CABRINI'S ARRIVAL IN 1889 CELEBRATED
Submitted by 	Larie Tedesco
Source		Times-Picayune Newspaper November 11, 1989

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Some people claim they can feel the presence of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini as
they walk the halls of the building in the 3400 block of Esplanade Avenue
where she once lived, housed and taught the city's poor children.

Her well-preserved but simple room is at the end of a hallway on the second
floor of the turn-of-the-century building that she constructed as an orphanage
and school. Near her canopied bed, a glass cabinet contains her rosary, apron
and other clothes and articles.

The room is never locked. Sometimes students, faculty and alumni of Cabrini
High School and orphanage visit to feel close to her.

Sunday will culminate a weeklong celebration of the 100th anniversary of
Mother Cabrini's arrival in the United States from Italy. A celebration of her
yearly Feast Day will be Monday.

Mother Cabrini, the patroness of immigrants, founded the Missionary Sisters of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She came to the United States from Saint Angelo,
Italy, in 1889 and set up 67 missions, one of which is in New Orleans.

She came to New Orleans on Tuesday of Holy Week in April 1892, and was
encouraged by Archbishop Francis Jansen to stay and help poor Italian
immigrants.

Mother Cabrini immediately began preparing for a new mission by establishing a
convent and school. A house she bought that year at 817 St. Philip St. was
used as a school for poor Italian children and is still operated by the
religious order. Three nuns supervise the Cabrini Day Nursery.

By 1905 Mother Cabrini felt the need for larger quarters. She acquired land in
the 3400 block of Esplanade Avenue, and, with the help of New Orleanian
Salvatore Pizzati, a Sicilian-American sea captain, she built an orphanage and
a chapel.

Pizzati and his wife were childless, said Barbara Heim, director of
development of Cabrini High School. He told Mother Cabrini that if she bought
the land he would give her the money to construct the building, Heim said. "He
felt that in this way he could help children."

The building remained an orphanage for 54 years until it was phased out in
1959 when orphanages were no longer needed, she said.

The closure came when there was a need for Catholic secondary schools in the
city. So, in 1959, with the approval of the archdiocese, the state and the
superior general of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Cabrini High School was established on the grounds. The girls school has an
enrollment of 500 students in grades eight through 12.

Over the years new buildings were added, and today the school extends from the
original building on Esplanade Avenue to the 1400 block of Moss Street.

Mother Cabrini died Dec. 22, 1917, in Chicago, and is entombed at Cabrini
Chapel in New York City. She was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1938 and
canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1946.

Besides the United States and Europe, Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus have foundations in Canada, Central and South America, Africa and
Australia.

Cabrini High School on Sunday will mark the centennial of Mother Cabrini's
arrival with a special family Mass and breakfast. The Rev. Bernie Terrebonne,
the school chaplain, will preside. Sister Catherine Garry of the provincial
council in Chicago will be a guest.

On Monday, the Feast Day, there will be a Mass for students celebrated by the
Rev. Gregory M. Aymond, director of propagation of the faith and rector of
Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.