PAPAL LETTER MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF MOTHER FRANCES CABRINI

VATICAN CITY, JUL 15, 2000 (VIS) - Made public today was Pope John Paul's Message to Mother Lina Colombini, superior general of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of their foundress, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, and the 50th anniversary of her proclamation as patroness of emigrants. The Message bears the date of May 31.

The Pope recalls that Frances Cabrini was born and baptized on July 15, 1850 "to a family rich in faith and piety." She entered the House of Providence in Codogno, Italy, where "she promised to dedicate herself totally to the Lord (in missionary work). There she received the religious habit and later, while keeping the name of Frances, added the name of Xavier in memory of the great Jesuit missionary and patron of missions."

With her bishop's approval she founded the Salesian Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1880. In 1888 the order received pontifical approval and became known as the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Mother Cabrini asked "evangelical obedience, mortification, renunciation, a vigilant heart and inner silence," wrote the Pope, and there was "a surprising flowering of vocations."

In answer to Pope Leo XIII's request to "go West, not East," as a missionary, Mother Cabrini undertook her evangelizing work in the United States, but also visited, as part of her apostolate to migrants, Nicaragua, Brazil, Argentina, France, Spain and England. The Holy Father recalled that Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini was beatified by Pius XI in 1938, canonized by Pius XII in 1946 and proclaimed patroness of migrants during the 1950 Holy Year.

Observing that "prayer, ... long periods of time in front of the tabernacle," and seeking God's will were the source of Mother Cabrini's strength and dedication to the causes of migrants, the Pope wrote: "May the search for the will of the divine Spouse also be for you, dear sisters, the focal point of your existence."

He thanked them for "incarnating, with creativity and generosity the spirit of Mother Cabrini in the unheard-of and modern situations of migrants." He also thanked them for their work "in favor of the poor and defenseless," noting especially their apostolate among the "favelas" of Brazil, the street children and in promoting the dignity of women.

MESS;MOTHER CABRINI; MIGRANTS;...;COLOMBINI;VIS;20000717;Word: 380;