Today, December 22, the Catholic Church celebrates the liturgical memory of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.
Newsroom (22/12/2021 11:50 AM, Gaudium Press) Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was born in the Italian town of Sant’Angelo di Lodi on July 15, 1850. At the age of 11, she made a vow of chastity. Although she felt a strong call to a religious vocation, she was rejected twice by the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus because of her health.
In November 1880, St. Frances founded her religious Congregation. Together with seven companions, she settled in a dismantled Franciscan friary. There she opened a new chapel in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A month later, her Work received episcopal approval. By 1884 there were five houses.
After many trips around the world to help the needy, the holy founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart died on December 22, 1917, in a hospital for migrants built by herself in Chicago. The beatification process began soon after her death and was completed in 1938. On July 7, 1946, she was canonized by Pope Pius XII, who called her a “heroine of modern times.”
Phrases of Saint Frances Cabrini
01 – “The road to heaven is so narrow, so rocky and so full of thorns, that no one can walk on it except by flying. And no one can fly without wings. Yet, wings are not attached to the body but to the spirit”.
02 – “The love that I have for the Eucharistic Jesus has no value in the eyes of the world.”
03 – “Prayer is powerful. It fills the whole earth with the mercy of God and draws His clemency from generation to generation. All the centuries are full of wonderful works accomplished through the power of prayer”.
04 – “We must pray tirelessly because the salvation of humanity does not depend on material success… but only on Jesus”.
05 – “I come from nothing. I am nothing. I am only a breath of God that operates and acts in me, moved by Himself. I can do nothing by myself, except sin… O my God, enlighten me! May the Divine Paraclete descend upon me! Come down and make me know the depths of my nothingness”.
06 – “For a missionary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the world is a little ball. Don’t you see how the Child Jesus holds it in his little hands? Since you are His spouse, for you the world is a little country”.
07. “I will go everywhere and do everything possible to communicate the love of Jesus to those who do not know him or have forgotten him.”
08 – “Our whole life should be an act of thanksgiving because we constantly receive infinite benefits from God.”
09 – “If we are not humble, we will never advance in the paths of virtue.”
10 – “Heart of Jesus, you know. Heart of Jesus, you can. Heart of Jesus, you see. Heart of Jesus, you provide for us”.
Prayer to St. Frances Cabrini
O God, grant that, through the prayers of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, whom you gave to persevere in the imitation of the poor and humble Christ, we may follow our vocation with fidelity and attain that perfection which you have proposed to us in your Son. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen. (EPC)
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj