Saint Frances Xavier Carbini was born in Lombardi, Italy in 1850, one of thirteen children. At eighteen, she desired to become a Nun, but poor health stood in her way. She tried to gain acceptance at a second congregation but was refused there too. She helped her parents until their deaths, and then worked on a farm with her brothers and sisters.In 1874 she was asked to manage a small orphanage called the House of Providence. She had various obstacles and abuse in her work, but she stuck to it and, with several others that she recruited, took her first vows in 1877. The bishop put her in charge as the Superior. Three years later the effort to build up the orphanage failed, and the Bishop gave up and ordered the place closed. He sent for Sister Cabrini and told her now was the time to become a missionary sister since he did not know of any institute that had one. Mother Cabrini and seven followers moved into a forgotten Franciscan friary to set up a community to teach Christian education to girls and named the community The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Within two years more houses were opened.In 1887 she went to Rome to ask the Holys Sees approbation of her congregation and to obtain permission to open a house in Rome. She opened two houses in Rome, a free school and childrens home.She continued to express her interest toward missionary work in China. Various people were trying to change her views to work with the Italian immigrants in America and to help the priest there. She consulted Pope Leo XIII, and he directed her to go to America. On March 31, 1889, she and six sisters landed in New York. In New York they found a warm welcome but no home was ready for them to stay in and plans for them to open an orphanage had to be abandoned. Within four months, Mother Cabrini and her followers established a day school and made a start with an orphanage on a modest scale.Mother Cabrini went back to Italy in July 1889 ...
