Evening star., 1944-01-16
By the Associated Press.

Chicago.
By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, Jan. 15.-An American
citizen who ministered to persons
still living will take her place this
month with Peter, Paul, Patrick,
Francis of Assist and other saints
of the Catholic Church, hallowed
soul singled out for special venera-
ton by the faithful.
She is Blessed Mother Frances
Xavier Cabrini, slight, fair-com-
plexioned italian nun. While no off,
cial confirmation has been received,
dispatches from Bern, Switzerland,
report that Pope Plus XII will Off
ciate at canonization ceremonies in
Vatican City sometime in January.
Rejected by one religious order
because she was too frail, Mother
Cabrini founded her own, the Insti-
tute of the Missionary Sisters of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, and estab-
lished school, hospital or an
orphanage for each OF the 81 years
of her life. She crossed the Atlantic
% times, went up and down the
Pacific several times, rode burros
over mountains and criss-crossed
the United States.
Sanctification Sets Record.
Besides being the first American
citizen to be canonized, Mother Ca
brini will have the distinction of
being sainted less than 27 years
after her death, December %, 1917.
This is the shortest intervening pc
riod within which papal courts have
adjudged any person worthy of
sanctiflcation as an example, the
Jesuit martyrs, Father Isaac Jogues
and seven companions, tortured to
death by the Iroquois Indians in
the 164os, were not car1onized until
1890 >" ~
The dayof Mother Cabrirli's birth,
July Is, 1850, was marked by the
first Of many unusual incidents that
led her associates to believe her close
to Heaven.
That morning Augustine Cabrini
noticed around his prosperous farm
house at San Angelo Lodigiano in
Italy a flock of white doves never
before seen In the community. Un-
able to shoe them from his ripening
grain, he picked up one dove to
take to his wife, Stella.
AS he entered the house with the
bird that is the liturgical symbol of
the Holy Ghost, the Cabrinis' 18th
child was born, two months prema-
turely.
Such incidents were enough to
convince those close to Mother Ca
brini that she was one whom God
had set apart. Buth the church is
more exacting-it recognizes as true
miracles only those phenomena that
defy all natural scientific explana-
ton.
So an ecclesiastical court of in
quiry sat in Chicago in 1888, and
took voluminous testimony, both in
support and in challenge. After a
study Of the transcript and docu-
ments, the Sacred Congregation of
Rites in Rome decreed that Mother
Cabrini possessed the necessary
virtues in heroic degree and, was
responsible for two genuine mir
acles, sufficient proof of her sane
tity. The cases of Peter Smith and
Sister Delfina Grazioli, as reported
by the court are, in substance, as
follows:
Infant Aided Now in Army.
Peter Smith, now % years old and
serving in the Army, was the un-
fortunate victim of an accident on
the day of his birth in Columbus
Hospital Extension, New York. Un-
der the law, the eyes of newborn
infants are bathed with mild So
luton of silver Of nitrate as a pre-
caution against gonorrheal oph-
thal-Inia. Through an unexplain-
able error, Peters eyes were washed
with so per cent, instead of l
per cent, solution.
The region about his eyes turned
black. The acid burned the cornea,
ran into the nasal passages and in
famed the infants lungs His
temperature climbed to log. An
eye specialist pronounced the case
incurable and three attending
physicians concurred, hoping at
best to save his life, much less his
sight.
To Peters tiny nightgown, how
ever, Mother Charles, the hospital
director, pinned a relic of Mother
Cabrini, and with the other sisters
of the hospital prayed all night. BY
morning Peters temperature was
normal and he was breathing prop
erly. Within "a hours, the black
scars faded to red traces and dis
appeared entirely within the next
day. ~ a.
Peter Smith appeared as a wit
ness in the Chicago inquiry. He is
fond Of reading, Is an excellent
swimmer and took to wearing spec
tacles only recently because of the
strain of study.
Four years later, Sister Delfina
a member of Mother Cabrini's order
was in the Sisters Hospital ir
Seattle, Wash. Her aff1iction hac
been diagnozed as cancer of the
stomach and several operations
had been unsuccessful. The doc.
tors gave UP hope and the chap.
lain administered Extreme Unction
the sacrament Of the dying.
Appeared In Vision.
Shortly afterward, she later re.
lated, Mother Cabrini appeared IL
q vision to Sister Delfina and tolt
her to eat some dinner. The nurse