L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2015 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano I n 1903, several national fig- ures made their way to the shores of Puget Sound, no easy feat at the time. In April of that year, John C. Olmstead, stepson of landscape designer F r e d e r i c k L a w O l m s t e a d , arrived to plan out the city's parks and boulevards. In May, P r e s i d e n t T e d d y R o o s e v e l t stopped by on his grand tour of the American West. A lesser-known but nonethe- less influential visitor arrived in Seattle that year as well. She was Maria Francesca Cabrini, later known as Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini. Cabrini visited Seattle three times during her l i f e t i m e , m i n i s t e r i n g t o t h e city's sick and poor, with a spe- cial focus on its Italian immi- grants. This devoted humanitar- ian, whose influence on Seattle can still be felt today, went on to become America's first saint. Cabrini was born in 1850 i n t o a f a r m i n g f a m i l y i n Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, about 20 miles south of Milan. The youngest of 13 children, she was born several months early, and her small size and f r a g i l e h e a l t h d o g g e d h e r throughout her life. But what she lacked in stature, she made up for in determination. A f t e r h e r p a r e n t s d i e d , Cabrini became a teacher but l o n g e d t o b e a m i s s i o n a r y . Twice refused entry into a con- vent because of her delicate nature, Cabrini took matters into her own hands. In 1880, she founded the order of the M i s s i o n a r y S i s t e r s o f t h e Sacred Heart. For the next nine years, she established schools and orphanages in Italy, even running a hospital at one point. Her passion caught the eye of Pope Leo XIII who asked h e r t o t r a v e l t o t h e U n i t e d States, which was considered a missionary outpost at the time. Her talents were sorely needed there: Thousands of Italians, m o s t l y f a r m e r s o r p e a s a n t s , were arriving each year, with- out money, jobs, education or basic English-language skills. In March 1889, Cabrini and six Sacred Heart sisters set sail from France with 1,500 other i m m i g r a n t s , b o u n d f o r N e w York City. During the next 28 y e a r s , s h e t r a v e l e d t h e U . S . from coast to coast as well as to parts of South America. On Cabrini's first visit to Seattle in 1903, she fell in love with the city. "Here we are, not far from the North Pole," she wrote. "This city is charmingly s i t u a t e d , a n d i s g r o w i n g s o rapidly….The town of Seattle s p r e a d s o v e r t w o h i l l s , a n d though it is fifty degrees north l a t i t u d e , i t e n j o y s a n i n t e r - minable spring because of the current that comes from Japan." Within a year, Cabrini had established Mt. Carmel Mission on Seattle's Beacon Hill, home to a large immigrant population. " I n t h e v a l l e y s b e t w e e n t h e h i l l s , t h e r e a r e a b o u t 5 , 0 0 0 I t a l i a n s w h o f o l l o w u s l i k e chicks follow the hen," Cabrini wrote. "We hope to help them, and they will help us." The compound included a school, convent, chapel, kindergarten and orphanage. On her second trip to Seattle in 1909, Cabrini realized that the orphanage needed immedi- ate attention. Not only was it bursting at the seams―some 85 children were housed there― b u t t h e c i t y h a d d e c i d e d t o regrade the hill upon which it s a t . T h e o r p h a n a g e h a d t o move. Cabrini later said that the new location came to her in a dream. "I saw a villa on a hill," she wrote. She sent two sisters t o t h e s h o r e s o f L a k e Washington, a location she felt corresponded to her dream site. There, the sisters found a grand, brick-clad summer home which Cabrini eventually purchased and renovated. I n 1 9 1 4 , t h e o r p h a n a g e moved to the Lake Washington locale. Ten years later, a resi- dence and school were added and the new facility was dedi- cated Sacred Heart Villa. The s c h o o l e x i s t s t o d a y a s V i l l a A c a d e m y , S e a t t l e ' s o n l y Catholic independent school o f f e r i n g p r e s c h o o l t h r o u g h eighth grade. Cabrini had now spent nearly half her adult life in the United States, and she decided to take t h e n e x t s t e p . S h e b e c a m e a U.S. citizen in Seattle on Oct. 13, 1909. In 1915, Cabrini arrived in Seattle for the last time. Despite being in her mid-60s, she had n o t s l o w e d d o w n . S h e h a d c o m e t o o p e n a h o m e f o r foundlings and purchased the ornate, seven-story Perry Hotel for that purpose. Instead, she turned the building into a clinic k n o w n a s C o l u m b u s S a n i t a r i u m . I t w a s l a t e r renamed Cabrini Hospital in her honor and it remained opera- tional until 1990. Cabrini was very ill when she left Seattle in November 1916, and she died in Chicago the following year. During her lifetime, she had established 67 institutions―one for every year of her life―in the U.S., South America and Europe. She was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1946 and is today the patron saint of immigrants. D u r i n g h e r t h r e e t r i p s t o Seattle, Cabrini often prayed at S t . J a m e s C a t h e d r a l a n d h e r relics are sealed beneath the altar. A statue of Cabrini as a y o u n g n u n i s l o c a t e d i n t h e cathedral's west nave, holding a book and a bouquet of violets in her hand. A woman ahead of her time, Cabrini was a bold adventurer and a savvy businesswoman, a dedicated social reformer and a passionate religious leader. A century ago, her energy, com- passion and foresight helped hundreds of Italians in Seattle live a better life in the city they would eventually call home. RITA CIPALLA A m e r i c a 's f i r s t s a i n t h e l p s e a s e t h e w ay f o r Seattle's Italian community Mother Cabrini, who became American's first saint in 1946, is known as the patron saint of immigrants Seattle's elegant Perry Hotel later became Cabrini Hospital, which remained in operation until 1990

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