Evening star., 1938-11-13
BY the Associated Press.

NEW YORK, Nov. 12.-At pre-
cisely o'clock tomorrow morning
the crystal and gold-plated bronze
casket bearing the body of Mother
Francesca Saverio Cabrini will be
laid beneath the altar in the chapel
of Mother Cabrini High School in
upper Manhattan.
The eerie gray of the dawn will
envelop New York, but it will be
bright midmorning in Rome at that
hour, when Pope Plus XII will issue
his decree of beatification for ''the
Little Num-" Mother Cabrini. the
first United States citizen to attain
beatification, the last step before
sainthood
Mother Cabrini's body can be seen
reposing on a gold-embroidered satin
cushion, worked by the novices of
her order. Her features are covered
by waXen mask, lightly tinted and
closely resembling photographs of
the holy woman. The casket is to
be laid in an onyx-lined, glass
fronted tomb, contrasting sharply
in its opulence with the simplicity
of the Little Nuns" life.
Almost from the time of her birth,
July Is, 1850, in the Italian village
of st. Angelo Lodigiano, she seemed
destined for the church. She took
her VOWS early and founded her own
order, the Missionary Sisters of the
Sacred Heart Of Jesus. The work
of the order early came to the atten-
ton of church dignitarieS and of
Pope Leo XIII.
Came to New York in 1889.
Bat it was not until Mother Ca
brini was 80 that she was permitted
to leave Italy as a missionary. In
1889, accompanied by five of her
nuns, she came to New York.
At that time there were only five
Italian churches and 10 priests for
the thousands of Italians in New
York. Mother Cabrini went to work
Immediately. She organized a school
and as soon as that was going sue
cessfully she set about to establish
hospital. An old building aban-
doned by another hospital which she
took over, still stands beside the
present Columbus Hospital in East
Nineteenth street.-The name given
by Mother Cabrini when she started
it in 1892, the 400th anniversary of
Columbus discovery of America.
It was said "the little nun" could
walk unharmed in places where
even the police dared not CO.
Known in the slums, she was like
wise known in the Offices of philan-
thropists, businessmen, politicians
and others who could aid in her
work. She extended the scope of
her activities to Chicago and New
Orleans as her New York institu-
tons grew and prospered. Mother
Cabrini became a citizen in 1909.
She died in December, 1917, at the
age of 81. BY that time Mother
Cabrini had founded 81 institu-
tions. Since then her order has
continued to grow in membership
and in its schools. hospitals, Or
phanages and novitiates throughout
this country, as well as in Paris and
London and Central and South Am
erica, where she journeyed.
Two Miraculous Cures.
Many are the amazing stories told
of Mother Cabrini's works, but she
is to be beatified on the basis of two
miraculous cures-both reported
after her death and after physicians
had abandoned hope.
One of those saved by the inter-
cession of Mother Cabrini is IT.
year-old Peter Smith, who lives up
in the Bronx today and is studying
for the priesthood. The day of
Peters birth, March IA, 1921, some
thing went wrong in the delivery
room. Peters eyes were washed,
not with the customary per cent
solution of silver nitrate, but with a
much stronger solution. An eye spe-
cialist said Peters eyes were be-
yond cure. Three attending ply
sicians agreed and added there was
little chance of even saving his
life.
Mother Charles pinned a relic of
Mother Cabrini on the child's gown.
All night she and the other sisters
prayed. In the morning his tenn
perature was down. The black
scars grew dim and finally disap-
peared and the next day Peters
eyes were well. One of the attending
physicians is dead, but the other
two testified for the ecclesiastical
investigation that the recovery was
something unexplainable by ordinary
medical science.
It was four years later that Sister
Delphina Grazioh, a member of
Mother Cabrini's order, lay near
death in the sisters hospital in
Seattle. Several operations for q
stomach ailment had been unsuc-
cessful. Hope was abandoned.
Appeared in = Vision.
Mother Cabrini, an ecclesiastical
hearing was told, appeared in a
vision to Sister Delphina and told
her to eat. The sisters, upon being
told of the event, gave her food.
She did eat and in a short time
began to recover. The cause of the
illness disappeared so far as doctors
could determine and Sister Delphina
lived to testify to her miraculous
cure.
Now all through the day the