OLD TOWN — The National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is holding a fundraiser Wednesday evening at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St.
The shrine, 2520 N. Lakeview Ave., is engaged in a yearlong celebration of the first U.S. saint to mark the centenary of her death. A nonprofit, it attempts to continue her work in Chicago.
Mother Cabrini, who later gave name to what became the Cabrini-Green housing projects, was born in Italy, but came to Chicago before the end of the 19th century and went on to found Assumption School and later Columbus Hospital.
She was charged by Pope Leo XIII with aiding Italian immigrants in the United States, and she was canonized as the first U.S. saint in 1946 and was declared the universal patron saint of immigrants by Pope Pius XII in 1950.
The $200-a-person fundraising gala begins with cocktails and a silent auction in the museum's Robinson Gallery at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, followed by an Italian dinner and live auction in the Chicago Room at 7. Business attire is suggested. Tickets are available in advance online.
The museum was also the site of a conference on Cabrini's life and legacy last month.
Wednesday's event will also honor the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the founding physicians of Columbus Hospital and Columbus Extension West. Cabrini is also the patron saint of hospital administrators.
