Saint of the Day – November 13 – Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850–1917) was the thirteenth child of a modest farming family born near Milan, Italy. Her father would often gather his children in the kitchen to hear him read from a book on the lives of the saints. St. Frances was endeared to the stories of missionaries working in the Orient and desired to become one herself, which in her day was a man’s role. Turned away from being a nun twice due to poor health, she prayed before the relics of her patron, Francis Xavier, the great Jesuit missionary-saint, about founding a new religious order to evangelize the East just as he did. Pope Leo XIII approved of her order, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, but instead of sending her to China as she had desired since childhood, he sent her to the West, specifically to America to serve the growing European immigrant population which faced poverty and disenfranchisement. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini moved to New York in 1889 and went on to found 67 institutions—schools, orphanages, and hospitals—throughout the Western Hemisphere. She received American citizenship, and in 1946 became the first United States citizen to be canonized by the Catholic Church. Her ministry left a significant mark on the Americas, creating lasting institutions to educate and care for those in need. She is the patron saint of immigrants, orphans, and hospital administrators. Her feast day is November 13th.  


Minute Meditation – God Sends Us Where We are Needed

“God is not an obligation or a burden. God is the joy of my life!” —Fr. Mychal Judge

On the bright fall morning of September 11, 2001, firefighters across New York were summoned to a scene of unimaginable horror: Two hijacked airliners had crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. As firefighters rushed into the burning buildings, they were accompanied by their chaplain, Fr. Mychal Judge. Hundreds of them would die that day, among the nearly three thousand fatalities in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Fr. Judge would be among them. There seemed to be special meaning in the fact that Fr. Mychal was listed as the first certified casualty of 9/11. A photograph of his fellow firemen carrying his body from the wreckage to a neighboring church became an icon of that day: an image of loving service and sacrifice, a hopeful answer to messages born of fear and fanaticism.

— from The Franciscan Saintby Robert Ellsberg

//Franciscan Media//