Ave Maria Meditations
This small woman who is now the patroness of immigrants came to America from Italy. She would become a citizen and also the first American citizen to be canonized. She had dreams of being a missionary to China but was sent by the Holy Father to the Americas. She had a dread of sailing and traveling but it did not stop her from crossing the ocean many times and from much traveling for the love of God and of souls compelled her. She founded an order, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. When she came to America she did not speak English and had to overcome many difficulties but in spite of all of them she founded sixty-seven institutions around the world including schools, orphanages, hospitals, and social service outreach programs. Here is one of her sayings: We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries, but on Jesus alone.
Mother Cabrini’s feast day is November 13th.
