Saint Frances X. Cabrini

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About St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish

In 1982, the property on which this church is built was purchased by the Diocese of St. Petersburg for $136,000. It was an orange grove at that time. And there was no Diocese of Venice. In 1986 that Diocese was formed and the property was transferred to the Venice Diocese for the price of $1.

In 1982, Parrish was a large farming community with many migrant workers being housed in the area. The needs of the Catholic Community in Parrish were the responsibility of Holy Cross Church in Palmetto. Father Pat Farrell was the Pastor of Holy Cross in 1990.

Bishop Nevins requested that Fr. Farrell establish a migrant mission in 1991. Holy Cross Parish contributed $50,000 to the purchase and installation of a prefabricated Church which an additional $30,000 was donated by the Extension Society of Chicago for the mission to the Hispanics. Those funds were used to purchase a rectory, which was also a prefabricated structure.

The Mission was named in honor of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, who was canonized for her work among the immigrants.

During this time, a building boom in Manatee County created another sizable migrant group of “Snow Birds.” The rapid expansion of Colony Cove, The Gardens, River Wilderness, Imperial Lakes, Veranda Springs, Terra Siesta and many more developments pushed the walls of the Mission to the breaking point.

In 1995, Father Farrell was transferred to Holmes Beach as the Pastor of Saint Bernard Church. Father Janusz Jancarz “Father Jay” was appointed as the Priest-in-charge of the Mission.

During the period of 1995 to 1999, the population of the mission has more than doubled. In 1996, the planning of the new Church began. Pledges of over $500,000 were made with a goal of $800,000. Every sort of fundraising device known to man had been used to support this effort. The Church was dedicated on November 13, 1999. There are two exceptional works of art within the Church, The Statues of Our Lady of La Leche and The Risen Christ. These works were created by a parishioner, Audrey Keisacker.

The concluding comments at that dedication service in November 13, 1999 were as follows:
“Writing a community history is complicated by the fact that with God there is no time. A community is distinguished by its people, not by its buildings. If the spirit of Jesus Christ is in our hearts and we are united as a family observing the precepts of our Savior, then our change of the canonical status from Mission to Parish shall be the next step in our continuing journey home to our most loving Lord and God.

 

Presentation on St. Frances X. Cabrini at the Nothern Deanery Council of Catholic Women Meeting, March 2008 by Wendy Dawson.  This link has a detailed history of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini which includes pictures and a special prayer. 

St. Frances X. Cabrini.pdf

 

 

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, 1850-1917

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was a woman of our time. Her personality fascinated her contemporaries. Because she modeled her daily life in the Gospel, she influenced others to venerate religion; furthermore, in her personal contacts, she made the virtuous life attractive to both rich and poor.
She was born July 15, 1850, in Lombardy, in northern Italy in the town of Sant’ Angelo, in the Lodi region. The tenth of eleven brothers and sisters Frances was in poor health. Her schooling was frequently interrupted by illness. After the normal School of Arluno, a village close to her hometown, she asked to be a member of the Daughter of the Sacred Heart. The superior did not accept her. She advised her to wait until a later time. She would found another Institute to bring new glory to the Heart of Jesus. Excuse or prophecy, Mother Superior was not mistaken.

Young Frances worked for a certain time in the House of Providence in Codogno a girl’s orphanage. Here, she transformed this institution into a religious house. It was very frustrating and a painful time in her life. Finally in 1877, aged 27 Frances Xavier made her religious profession establishing the foundation for the future Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

At the age of thirty Frances experienced a very serious set back in her life. She fell ill being physically exhausted from constant traveling, organizing new missions. During all this time Frances Cabrini never stopped preparing herself for the goal of her life to be a missionary to China. As a childhood pastime, she used to fill paper boats with violets and send them as missionaries to the Far East. Instead in March 31, 1889 she set out for New York where no convent had been prepared and no reservation had been made. She and her Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus had to start from scratch in establishing shelters and soup kitchens for poor Italian immigrants in Manhattan. In many hopeless situations s he had the courage to trust without limit in God’s providence. She established boarding houses and shelters in New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Mississippi, Colorado, California, Washington, Illinois and a few places in South America. Despite the fact of being Mother Superior and administrator of large hospitals and shelters she never stopped doing the ordinary chores of mopping the floor. Her mystical experiences flowing out from prayer and self-sacrifice made her not only tireless and active, but also contemplative and a prayerful person.

On December 22, 1917, a few days before Christmas, St. Frances Cabrini died in a hospital she founded in Chicago. The news of her death flashed to all the countries where she had established her missions; but because of wartime censorship the message was somewhat delayed. She was canonized in 1946; her body is enshrined in the Chapel of the Cabrini Memorial School in Fort Washington, New York. No doubt there were many saints in the United States before her, and no doubt that there will be many after her. But she was the first citizen of the USA to be canonized; to have her sanctity publicly recognized by the Church. Her glory belongs to Italy and America, to the Church and to mankind.