Hillside in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

Chicago's Saint

Photographed by Sean Flynn, May 14, 2024

1. Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini Shrine

Inscription. First citizen saint of the United States
Patron saint of immigrants

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13

[Left side of shrine:]
Mother Cabrini was not a humanitarian, she was a heroic lover of God. In her missions of charity, in her achievement of the impossible, it was not genius. Her secret was divine love. This is the wonderful story, a romance that is gripping and striking. It is the story of a woman who lived among us, who saw the things which we see, a woman in whose soul divine love has consumed the last remnant of self, who came to love only God and who saw God in every poor man, woman and child. Her life was filled with many difficulties. Many were disappointments. Most of the time she had tasks which were far from congenial. At times, she was misunderstood — even by good people. Yet she wanted

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

not. She was working for God.

[Right side of shrine:]
She loved us. She was our benefactor. She went begging in our streets. She rode our streetcars. Through alleys she went in search of little hungry children who were homeless and friendless. It seems to me that God through our saint is telling us that if we only love him with all our souls in the very conditions of our lives. Here in this great modern city, we shall be holy and pleasing to Him. Our saint issues a challenge to each of us. Our works in life may be modest, our achievements in the eyes of men insignificant, but we dare hope to be great in the sight of God, and the little things can become big things, and the trials can be blessings, and no matter how gloomy the world about us may be, we can smile the serene smile of our saint. Wonderful as were her works in life, more wonderful are and will ever be her works after death.

His Eminence Cardinal Stritch

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini Shrine: left side image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean Flynn, May 14, 2024

2. Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini Shrine: left side

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Charity & Public Work • Immigration • Religion & Religious Structures. A significant historical date for this entry is July 15, 1850.

Location. 41° 51.758′ N, 87° 54.705′ W. Marker is in Hillside, Illinois, in Cook County. It is on Roosevelt Road (Illinois Route 38) 0.8 miles east of Tri-State Tollway (Interstate 294). The shrine is about a quarter-mile (as the crow flies) from the Roosevelt Road entrance into Mt. Carmel Cemetery. The back of the shrine is visible from Roosevelt Road when facing north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1400 South Wolf Road, Hillside IL 60162, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Greater Chicago.

It is also in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Slovak World War II Memorial (approx. 0.2 miles away); Saint Methodius (approx. 0.2 miles away); Saint Cyril

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini Shrine: right side image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean Flynn, May 14, 2024

3. Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini Shrine: right side

(approx. ¼ mile away); Mt. Carmel Cemetery (approx. ¼ mile away); Queen of Heaven Cemetery (approx. ¼ mile away); Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (approx. ¼ mile away); Our Lady of the Angels School Fire Memorial (approx. 0.3 miles away); Scalabrini Fathers (approx. 0.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Hillside.

More about this marker. The words etched on either side of the statue of Mother Cabrini were given in a radio address by Cardinal Samuel Stritch on July 7, 1946, the day that Frances Xavier Cabrini was canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

Regarding Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini. Mother Cabrini was

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917) image. Click for full size.

Courtesy of Library of Congress

4. Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917)

the first American citizen to be canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Born Maria Francesca Cabrini in 1850 in Lombardy, a part of Northern Italy that was then part of the Austrian Empire, Cabrini took religious vows at age 27 and in 1880 joined the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1889 Pope Leo XIII sent Cabrini to New York to serve the Italian immigrant population there. After setting up Columbus Hospital in Manhattan and an orphanage upstate, she came to Chicago, where she also tended to a fast-growing Italian population. In Chicago, Cabrini founded Columbus Hospital in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Cabrini died in 1917 and is buried in New York. She was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1938, and in 1946, she was canonized as a saint by Pope Pius XII.

The National Shrine to St. Frances Cabrini is located in Chicago in Lincoln Park, near where Columbus Hospital stood until 2002. Cabrini is also (perhaps

Photographed by Sean Flynn, May 14, 2024

5. Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini Shrine

most famously) one of the namesakes of the Cabrini-Green public housing project on Chicago's near west side; most of it was demolished by the early 2010s, and rowhouses named after Cabrini are the only elements of that that remain. There is also a Cabrini Street that goes through part of the city's Little Italy and South Loop neighborhoods.

Also see . . .
1. A Brief Timeline of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s Life and Work. From the National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini website (Submitted on May 14, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

2. 175th anniversary: St. Frances Cabrini: a saint for Chicago, America. From Chicago Catholic, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago. (Submitted on May 14, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

Credits. This page was last revised on February 6, 2026. It was originally submitted on May 14, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 326 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on May 14, 2024, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.