Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), Italian American Roman Catholic nun, born in Lombardy (Lombardia). In 1880 she founded the Order of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She went to the United States in 1889, at the request of Pope Leo XIII, to organize charitable and religious work among Italian immigrants. Under her direction, schools, hospitals, orphanages, and convents were established in many of the principal cities of the U.S. and in Latin America. Mother Cabrini became a U.S. citizen in 1909. She was canonized in 1946, becoming the first U.S. citizen to be declared a saint. Her feast day is December 22.