The seed for “Cabrini,” the soon-to-be-released biopic of America’s first saint, was planted nearly seven decades ago by a young man in a small church in Philadelphia.

The year was 1955 and J. Eustace Wolfington was just starting out in business. Born and raised in the City of Brotherly Love, he was 23 years old at the time.

A devout Catholic, Wolfington was hoping to fit in an early-morning Mass before the start of a long workday. By chance, he chose St. Donato Church, where he encountered a statue of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, who founded the parish’s school in 1912.

Wolfington had never heard of Cabrini but was so intrigued by her remarkable story that he accepted the pastor’s invitation to attend a nine-day novena in her honor. Transformed by the experience, he embraced Mother Cabrini as his personal patroness.

“She was a great entrepreneur, and I was going into business, so I chose her as my role model,” recalls Wolfington, noting that he was inspired not just by her business acumen, but also her drive to build an empire with the singular goal of helping others.

“We all need role models,” Wolfington explains. “We need someone to set the standard to shoot for and Cabrini set the ultimate standard. No one could stop her because she had a much bigger vision of where she was trying to get. Her story is my story. Wherever she’s trying to go, I’m trying to go.”

Sickly since her birth in a small Italian town on July 15, 1850, Francesca Saverio Cabrini rose above her infirmities to form the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 30 years later. From there, she bucked hierarchies on both sides of the Atlantic to establish the largest transnational humanitarian organization at the time, encompassing 67 hospitals, orphanages, schools and other institutions in 17 countries.

“She was an amazing, amazing woman,” Wolfington says, crediting her with being a true agent of change for the poor and uneducated, the sick and abandoned, women and immigrants alike.

With Cabrini as his guiding light, Wolfington created Half-A-Car Inc. in 1960, building his startup into a global network encompassing more than 4,000 dealerships. As he traveled the world, he was surprised to discover how few people, including Italians, knew anything about his patroness.

Following the sale of Half-A-Car in 2000, Wolfington has continued his entrepreneurial activities while making a significant commitment in support of Catholic institutions and charities in the Philadelphia area. To that end, he formed a family foundation, naming it Cabrini Asset Management.

Wolfington cut his filmmaking teeth in 2006 as a producer of “Bella,” a “tender tale of grace, faith, redemption and the sanctity of life,” according to one reviewer, that earned the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival along with several other accolades.

When the then-president of Cabrini College, Sister Mary Louise Sullivan, approached Wolfington in 2011 with a request to produce a film about Cabrini, he initially turned her down, believing at the time that it would be “too much work.”

Taking a page from Mother Cabrini’s playbook, Sullivan persisted. Wolfington finally relented in 2018, but under two conditions: first, that he be allowed to make a movie about an extraordinary woman who just happened to be a nun, and second, that the film be a charity.

To the latter end, Wolfington formed Lodigiano Film Development Inc. — a 501(c)3 corporation named after Cabrini’s hometown — as a conduit for funds to produce the film. After the costs of production are covered, all proceeds will be donated to charitable causes, he says.

Early on, Wolfington approached Martin Scorsese for permission to use the script for a Cabrini biopic the legendary director once planned on making that would have starred Loretta Young. Scorsese told him he no longer had the script but advised him to find an Italian actress to play the lead role.

Wolfington set about the task of producing the film with the same rigor and passion he poured into the creation of his commercial empire.

“It took seven or eight interviews before I found just the right person” to write the script, according to Wolfington, who eventually teamed up with Rod Barr, writer of the award-winning drama “Is That You?” He and Barr then immersed themselves in Cabrini’s life, reading more than 20 books about the saint and traveling to Italy to spend time at her convent in Milan, the Vatican archives and other enlightening locales.

Wolfington then reunited with “Bella” director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde and began assembling his production team.

In a radical departure from the standard Hollywood production hierarchy, Mother Cabrini was designated the film’s executive producer. This wasn’t a publicity stunt or an honorary gesture, according to Wolfington, but a pivotal choice that shaped the film’s ethos and energized cast and crew alike.

