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Saint Frances Cabrini
"Your Mission will be in America."
There were many obstacles Mother Cabrini
had to overcome, on her voyage to the New World. The first adversity
she had to conquer was the Atlantic Ocean. She'd had a bad experience
as a child, where she fell into the river in search of some little dolls
which had fallen from a ledge into the water. She was saved from
drowning by her Guardian Angel, but he had never taken her fear of
water. She was now going to tackle one of the largest bodies of water
in the world, and not the most pleasant. In addition, she left on March
19, the Feast of Saint Joseph, smack in the middle of the winter months,
which are the most fearful ones in which to attempt to cross the
Atlantic. She and her sisters were extremely sick during the crossing,
but she never let on. She walked around, trying to cheer them up, as
well as some of the other 1500 Italians aboard ship, most of whom had
never made a transatlantic voyage before.
When they finally arrived in New York,
some of Bishop Scalabrini's priests met them and gave them dinner at the
rectory. Everything went well until the Sisters asked to go to their
convent. That's when they had the first inkling that all was not as had
been presented to them. They had no convent! Not only that, they
didn't even have a place to stay that night. The priests brought them
through the city to a series of rooming houses, one worse than the
other. When they finally found one that met their pocketbook and didn't
look too bad, they took it. But they were in for a surprise. The mice
and bugs waited until they had paid for the room before they came out to
meet them. Mother and her little brood spent that night in a terrible
position, sitting on wooden chairs trying to defend themselves from the
attackers.
The priests of Bishop Scalabrini's
community could not explain why the sisters had no convent to greet them
upon their arrival. They hemmed and hawed over where the glitch was.
They were sure the Archbishop would be able to unravel the mystery. To
that end Mother Cabrini prayed all night to the Sacred Heart, as she sat
on the hard chairs, protecting her girls from the New York vermin. They
also offered their Mass and Communion that their meeting with the
Archbishop of New York would turn out better than this, their first day
in the United States.
But when the first words the
Archbishop said to them were "How is it that you are here? I wrote
you not to come at this time." Mother Cabrini almost lost it. The
Archbishop covered his tracks by explaining the offer for the convent
and orphanage and the funds suddenly disappeared. The truth as related
later on was that he had a falling out with Countess Cesnola, the
benefactress, and the funds were not forthcoming. There was no
orphanage! There were many students for the school; however, no school
building. The Archbishop could not see anything but that the sisters
return to Italy on the same boat which had brought them to New York.
The nuns became almost ill at the prospect of another trip across the
ocean like the one they had just endured.
No one knew with whom they were dealing,
however; not the sisters, not the Archbishop of New York. We don't know
if Mother Cabrini had ever spoken to a bishop in the way in which she
was about to address the Archbishop. To his suggestion that they go
back to Italy on the same boat, she responded:
"We were sent here by the Holy Father,
Your Excellency and we cannot go back. We have been entrusted with a
special duty and we must fulfill it." He asked for her letters of
credit. Mother Cabrini had been very thorough before she left Rome.
She had gotten letters from various cardinals, bishops, and her trump
card, a letter from the Pope, explaining the urgency of their mission.
Archbishop Corrigan backed down. "Of course you will remain; it is
the Holy Father's wishes."
Saint Frances Cabrini -
BK155 - Minibook
24
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