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Wonderful! If you are debating between seeing the movie, Cabrini, or reading about her, I would recommend the movie first, before much study. That way you can enjoy the cinematic experience without being confused over various discrepancies between book(s) and the movie. Movies, after all, are a very different medium and it isn't possible to convey information in the manner of the written word. Once you have seen the movie, then, this is a very good book to read!

Immigrant Saint, the life of Mother Cabrini, was written in 1960 by Pietro Di Donato and dedicated to The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. As such it is a very positive representation of her life, a Catholic and spiritual portrayal which includes her dreams (were there others?) in which Jesus and the saints gave her guidance in how she was supposed to proceed. I was not 100% sure if she was an actual visionary or if she only received locutions and visions through dreams; I think she only ‘saw� in her dreams, but I could be mistaken in this. The author was writing for receptive believers, so he was not careful to provide substantive details as we do today for a more skeptical readership.

Maria Francesca Cabrini was born July 15, 1850, in Sant’Angelo, in Lombardi, Italy, the last child of the twelve children born to her 52-year-old mother, of which only three survived. Francesca came two months early, was frail and not expected to live. She remained sickly most of the 67 years of her life, and yet she was a powerhouse of strength and determined determination (a favorite expression of St. Teresa of Avila!) Ah the saints, they are so very different, but in some ways, they are also, so very much alike! Teresa of Avila also died at 67.

Francesca grew up in a deeply pious Catholic home. No matter all their sufferings, they only strengthened the Cabrinis� faith in God, something they passed on to their daughter. Frances was a humble woman, a hard worker and she never let a blade of grass grow under her feet. She began very simply trying to enter a couple of religious orders in Italy but was turned down. Then in 1874, she then agreed to accept a position which a priest friend obtained for her knowing of her ability to turn the worst situations around. The House of Providence, a female orphanage in Codogno was indeed to prove providential for the rest of her life.

Here she met a woman, Antonia Tondini, who made the next three years of Francesca’s life a living hell, yet she looked back on it as a period of formation which prepared her for the missionary life. By the time the local Bishop and the priest who had asked her to go there—to be tested—evicted Tondini, Frances had gathered around her a highly devoted cadre of young women who formed her first Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Her virtues already mentioned plus her intense drive to form the first missionary order of women attracted other women to her like bees to flowers. was magnetic and never had trouble recruiting followers.

From Codogno, Mother Cabrini—as she was known by then—went on to Rome, then to New York, South America, New Orleans, Chicago, California, Seattle, back to South America, back to New York, Chicago, the western states, Colorado, France, England, and numerous trips back to Rome and her place of origin, Codogno, plus many, many more trips! Her work expanded from orphanages to hospitals for immigrants, to paying girls� schools, to hospitals for everyone with the poor treated for free. She was constantly learning and adjusting as she learned. This book is packed full of her maxims and wisdom.

While this may not be the last word on her life, Immigrant Saint, the life of Mother Cabrini is an inspiring read and left me wanting to do more for the love of God! As I was reading it, I kept saying, ‘St. Mother Cabrini, please pray for me! I know I can never be a saint like you but pray that I can at least do God’s will for me.