“Everyone on the set had the script and books on her life and they were on fire every day,” he explains. “It comes across in the film.”

In pursuit of Scorsese’s recommendation, the casting director discovered Cristiana Dell’Anna, an actress whose previous credits included parts in several Italian films and TV shows. Italians were also recruited to play many of the film’s supporting roles.

Lending star power to the project are veteran American actors John Lithgow as New York City Mayor Jacob Gould and David Morse as New York Archbishop Michael Corrigan and Italian screen legend Giancarlo Giannini as Pope Leo XIII.

With such a sweeping story to tell, the creative team decided to focus on Cabrini’s early years in America, when most of her efforts were aimed at improving the lives of the teeming and desperately downtrodden community of Italian immigrants in New York City.

Shooting for the film began in 2021 on Cabrini’s birthday, with a robust budget of $50 million.

“That’s big for an independent film, and we did a $100 million movie on a $50 million budget,” Wolfington shares. “We have stunning visuals, a fantastic score, flawless acting and great dialogue. We created the film to stand the test of time. It is a beautiful piece of work.”

The film’s artistry expresses itself in countless ways, from the often-poetic dialogue to the masterful composition of the scenes. On the voyage to America, Cabrini stands in a darkened lower deck, her silhouette illuminated by a brightly lighted portal that looks for all the world like a halo around the head of the future saint. The same effect is achieved when she stands in front of an oval portrait of George Washington addressing a room of potential financial backers for her proposed hospital, symbolically linking America’s first president and first saint.

The production company’s painstaking attention to detail can be seen in the costly re-creation of the Five Points neighborhood, an Italian ghetto in Lower Manhattan where much of the early action takes place. Relying on an extensive library of photos, the crew constructed a set for those scenes in Buffalo, New York, choosing the city because of its wealth of turn-of-the-century buildings, according to Wolfington.

That devotion to authenticity is expressed throughout the film. For instance, sharp-eyed viewers will spot several statues and pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the patron of the order founded by Cabrini and the name she gave to some of her institutions. The rings and crucifixes worn by the actors were custom-made with the correct Latin inscriptions, and the flags flown in the background of the scene in the Italian Senate are accurate.

A particular challenge was the custom sewing of the distinctive veils worn by Cabrini and her sisters. The delicate checkered pattern was faithfully reproduced for the film.

The movie also captures Cabrini’s spirit in exacting detail. Her boundless devotion to the less fortunate and her relentless pursuit of quality education and health care on their behalf are brought vividly to life, as are her indomitable drive in the face of sometimes crippling infirmity and her refusal to take no for an answer from the most powerful men in Rome and New York City.

Wolfington and his team approached every major studio for backing before pivoting dramatically because they weren’t sure the Hollywood heavy hitters would market the film with sufficient vigor. Instead, they turned to Angel Studios, a company with Mormon roots that uses crowdfunding to finance high-quality, inspirational projects like the popular TV series “The Chosen.”

A minor miracle in the making, “Cabrini” is set for theatrical release on March 8. And if audience reactions at preview screenings across the country are any indication, the film will be a resounding success.

“It makes you want to be a better person,” said one audience member.

“I left feeling very empowered. That I had been called to question how I might go out and change the world,” said another.

“This movie is what we need today,” said a third.

“The story of Cabrini is powerful and universal, and we want to share it with the whole world,” Wolfington explains. “Our objective was to let her life be the message, let her life be the sermon.

“Her life is that light in our present darkness,” he adds. “Everyone should see this movie and be transformed by her life.”

For a review of the film, click here.

The above appears in the March 2024 issue of the print version of Fra Noi. Our gorgeous, monthly magazine contains a veritable feast of news and views, profiles and features, entertainment and culture. To subscribe, click here.

