants prompted her to establish schools and orphanages, educational centers and reception centers, hospitals and dispensaries.

Traveling from one part of the world to the other, always with a suitcase ready, made grow in the heart of Mother Cabrini and her Missionaries, the ability to find God in all countries, in all cultures and in all social situations, developing, at the same time. The ability to read events in a Christian way, anchoring all the differences within the project of God, to unify them in the sole desire: to make known God’s saving love, because in this love one finds the fullness of life. ~excepts from Free Yourself and Put on Wings, Sr. Maria Barbagallo, MSC

Illuminating Mother Cabrini’s Mission and Ministry

On Wednesday, June 14th, the first in a mini series of presentations that will “Unpack the Mission and Ministry of Mother Cabrini” was given by Sr. Bernadette Anello, MSC, in the chapel at Cabrini of Westchester. The intention of the series is to familiarize more residents and staff with the calling, ministry and journey of our Foundress. Each session in the series is planned to coincide with a particular celebration around Mother Cabrini’s life.

Sr. Bernadette’s presentation coincided with the Solemn Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and was entitled “Mother Cabrini: Patroness of Immigrants & Missionary of the New Evangelization.” While presenting, Sr. Bernadette went into depth regarding Mother Cabrini’s life, her spirituality and her sense of mission and at the conclusion of her talk, a question and answer period took place.

The attendees were then delighted to hear a special song that was performed by four young women who are in the process of becoming Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The song was sung in their native Ethiopian tongue which was about praising and thanking God for the many blessings he has bestowed on us.

The next presentation in the series will take place on Wednesday, July 12th, when Fr. Ron Galt, Vice President for Mission and Pastoral Care, will offer a second reflection around the 173rd birthday of Mother Cabrini on July 15th. The closing presentation of the mini-series will be on Monday, November 13th to coincide with Mother Cabrini’s Feast Day.

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
                                    Friday, June 16, 2023

The Feast of The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most widely practiced and well-known devotions in the Roman Catholic Church. It takes the physical heart of Jesus as representation of His Divine love for humanity. The Feast of the Sacred Heart has been in the Roman Catholic Liturgical calendar since 1856, and is always celebrated 19 days after Pentecost Sunday and always falls on a Friday. The devotion especially emphasizes the unmitigated love, compassion, and long-suffering of the heart of Christ towards humanity.

The origin of the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart in the modern form, derived for a French Roman Catholic Saint, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, whose feast day is October 16th. She learned the devotion from Jesus during a mystical experience. Her revelations were numerous. ~ Newman Ministry website

Inspiring a Missionary Passion

The missionary passion that inspired Saint Frances Cabrini was born from a charism strongly rooted in the spirituality of the Sacred Heart that was revived in the late 1800s. This revival took place for several reasons, but it was primarily due to the bicentennial anniversary of the first appearance of the Sacred Heart to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and the consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart desired by Pope Leo XIII in the encyclical Annum Sacrum in 1899. ~ continued on following page.

Mother Cabrini grew up in the sacred sphere that is the Heart of Jesus. With extraordinary courage, she felt impelled to transfer her profound missionary world, entrusting her work to the unlimited trust that she was given by God’s Heart.
~ Sr. Patricia Spillane, MSC, Presentation, Free Yourself and Put on Wings

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini’s apostolic mysticism matured in light of two great sources: the spirituality of the Sacred Heart and her missionary life.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart had a profoundly spiritual influence in Mother Cabrini toward acceptance of God’s project of love of humanity, and this in turn became the social reparation in her works.

In the spirituality of Mother Cabrini, her source was the Sacred Heart of Jesus and her missionary spirit was the trickle with which she fed her tireless apostolic activity.
~ Introduction, Free Yourselves and Put on Wings

Today’s devotions

There are a number of activities that bring devotion to the Sacred Heart alive in our hearts and lives. The Lord’s healing promises flow through our embrace of these aspects of the devotion. Love, of course, is at the center of all these actions—love for Jesus and a desire to have that love grow in our hearts as we receive more and more of his love for us.

Certainly prayer is the place to start with any devotion but especially with devotion to the Sacred Heart. That is because it is a devotion that centers exclusively on our love relationship with our Lord. And just like any relationship, our relationship with Jesus requires communication to keep it strong and vibrant. Prayer is our ongoing conversation with God. ~ Franciscan Media website.

Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of family and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father.

1260 Upper Gulph Road, Wayne, PA 19087
Phone: 484-581-7163   Fax: 484-581-7164
info@mothercabrini.org