One day a priest asked her to teach in a girls' school which she did for six years. She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to care for poor children in schools and hospitals. At the request of Pope Leo XIII she came to the United States with six nuns in 1889 to work among the Italian immigrants.
Filled with a deep trust in God and gifted with good administrative ability she soon founded schools, hospitals, and orphanages. They flourished in the aid of Italian immigrants and children. She died in Chicago, Illinois on December 22, 1917. In 1946 she became the first American citizen to be canonized when she was elevated to sainthood by Pope Pius XII.
St. Frances is the patroness of immigrants. Feast day November 13.
Saint Frances Cabrini was born in Lombardi, Italy in 1850. At eighteen she desired to become a Nun but poor health stood in her way. She helped her parents until their death and then worked on a farm with her brothers and sisters.