Pope’s message to the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus
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| Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, the patron on immigrants.- RV |
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written a letter to
the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC),
encouraging its members and their collaborators in the “missionary charism” of
their foundress, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, the patron of
immigrants, saying she is a “very contemporary figure.” The papal letter
to Superior General, Sister Barbara Louise Staley on the occasion of the 100th
death anniversary of Mother Cabrini, was released by the Vatican on
Tuesday.
Born in Italy in 1850, Mother Cabrini founded the
congregation in 1880 to support Italian immigrants to the United States.
She died in Chicago, USA, on Dec. 22, 1917. The congregation and its
collaborators are celebrating the death centennial of their foundress with
a general assembly in Chicago, Sept. 17 to 23. The work started by Mother
Cabrini is today active in fifteen countries of the world.
Cabrini's charism - migration
In his message, Pope Francis noted that “today’s
epoch-making population movements with the inevitable tensions they
create make Mother Cabrini a very contemporary figure.” “In
particular,” he said, “the Saint focused attention on situations of greatest
poverty and fragility such as the needs of orphans and miners.”
“This clearly feminine, missionary consecration born in
Mother Cabrini,” the Pope pointed out, “came from the total and loving union
with the Heart of Christ whose compassion surpasses all limits.” He said
her love for the Heart of Christ was translated into the
evangelical fervor for those who today are considered emarginated in
society.
The Pope particularly recalled Mother Cabrini opening a
house in the most infamous Italian quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, just one
year after the cruel lynching of Italians accused of having murdered the city’s
Chief of Police.
the Holy Father said, “The great migrations underway today
need guidance filled with love and intelligence similar to what characterizes
the Cabrinian charism.” This way, the Pope explained “the meeting of
peoples will enrich all and generate union and dialog, not separation and hostility.”
He reminded the Cabrinians that the “missionary sensitivity” of their foundress
was “not sectorial but universal.” That, he said, is the “vocation of
every Christian and of every community of the disciples of Jesus.”
Pope Francis assured his prayers for the Missionary Sisters
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus because, he said, he had always known the figure
of Mother Cabrini and because of his special concern for immigrants.
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