Defend the lowly and the fatherless;
render justice to the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the lowly and the poor;
from the hand of the wicked deliver them.
Francis Xavier Cabrini was born near Milan, Italy. She was rejected from joining several religious orders, having been told that her frail health would not be well suited to being a missionary. So, she founded a new religious congregation, the Missionary sisters of the Sacred Heart.
Her dream had been to be a missionary sister to China, but her bishop and Pope Leo XIII asked her to be missionaries to the United States, to care for the growing number of Italian immigrants. So, Mother Cabrini and six sisters of her congregation sailed for America in 1889 where they established schools, orphanages, and hospitals.
Mother Cabrini followed the Lord’s call to minister to the poor and the downtrodden, to lift them out of there desperate circumstances and to help them realize their dignity as children of God. In the words of our Psalm, she defended the lowly and fatherless, rendered justice to the afflicted, rescued the lowly and the poor.”
In 35 years, despite constant poor health Frances Xavier Cabrini founded 6 institutions for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick, and organized schools and adult education classes for formation in the Catholic Faith. She died of malaria in her own Hospital in Chicago in 1917.
Mother Cabrini was the first US Citizen to be canonized, and she is known as the patron saint of immigrants.
Pope Pius XII at her canonization asked, “Where did she acquire all that strength and the inexhaustible energy by which she was able to perform so many good works and to surmount so many difficulties?...the divine love burned within her.”
May the divine love burn within us. May we nurture it through prayer and the sacraments. May it impel us to be attentive to the lowly and fatherless in our midst. May it help us find the courage to leave our comforts to care for the needy. May that holy fire illuminate our lives and guide us in imitation of the selfless Christ and His saints for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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For an end to the violence and poverty that displaces so many people from their homes and homelands, and that migrants, refugees, and strangers in our midst, may know the kindness and compassion of our local Church.
That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life. We pray to the Lord.
That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.
We pray in a special way during this month of November for all the faithful departed, for those whose names are written in our parish book of the names of the dead, all deceased members of St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish, and our deceased family members and friends, deceased clergy and religious, for those who fought and died for our freedom and for N. for whom this mass is offered.
O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.
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