There are many things that drive people to succeed: ambition, greed, power, and glory. Each of these motives is centered on the great and almighty EGO. The big me, the great “I who am”! But in the unseen realm of the spiritual, a driving phenomenon occurs, incomprehensible to society. It is the compelling energy of love, where a person lives to glorify, not himself, but the Great I AM, Christ Himself. The people who achieve success in doing this are the saints of God. They come in all sizes and are revered throughout the ages. Their one personal goal is to overcome themselves, and to become nothingness in order to achieve great things for the glory of God.
The story of Saint Frances Cabrini is a perfect example of how the driving force of love can reach almost super-human proportions. In her self-abasement, this little Italian nun, barely five feet tall, accomplished more than any government institution for the immigrants in America and elsewhere. She did this by appealing directly to the hearts of men, where she sought to reestablish the Kingdom of God.
Early Arrival
Frances, or Francesca, Cabrini was born two months premature on July 15, 1850. At that time infant mortality rate was high and her life hung in the balance. Slowly she rallied to the surprise of everyone. Tiny and delicate, with a lifetime of fragile health ahead of her, she was baptized the same day she was born. A warm and loving reception awaited her at the Cabrini home where the Faith permeated every aspect of their daily life. There her early years were fostered under watchful eyes of her religious parents, Agostino and Stella Cabrini.
Stella, Francesca’s mother, was the very image and model of a good Christian wife who guarded and cultivated her children, both physically and spiritually. Agostino Cabrini, her father, was also known and respected for his strong and practical faith. Along with this reputation, his giant stature merited him the nickname “the Christian Tower.” He was a hard working farmer, challenging the soil of the rough Lombardi terrain as his fathers had before him.
In the Cabrini home every day began with prayer and ended with prayer. At night after a full day’s work in the field Agostino would often read to his children the stories from the “Annals of the Propagation of the Faith.” These tales of the foreign missionaries captivated the attention of the gathered household, inspiring the listeners with a burning zeal. The children would forget their own weariness as they became engrossed in the accounts of missionary heroism in far-away lands. It was these stories that enkindled in little Frances’s soul the desire to be a missionary. Even after she was sent to bed, she would strain her ears to hear every word her father read, picturing the struggles and hardships of missionary life. Little by little Frances fell in love with the idea of being a missionary. The adventure of the unknown, along with the challenge of winning souls for Christ, inflamed her heart. She became acutely aware of the trials and difficulties that she would have to endure as a missionary.
To prepare herself, Frances began, even at a young age, to make small sacrifices to build up the stamina she would need for the work of converting souls. She had a special love for the dark and mysterious land of China, where most of the stories her father read were about. So consuming was this desire that in her play by the riverbanks she imagined she was the superior of a large order of missionary nuns sending her religious daughters out to convert the pagan lands.
Acting out this role, she would construct little boats made of paper and fill them with flowers, which, in her imagination were brave missionary sisters. She would send these militant flotillas down stream destined for China or India to conquer souls for Christ. For hours she would delight in this game bidding farewell to “sister violet,” “sister daisy” and all the other wild flowers she had enlisted to join her brigade. She would be lost in this drama for hours, at times spending her whole afternoon intently consoling and encouraging them on their way.
One frigid day she became so engrossed sending off her missionaries that she reached too far, and losing her balance fell into the freezing cold river. Unable to swim she was swept down stream by the strong current. When her family discovered she was missing, they began searching up and down the banks of the river where she was last seen. Almost in despair they found her many hours later huddled on the shore scared and shivering. When they asked who rescued her from the water she only remembered waking up on the bank with no one in sight. Her parents attributed Frances’s safe delivery to her Guardian Angel. This incident left her with a great dread of water and a greater appreciation for God’s loving care.
