of her frail health, she was not permitted to join the Daughters of the Sacred Heart who had been her teachers and under whose guidance she obtained her teaching certificate.
   However, in 1880 with seven young women, Frances founded the institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She was as resourceful as she was prayerful, finding people who would donate what she needed in money, time, labor, and support. She and her sisters wanted to be missionaries, and despite all obstacles, she visited Rome to obtain an audience with Pope Leo XIII. The Pope told Frances to go to New York rather than China as she had expected. She was to help the hundreds of Italian immigrants who arrived on American shores daily.
   

   In 1889, New York seemed filled with chaos and poverty. Into this new world stepped Mother Frances Cabrini and her companions. Cabrini organized catechism and educational classes for the Italian immigrants and provided for the needs of the many orphans. There she established a school and an orphanage despite tremendous odds.
   Soon, requests for her to organize many schools came to Frances from all over the world. She travelled to

Europe, South America, and the United States. She crossed the ocean 24 times and established 67 houses - not only schools, but orphanages, hospitals, day care centers as well. During her lifetime, 5,000 pupils and orphans called her "Mother," and in the first 25 years of her order, 100,000 people were treated in her hospitals.
   Her activity was relentless until her death. On December 22,1917, in Chicago, she died as she was preparing the traditional Christmas treat for children of the area. Thirty years later, Pope Pius XII declared her a saint in recognition of her holiness and service to mankind.
   Today, at the Mother Cabrini Shrine, the Sisters, staff and lay volunteers, continue the mission of St. Frances Cabrini.