The Peru Gazette

By John T. Ryan

Sixty-five years have passed since the Mother Cabrini Shrine in West Peru was dedicated on August 31, 1947 before an estimated 2,000 people. On Sunday, July 8, 2012 the Shrine was alive once again as hundreds of people witnessed Reverend Alan Shnob celebrating Mass and dedicating the beautiful pavilion surrounding the Shrine. The celebration took place one day following the 66^th Anniversary of the canonization of Saint Francesca Xavier Cabrini on July 7,1946.  A place of peace, beauty and prayer has been renewed.  (Click here to view slideshow)

Mother Cabrini, a naturalized United States citizen, is the patron saint of immigrants.  The Shrine’s setting on the grounds of St. Patrick’s is appropriate because St. Patrick’s opened in 1841 to serve the large group of Irish immigrants who settled on the Patent Road area.

Born 1850 in Lombardy, Italy, Francesca Cabrini took her religious vows in 1877.  In 1880, she and six other women founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and in 1889 the Sisters came to New York City where they founded their first orphanage. Over her lifetime Mother Cabrini and her sisters founded 67 institutions to serve the poor and to train nuns to carry on their work. In New York City Mother Cabrini founded Columbus Hospital and Italian Hospital. In Chicago her Order opened the Columbus Extension Hospital.