Saint Who?
Saints Who Established Schools
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
Foundress († 1917)Feast: November 13
Born two months premature, Frances Cabrini was the youngest of thirteen children. Because her health was delicate, her older sister taught her at home. Frances became a teacher herself and longed to be a missionary as well. But her health was an obstacle; several orders rejected her. Then her bishop encouraged her to begin her own community.
She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, and her zeal caught the attention of Pope Leo XIII. Guided by his counsel, she traveled to America to care for the millions of Italian immigrants who struggled with poverty and prejudice. She and her sisters succeeded in bringing spiritual guidance, medical care, and basic education to Italian communities all over the United States.
In the schools, she aimed to form students who were “fruitful to the Church, country, and society.” One of her priorities was to make students active participants in their own education. Teachers at her schools were to achieve this goal through solid preparation and personal zeal, as well as courtesy and respect for the children. “Yours is not a vain science that puffs up, but that which reforms manners, educates the heart, and forms character.” She died in Chicago in 1917.
Compassionate Father, through the intercession
of Saint Frances Cabrini, help teachers to inspire
a love for truth in their students.
