I went to see the movie, “Cabrini” from Angel studios, over the weekend. Two thoughts dominate my reaction. I knew nothing about this truly great saint. Okay, I knew that she had been in Denver. I knew that she was Italian. I knew that she wanted to go to China, and was, instead, sent by Pope Leo XIII to the Americas. None of that explains why she is a saint, and deservedly so. And though I really enjoyed the movie, and thought it was amazing, I also think it failed just a bit on that front. That is, what made her a saint. So I went looking for more information. 

This blog had some. {Charlotte was both  https://amywelborn.wordpress.com/2024/03/05/cabrini-1/  } But it raised a new question. For openers, the blog points out that elsewhere, there is controversy over the movie, which the blog mistress isn’t going to address, because she hasn’t (as of that post) seen the movie. However, she did point to a book of letters written by Saint Frances Cabrini that can be found on archive.org.  https://archive.org/details/travelsofmotherfrancesxaviercabrini/page/n27/mode/1up?view=theater  

First, the controversy. I poked around and generally speaking, one view is that this is a dull movie about a potentially interesting person, and another view is that this is a sparkling movie about a potentially dull person, or perhaps that she was portrayed poorly, or portrayed perfectly or this is the greatest movie ever. There’s bits about how the movie isn’t quite faithful to the facts. There’s a lot of commentary about “Christian movies” and how this fits in to that category, or doesn’t and it was all quite annoying. 

But I did have a question on my heart. The movie does not often show Cabrini’s reliance on God’s grace. So did she? Rely on Him? The movie doesn’t show her praying as often as I think she must have done. 

The archive book, Travels of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, was quite helpful. It contains letters that she wrote to her nuns as she traveled, plus a bit of biographical information. The reason the letters were written as she traveled is — that was the only time she had leisure to do so.

She was born in Italy in 1850. She was the youngest of 13 children and her parents died when she was perhaps 18? She became a teacher, and was so successful at attracting other dedicated women with her charm and leadership, that she also attracted some serious spite and jealousy from the school administration. Her bishop then told her to found an order of missionary nuns (in 1880) and within ten years it had grown huge. This is important because she goes to New York originally with five or six other nuns, but she returns to Italy, and goes elsewhere (Denver, Chicago, Paraguay) constantly, and the nuns from Italy keep leaving to go with her, and help out. This is part of how she was able to found institutions in many places so quickly. She had done a lot of work that isn’t shown in the film. (Quite fair, I think.)

The book discusses her youth quite briefly but includes the information that, “At the age of seven she was confirmed and at ten received her First Holy Communion…” Fascinating, considering how we do sacraments nowadays… Also, there is a scene in the movie where a young girl is making paper boats. The book says, “In her child’s play, she would gather violets and, placing them in tiny paper boats, send them away on the waters of the country brooks, dreaming the while of herself making long voyages to distant lands to carry on the work of converting pagans.” Because of an incident in her youth, Saint Frances had poor health, always.

I skipped to the letters and started reading. Some excerpts. 

Second voyage to New York , April 1890 

If you were all here with me, dear daughters, to cross the immense ocean, you would exclaim, ‘‘Oh, how great and loving is God in all His works! But the ocean of graces, oh, my daughters, that the good Jesus pours down upon us, in every instant of our life, is immensely superior to anything in nature. All natural splendours are eclipsed by the abundance of riches which God showers upon His beloved Spouses. …

Often we take pleasure in seeing the beautiful seagulls, at one moment flying in the air and at another frolicking on the water. They seem to be the image of our Guardian Angels…

The other sisters are very seasick. So is she at moments, but she says it’s better on deck. They pass through a flock of icebergs, new to her and many others. A fog comes up and the ice forces a stop, and a change in the route.  There’s a dead engine and a storm.

We also made a little meditation on the beautiful lesson of Saint Bernard, wherein he speaks of the force and power of the love of God in a soul, and how the possession of this love enables a soul not to feel further the weight of any cross, which rather becomes a great pleasure and delight.

Sister Bernardina is going to make a novena for me to obtain the grace to speak English, and assures me she will obtain it. What do you think of it? I fear the day of judgment will arrive before I learn English.

On a different trip from New York to Havre, August 1890

From time to time birds come to cheer us. They look like swallows, but I think they are sea-birds. Last night I slept very well, just as though I was in my cell. I dreamt that I received Holy Communion. It is almost impossible to receive Holy Communion here at sea, and to-day, especially, I miss it very much … Let us love Jesus, then, my daughters, let us love Him very much.

From the stern of the ship we can see a rainbow which is continually reflecting on the waves, now large, now small. I often go up there to breathe the pure air. This morning I saw marvellous fishes of many colours joyfully basking in the sea, just as our souls should bask in the grace of God. 

Go often, my dearest daughters, place yourselves at the feet of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Behold that Divine Heart! He is our comfort, our way and our life. Listen to Him with great faith and devotion.

Her order was, after all, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

Prayer is a great comfort and works truly. It is the life of the soul, though its effects are not always visible. … Pray, then, daughters, pray with unlimited faith in every need, in every difficulty, and do not become weary if in our short lives we do not see the effects of our prayers. 

This next excerpt is from the book but I took it from the blog mentioned above. It references the sisters visiting miners (I’m not sure where).

Our Sisters have begun their rounds. They have descended nine hundred feet into the mines, being lowered in a cage hardly large enough to contain them into a shaft about only one square metre wide, and cut obliquely in the rock. The compressed air introduced into the mines makes respiration possible. They have also walked at times several kilometres through narrow tunnels at the same depth, speaking a word of comfort to these poor creatures and reminding them of the eternal truths. It is not difficult to touch on the subject of hell as they walk through these dark tunnels where breathing is difficult, where the only available light is that of a few tallow candles, a pale idea, it is true, but still very expressive of the eternal darkness.

I think that I’ve answered my question.

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was a very great saint. I recommend the movie, with the comment that it does miss on this one point. So … add it in for yourselves, now that you know.