Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin
Today the church celebrates and remembers the Patron Saint of Immigrants – St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917) – who was also the first United States citizen to be canonized. Originally from Italy, Mother Cabrini, as she became known, founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and made her base in the United States at the urging of Pope Leo XIII to serve the needs of Italian immigrants. Mother Cabrini became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1909 and established many religious institutions including hospitals; she died of Malaria in Chicago in 1917 in one of the hospitals that she founded.
I found the following prayer from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops invoking the intercession of St. Frances to be so timely especially for us Christians in the United States today. So, together, let us pray:
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, our first American Saint, pray for us. You came to the United States as an immigrant yourself, and worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor, the sick, and the otherwise marginalized who arrived on our shores.
As the Patroness of immigrants, you have a special concern for those displaced from their homeland and in search of a new life elsewhere. You understand their sufferings and the challenges they face as they navigate a new world in search of a new home…interecede for migrant families who are separated from one another, protect them from exploitation, and keep them safe.
May we, O Blessed Frances Xavier Cabrini, receive through your prayers the grace to open our hearts so that we may provide hospitality for all who come in search of refuge. Give us the courage to welcome every stranger as Christ in our midst.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
~Eileen Miller