Still Marching for Mother Cabrini, Fifty Years Later

Fifty years ago, in May of 1969, following my confirmation at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary-St. Stephen Church (SHSS), my entire fourth grade class, along with our sponsors, families, teachers, parish priests, our pastor Father Francis Del Vecchio, and Bishop Francis Mugavero, marched from the church on Summit and Hicks Streets to the corner of DeGraw Street and Strong Place, the location of a new chapel named in honor of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini. The bishop blessed and officially opened the chapel for worship. It was an exhilarating day.

Originally the site of the Strong Place Baptist Church, the church building was in great disrepair when a group of SHSS parishioners began raising funds to purchase the property. They did this in part by holding a series of feasts over the course of several weekends which proved to be lucrative in those days. I remember looking out the window of our top floor apartment directly across from the chapel and seeing a ferris wheel in the churchyard and booths selling food, most of it homemade, and games of chance lining the street. It was magical to have a feast right outside your door. Lots of neighbors, including my dear Aunt Mary and Uncle Nicky, worked very hard to make this project a reality. My childhood neighbor Madalen Ranghelli recalls that their efforts raised over $26,000.

The new house of worship was known as Cabrini Chapel and it became a smaller satellite church for the then-thriving parish of SHSS. After purchasing the property, Madalen told me that there were very little funds left for renovation which included getting rid of the bats that were living in the belfry. So the newly formed Cabrini Society members pitched in and did most of the work. Mrs. Faye Anello, a skilled seamstress, sewed the altar cloths. Madalen's mother Lucy and Aunt Anna polished all the pews with Murphy's Oil and the men tore up all the old carpeting. By the time of its dedication by Bishop Mugavero, the chapel was a beautifully restored, intimate sanctuary.

Naming the chapel for Mother Cabrini was a perfect selection because she had done missionary work with the Italian immigrants of our very neighborhood after arriving in New York in 1889, first establishing St. Charles School and then later on, the larger Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary School (SHJM). She was greatly loved by the immigrants she helped and by their descendants; my own grandparents have her image engraved on their headstone at Green Wood Cemetery.

Our Red Hook (now Carroll Gardens) neighborhood was just one stop in the whirlwind missionary life of Mother Cabrini. Born in Northern Italy, she faced many obstacles, including childhood illness; being rejected for religious life until she founded her own order, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart; having her dreams of traveling to China changed by Pope Leo XIII, who instructed her to “go west” to serve the immigrants in America instead; and arriving in New York to a less-than-warm welcome by then-Archbishop Corrigan, to name just a few. Despite these setbacks and her inability to speak English, this diminutive immigrant whose mission was simply to serve other immigrants traveled all over North America, South America and Europe with her fellow sisters, establishing schools, hospitals, and orphanages. Amazingly, by the time of her death at the age of 67, Mother Cabrini had established 67 institutions!

This past Sunday, I marched in another procession beginning at Cabrini Park on the corner of President and Van Brunt Streets, which had long ago been the site of St. Charles Chapel and School. The purpose of this march was also connected to Mother Cabrini. In conjunction with the annual Mass of the Italian Apostolate of the Diocese of Brooklyn, this procession was organized in response to a decision by the She Built NYC Committee. She Built NYC is an initiative spearheaded by the First Lady of New York City, Chirlaine McCray. It was recently discovered that out of NYC’s 150 statues, only five were representative of women. In response, She Built NYC asked for public input to nominate women who had helped to build New York City with the goal of erecting statues of some of these women. As reported by She Built NYC, Mother Cabrini received 219 votes, more than twice as many as any other nominee. Inexplicably, after “review, guidance and recommendations” by the committee, Mother Cabrini was not one of the six women chosen for the first phase of the project. To say that those who nominated Mother Cabrini, myself included, were miffed would be a gross understatement. Just as those parishioners of old had considered Mother Cabrini to be a perfect patron saint for their new chapel over fifty years ago, many had also felt that she was a perfect candidate for this revisionist undertaking. Not only did she help build NYC and assist immigrants in establishing schools, hospitals, and orphanages, but her mission and her message are still extremely relevant given our country’s current climate of unrest concerning immigration. Indeed, Mother Cabrini is the “Patroness of Immigrants.”

And so on Sunday, October 6th, led by an NYPD marching band, over a thousand devotees processed along the very streets of the neighborhood that the beloved saint and her sisters had walked. The event culminated with a Mass led by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio at SHSS Church. In his homily, Bishop DiMarzio said that while Mother Cabrini would probably say that she was already in heaven and did not need a statue, the statue was important for us who wish to recognize her contributions. He also underscored the importance of Mother Cabrini’s mission, and said that while we should follow her example of continuing to help and welcome immigrants, we should also reach out to all those living on the periphery of society who might need assistance.

Also in attendance on Sunday were a group of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, including Sister Antonina Avitable and Sister Bernadette Anello, who were born and raised in the neighborhood and had been teachers at SHJM School. Sr. Bernadette, currently a member of the General Council of the Missionary Sisters in Rome had been my fifth grade teacher at SHJM. She grew up on Strong Place and her mom was the dear lady who had sewn the altar cloths for the Cabrini Chapel. Sister pointed out to me that the She Built NYC initiative never claimed that the selection process was a contest and declared that she would be “taking the high road” and would not participate in any negativity regarding the outcome. She did, however, feel that a march and Mass in honor of Mother Cabrini was a positive response. It turns out that I am still learning things from the very wise Sr. Bernadette—and I am still marching for Mother Cabrini.

It has been a long time since Mother Cabrini walked the streets of Brooklyn. Neighborhoods change, people move away, new people move in. Carroll Gardens is not as highly concentrated with Catholics as it once was. There came a day when our parish did not have a need for a second church building, and the Cabrini Chapel was closed in the late 1990s and is now a luxury apartment building. But even amid the changes, we must never discount the bravery and sacrifice inherent in Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini’s legacy. What she did for the immigrants of this city, and in so many other places around the world, should always be remembered and continued to be used as an example. Mother Cabrini must never be forgotten or disregarded. And she will have her statue! Those who honor her memory will make sure of that.