Help save a school founded by a saint

It’s Mother Cabrini High School in New York City.

A little background:

Mother Cabrini High School was founded in 1899 by St. Frances Xavier Cabrini as Sacred Heart Villa and continues to be sponsored by her order, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. What began as a “residential school for young ladies” remains today an institution dedicated to secondary education of young women. Mother Cabrini High School is among the nation’s award winning schools and is the only Catholic High School in New York State to receive the U.S. Department of Education “Blue Ribbon School of Excellence” award for 1997-98. MCHS previously won the award in 1986-87.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Frances Cabrini was born on July 15, 1850 in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Lombardy, Italy. The tenth of eleven children, she was born small and weak and many feared she would live only a few years. Her parents were peasants, and both possessed a deep faith that they passed on to their children. After living her young life devoted to Jesus and his works, she made her religious profession in 1877 at age 27. Mother Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1880. She made her first visit to the United States in March in 1889. She opened schools, orphanages and hospitals in several cities serving the poor and marginalized. She became a naturalized citizen in 1909. At the age of 67 she died in Chicago’s Columbus Hospital on December 22, 1917. Mother Cabrini crossed the ocean twenty-five times and opened sixty-seven institutions in nine countries, on three continents. She was declared blessed by Pope Pius XI on November 13, 1938. She was canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 7, 1946 and is known as the patron saint of immigrants. Mother Cabrini’s feast day is November 13.

The Missionary Sisters of The Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cabrini Sisters) continue to thrive as an institution 127 years after its founding by Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini. The Sisters continue to work in many apostolic efforts begun by Mother Cabrini, besides reaching out and serving new needs, in fifteen countries. The Cabrinian Mission Statement challenges the Sisters and their lay collaborators to be about the work of evangelization and the promotion of human dignity.

Last week, the school announced that its deficit was so great, it was being forced to close at the end of this academic year. But a fundraising campaign is now underway to try and keep the school open.  Visit this link for details.  You can learn more about the school at its homepage—and in the video below.