New Theme for Fall Reading

WOMEN OF ADVENTURE!

Photo by anotherxlife on Unsplash

Thank you so much for joining us this summer as we read “The Awakening of Miss Prim” by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera. Now our new theme for the fall is WOMEN OF ADVENTURE, and we will read a different book. Come and join us! It is free to subscribe, or you can choose the paid option to donate to what we do here.

This season, we will be talking about a number of different women who have gone on adventures in the service of Christ, and the specific book we are reading is about the adventures of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini. Born in Italy, she spent so much time helping the poor, sick and abandoned here in the United States, that she became a naturalized American citizen. She was the first American citizen to be canonized a saint by the Catholic Church.

The first Monday in October is celebrated in Colorado as “Cabrini Day” because of her extensive work for those in need in this state (where I happen to live!). It was instituted in 2020 and is the first paid state holiday in the nation that recognizes a woman. Here is a secular news story about it: Colorado celebrates Cabrini Day!. Her original feast day is December 22nd, and her 1962 Missal feast day is November 13. So she is a perfect person to read about at this time of year!

There are many excellent books about this woman adventurer, but we are going to take a look at her actual letters. These missives show what she was actually feeling and experiencing, as she shared her thoughts with her Italian Sisters and students back home in Italy.

“These letters reflect, faithfully, humility, strength, patience, perseverance, constancy in enterprise, contempt of the world, the holy freedom of the love of God, candor of the soul, the most fragrant zeal for the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and for the salvation of souls, which so enriched the heart of Mother Cabrini.” ~ Fr. Ottavio Turchi, SJ, in the Introduction.

Our chosen book is called "Travels of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini" with a Biographical Sketch by Most Rev. Amleto Giovanni Cicognani. Now, as you can see at the Amazon link above, the paperback is listed for about $34. But I also found "Letters from the Travels of Mother Cabrini" by Fr. Marco Romano. This latter edition does not contain the biographical sketch and is a different translation, but it is only $3.99 on Kindle (or free if you have Kindle Unlimited). I will be re-reading the former paperback which contains two or three more letters, but if you’d rather read the other edition, I’m sure the end result will be the same.

I compared the first paragraph of the first letter in both editions, written in April, 1890, as she headed to New York. She is writing to the alumnae and students of the Teachers’ College in Rome, whom she affectionately calls her “daughters.” This is how the Kindle translation reads:

“My dear daughters,

When I bid you farewell last Wednesday, I attempted to convince myself that my departure was merely to Milan, I tried to convince myself that I was still close to you. However, upon reaching Milan, as I prepared myself for the arduous voyage across the vast ocean, the weight of leaving you for an extended period became unbearable. Yet, solace enveloped me when I recollected the pledges, individually made by each of you, to dedicate yourselves to the pursuit of becoming true brides of Christ and deserving missionaries of His Sacred Heart.”

And the paperback edition says nearly the same thing. Here is the beginning of the second paragraph, from the paperback edition:

“How much this thought, my daughters, softens every pain! It makes me find sweetness in all labors and crosses, should I have any, and gives me great joy. If we reflect well, for us there are no distances: the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus must participate in the immensity of this Divine Heart, Who embraces all, comprehends all, animates all, unites all in Himself. It is He Who sustains us in these temporary separations, Who makes us share in His strength, Who communicates to us every grace.”

Her letters are so warm and affectionate, and even so upbeat and even humorous, that it makes the reader want to join her missionaries and go off on adventures with this indomitable little Italian woman.

(Photo from Cabrini Shrine in New York City website, showing the new statue in NYC)

Look at that adventurer! Mother Cabrini, a little sickly immigrant lady from northern Italy, founded 67 schools, orphanages, and hospitals in her lifetime. She traveled back and forth across the Atlantic by ship thirty times, visiting both North and South America.

She first set foot in the United States on March 31, 1889. She opened schools, colleges, kindergartens, hospitals and free clinics in New York, New Orleans, Chicago, Seattle, Denver and Philadelphia. She also left her mark on New Jersey, Mississippi and California. Her burial place is in New York City.

In her letter from September, 1894 on a sea voyage from Genoa to New York, Mother Cabrini talked about seasickness, the rolling of the ship, the people they met, and the ups and downs of their journey. She never complains, just states the facts and finds ways to be grateful to God in everything. Rather laughably, she writes at the end of that letter:

“I wanted to go to Heaven, but what with one thing and another we have entered the New York Bay.” (p. 75 of the paperback edition)

I can’t wait to read through her adventures with you and hear your thoughts and comments! Happy Fall!