OLD TOWN — Who was St. Frances Xavier Cabrini? The Chicago History Museum plays host to a conference on the patron saint of immigrants and namesake of the Cabrini-Green housing project from 1-3 p.m. Saturday at 1601 N. Clark St.
The National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, 2520 N. Lakeview Ave. in Lincoln Park, is holding the conference as part of a yearlong celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of her death.
According to the shrine, Francesca Cabrini was born outside Milan, Italy, on July 15, 1850, and was prone to illness throughout her life because of a premature birth. In 1880, having been turned away by two religious orders because of frail health, she founded her own group, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In 1889, Pope Leo XIII sent Mother Frances Cabrini and several of her sisters to New York City to minister to the growing Italian immigrant community there. Ten years later, she was off to do the same in Chicago, founding Assumption School, originally at 317 W. Erie St., and later Columbus Hospital.
Cabrini became a U.S. citizen in 1909.
She died in her private room in the sisters' convent at the hospital on Dec. 22, 1917. She was canonized as the first American citizen saint in 1946 and declared the universal patron saint of immigrants by Pope Pius XII in 1950.
The first Cabrini Homes were two-story rowhouses built in 1942, and they combined with the CHA Green Homes, first built in 1962 and named after American Federation of Labor President William Green, to eventually form the Cabrini-Green complex.
Saturday's two-hour conference will feature a panel of scholars and historians discussing "Her Life, Legacy & Mission in Chicago."
Admission is free, but the organizers ask that those interested make reservations online at cabrininationalshrine.org or by calling Barbara Willis at 773-360-5746 or emailing development@cabrininationalshrine.org.
