St Frances Xavier Cabrini

Frances had 12 brothers and sisters! She wanted to become a nun from the time she was 18 years old but, because she was sick all time, she couldn’t. Instead she stayed home, took care of her mom and dad, and worked on a farm with her brothers and sisters. Then a priest asked her if she would teach at a school for girls; she said yes and this changed her life forever. She taught at this school for 6 years until her Bishop asked her to start an order of sisters. This young girl who was too sick to join the convent when she was 18 years old was now being asked to start an Order herself! She started the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. These sisters took care of poor children by running schools and taking care of the sick in hospitals. After running this Order in Italy very well, Pope Leo XIII asked Frances to bring some sisters to Chicago in the United States to help the Italian people living there. She trusted in God and travelled to the United States, where she worked hard with her sisters to help the Italian people by starting schools, hospitals, and orphanages. By the time she died, her Order had spread in England, France, Spain, United States, and South America.