MISSIONARY SISTERS OF THE SACRED HEART

(MSC, Official Catholic Directory #2860); also known as Cabrini Sisters, a papal institute founded Nov. 14, 1880, by (St.) Francis Xavier cabrini at Codogno, Italy. The congregation's growth was rapid, and the Holy See granted the decree of commendation in 1888 and final approbation in 1907. The rules and constitutions thus approved were the work of Mother Cabrini herself. In 1889, when Mother Cabrini applied to the Holy See for permission to begin Chinese missions, the deplorable condition of large numbers of Italian immigrants caused Leo XIII to bid her to go "not to the East but to the West." Accepting the invitation of Abp. Michael Corrigan of New York, Mother Cabrini and six sisters arrived in New York City on March 31, 1889. Thereafter Cabrinian foundations, following the streams of immigration, were made in New York and Brooklyn, N.Y.; New Orleans, La.; Chicago, Ill.; Scranton, Pa.; Newark and Arlington, New Jersey; Denver, Colo.; Seattle, Wash.; and Los Angeles and Burbank, Calif. Meanwhile new foundations were established in Europe and South America. Although the work for Italian immigrants earned for the foundress the title "Saint of the Immigrants," this was but one phase of her institute's world-embracing program. Schools, hospitals, and institutions of higher learning paralleled works for the poor.

Inspired by a devotion to the Sacred Heart, the sisters engage in a variety of ministries, including education, catechetics, hospitals, nursing, healthcare, parish administration, pastoral ministries and social outreach. The motherhouse is in Rome. The U.S. provincialate is in New York City.

Bibliography: f. cabrini, The Travels of Mother Frances Cabrini (letters) tr. and ed. missionary sisters of the sacred heart (Milwaukee 1944). p. di donato, Immigrant Saint: The Life of Mother Cabrini (New York 1960). t. maynard, Too Small a World: The Life of Francesca Cabrini (Milwaukee 1945).

[s. le dieu/eds.]