Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

As most of you know, our parish is merging with 4 other parishes this summer. Last year, the parishes requested suggestions for a new parish name. After doing some research, I suggested St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. She is the patron saint of immigrants. The parishes that are being merged were all built by immigrants. I found her to be the "perfect" patron for our new parish. Yesterday, I was thrilled to read that she made it to the top 5 choices and am praying that she is chosen as the patron of the new parish.

Here's some background on St. Frances Xavier Cabrini from Catholic Online:

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin (Feast day November 13) St. Frances was born in Lombardi, Italy in 1850, one of thirteen children. At eighteen, she desired to become a Nun, but poor health stood in her way. She helped her parents until their death, and then worked on a farm with her brothers and sisters.
One day a priest asked her to teach in a girls' school and she stayed for six years. At the request of her Bishop, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to care for poor children in schools and hospitals. Then at the urging of Pope Leo XIII she came to the United States with six nuns in 1889 to work among the Italian immigrants.
Filled with a deep trust in God and endowed with a wonderful administrative ability, this remarkable woman soon founded schools, hospitals, and orphanages in this strange land and saw them flourish in the aid of Italian immigrants and children. At the time of her death, at Chicago, Illinois on December 22, 1917, her institute numbered houses in England, France, Spain, the United States, and South America. In 1946, she became the first American citizen to be canonized when she was elevated to sainthood by Pope Pius XII. St. Frances is the patroness of immigrants.


Have a day full of blessings,
Lisa