Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn Monument to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn Monument to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini A woman who helped build New York City Frances Cabrini was born on July 15, 1850 in Sant' Angelo Lodigiano, Italy. In 1880 Frances founded the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pope Leo XIII instructed her to go with her new order to New York to help the thousands of Italian immigrants in the United States. Through her remarkable work in New York and elsewhere in America she would become known throughout the world simply as Mother Cabrini, the first citizen of the United States to be Canonized a saint, patroness of immigrants and the New Evangelization establishing 67 institutions in her lifetime: schools, hospitals and orphanages before her death in 1917. Upon arriving in New York City in 1889, Mother Cabrini immediately began working to help the poor Italians she found on the streets of Manhattan. She soon needed more support for her work and was sent by the Archbishop of New York to the Diocese of Brooklyn. Mother Cabrini was welcomed warmly by Bishop Charles McDonnall who asked her to work at the parish of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary located on President & Van Brunt Streets. Recognizing a need to educate the Italian immigrant children, Mother Cabrini and her sisters established a school in the parish in 1892. In gratitude to the bishop the school was named the St. Charles School and The church was renamed St. Charles Chapel. Besides establishing the school for Italian immigrants and the convent for the Missionary Sisters in the parish, Mother Cabrini was active in lessening the burden on newly arrived Italian Immigrants in Brooklyn by establishing a "scuola di lavoro" where handicrafts were taught to adults, making home visits to immigrant families, providing catechetical instruction and administering various parish associations. By 1905 enrollment at St. Charles grew to over 700 and the Missionary Sisters at the request of Mother Cabrini offered religious instruction to over 3,000 immigrant Italian children who attended public schools in Brooklyn. The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus remained in the parish of Sacred Hearts-St. Stephen for over 100 years until 1998. Rev. Msgr. David Cassato Italian Apostolate Director Rev. Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello Vicar for Development Rev. Msgr. Guy A. Massie Pastor Paid for by donations made by devotees of Mother Cabrini throughout the tri-state area through the efforts of Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens and the Italian Apostolate of the Diocese of Brooklyn Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Ph.D., D.D. Bishop of Brooklyn Dedicated 2021 AD