Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

Background: NYC Was the One-Time Home to the First U.S. Saints

In 1946, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini was the first U.S. citizen that the Church canonized. In 1975, Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first U.S. born citizen that the Church canonized. 

Shrines for both of these great saints exist at their one-time New York City homes – Manhattan features Mother Seton’s shrine on its southern tip, and Mother Cabrini’s shrine on its northern tip at locations beyond compare. What a combination!

Just a short stroll from Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s shrine is the ferry to the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, which the new “Cabrini” movie prominently features.

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini’s shrine is in an area of Manhattan which somehow seems unknown to many lifetime residents of NYC! The area features fabulous views of the Palisades and an incredible “next door neighbor.” The “Cloisters” are an annex to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, specializing in Medieval European (i.e., Catholic!) art.

Who Was Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini?

While I generally liked the movie, some have raised serious concerns about its biographical shortcomings. As per Father Henry Grabe,

Surely, Mother Cabrini and her Sisters had a deep and robust prayer life that formed their vocation and mission. Yet the film lacks any hint of Mother Cabrini’s personal or communal spirituality…. Jesus Christ was the source of Mother Cabrini’s vocation and motivation…. By glossing over the source and inspiration for her Corporal Works of Mercy, the film does a disservice to its subject and its viewers (Catholic World Report, 3/7/24):

As per Thomas Mirius, 

If the movie were simply implicit or vague about Cabrini’s deeper motivations, that would be one thing. But the film is indeed explicit in stating her motives [as misperceived by the movie makers], and…they are to a large extent worldly, not spiritual ones. When, so to speak, “use words when necessary” becomes in practice “don’t use words because they’re unnecessary”, …this is the same misguided strategy that Church leaders have used for the past 70 years as the pews empty, now being marketed as cutting-edge Catholic filmmaking! (CatholicCulture, 3/15/24

How Could Downplaying St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s Catholicism Possibly Help?

Father Henry Grabbe and Thomas Mirius make clear that much was lost by downplaying Mother Cabrini’s faith. Perhaps even more odd was the film’s nonchalant mention of the saint’s being buried by the Hudson River. The complete story is infinitely more compelling!

To this day, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini’s remains (photographed by this author) are on display in Upper Manhattan!

In 1930 Mother Cabrini High School [which my mother-in-law attended] opened at 701 Fort Washington Avenue, and in 1933 her remains were translated (moved) to rest in the chapel of the school. Her heart is preserved in Codogno, Italy. Five years later, at the time of her beatification in 1938, Mother Cabrini’s remains were placed in a glass reliquary beneath the altar of the school….

When Mother Cabrini’s remains were exhumed prior to her beatification, they were found to be subject to normal decay with one exception: her heart [I unfortunately misstated this in Fantastic Pilgrimage Sites in the Mid-Atlantic States.]….St. Frances Cabrini’s heart remains intact in a reliquary in Codogno, Italy, where she founded the Missionary Sisters. The glass reliquary in the altar at the Shrine contains about 80% of Mother Cabrini’s remains beneath her habit. (About The Shrine – Cabrini Shrine NYC)

Movie makers completely overlooked the extraordinary phenomena of incorruptibility of the heart of Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini.

Incorruptibility is the preservation of the body from normal decay after death. According to Catholic tradition, incorruptible saints give witness to the truth of the resurrection of the body and the life that is to come….Incorruptibility, when proven, is considered a sign, because it cannot be explained by intentional preservation, such as embalming, or by unintentional preservation through natural causes, such as mummification. (Catholic News Agency, 5/25/23)

How could downplaying St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s Catholicism or disregarding the miraculous preservation of her heart be anything but a colossal mistake? Are Catholic movie makers embarrassed by miraculous phenomena?

Conclusion

I believe that a Hollywood movie of the 1950s provides an excellent template for presenting holy lives and miraculous phenomena:

[In 1951] vast numbers of the devout journeyed to the Roman Catholic shrine at Fatima in Portugal in the Holy Year observance of the thirty-fourth anniversary of the miracle reported there. The Warner Brothers, obviously alert to the drama and potential box office in such supernatural manifestations, now have re-created, with proper reverence and dignity, the solemn and mysterious events of 1917 in “The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima” …. Despite attempts to close the church, incarcerate the children and brow-beat them into confessions, the multitude gathers for that October day when the “lady” will pass a miracle to prove the children’s tales. On that rainy noon the sun suddenly appears in the heavens, dips toward the earth and slowly recedes. (The New York Times, 8/21/1952)

While Our Lady of Fatima was the product of secular movie makers, Cabrini was the product of Catholics. The earlier movie showed itself superior by stepping aside and letting the religious and miraculous speak for themselves.

Our culture needs to know that Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini lived the life of a Catholic nun, and that her mortal remains speak to the miraculous!