Renowned throughout the world for her inspirational missionary work, St. Frances Cabrini had a special place in her heart for the Windy City.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini is revered in Catholic circles for her holiness and fervent devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and she is known throughout the world for establishing dozens of hospitals, schools and orphanages in 16 countries. Although her work spanned two continents, Mother Cabrini had a special connection to Chicago, tirelessly serving the immigrant Italian community there for decades and eventually passing away in a hospital she helped to create. A U.S. citizen since 1909, she was the first American to be canonized, but she never lost her italianità. That’s not surprising, since she didn’t leave her native Italy until she was 38 years old.

Cabrini traced her roots to SantˊAngel Lodigiano, a small town in the province of Lombardy, about 20 miles from Milan. Born Francesca Saverio Cabrini on July 15, 1850, she was affectionately nicknamed Cecchina, or little chickpea, because she was so small. She worked on a farm and was educated at home by her older sister.

Despite being sickly from the time of her premature birth, Cabrini studied hard and became a teacher. She developed a lifelong fear of water at the age of 7 when she fell into the Venera River and almost drowned during a visit with relatives. Overcoming that obstacle, too, she made more than 20 transoceanic voyages during her far-flung undertakings.

From an early age, Francesca Cabrini was fascinated by missionaries, especially St. Francis Xavier — from whom she would take her religious name — who wrote about his experiences while spreading the Word of God in the Far East. These stories inspired Cabrini to pursue a vocation as a missionary to China, but she was rejected by existing religious communities because of her poor health. Cabrini was undaunted, and her ardor was eventually recognized by a local bishop, who encouraged her to start her own religious community.

At the age of 30, she did exactly that, naming her community the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This came at a time when missionaries were almost exclusively male. The rules that Cabrini wrote for her new sisterhood emphasized charity above all else, followed closely by obedience and prayer. Perhaps her best-known motto came from Philippians, 4:13: “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.”

When Cabrini met with Pope Leo XIII in 1889, he told her to go “not to the East, but to the West,” specifically to New York to tend to the countless Italian immigrants there.

While Cabrini has often been honored, few titles are more appropriate than the one bestowed upon her by the American Committee on Italian Migration, which in 1952 named her the Italian Immigrant of the Century.

Cabrini began her own experiences as an immigrant at age 39 in 1889, when she departed for New York aboard the Bourgogne on the first of many trips across the Atlantic. During the voyage, she and six companion sisters traveled in second class while offering comfort and aid to the less fortunate aboard the ship, among whom were 1,500 other Italians. Those most in need traveled in third class, which the sisters described as “no better than a stable.” Their taxing journey took 12 days.

When Cabrini landed in New York, her prospects for success seemed as slender as she was. A frail woman with neither money nor powerful connections, she possessed only a modest command of the English language. What’s more, it turned out that the house promised to Cabrini and her sisters in New York was a “pious exaggeration.” (In other words, it didn’t exist.) Instead, they found a place to live in the heart of the Italian ghetto. Despite the odds, it wasn’t long before Cabrini established an orphanage and a school.

Circumstances then sent Cabrini down a path filled with twists and turns that eventually led her to Chicago. There, she founded and then taught at the Assumption School for Italian immigrant children. Originally located at 317 W. Erie St., it opened in 1899 with 500 students. Upon Cabrini’s insistence, this school, like many others she and her sisters ran, was free of charge.

The needs of her fellow Italians in Chicago grew along with their population, which rose from 5,700 in 1890 to 16,000 in 1900 and 45,000 in 1910. Like so many other immigrants, they lived in vastly overcrowded housing and labored for meager wages. Uncharacteristic of the times, Cabrini encouraged her sisters to teach young women the industrial arts so they could support themselves.

At the time, there were very few government or philanthropic agencies that advocated and cared for Chicago’s Italian immigrant community. Cabrini’s first impulse was to establish an orphanage, but the newly appointed archbishop, James Quigley, asked for a hospital instead. He had one in mind that was for sale.

After inspecting it, Cabrini decided to look for something better. Soon, she found the six-story North Shore Hotel in Lincoln Park, which was also for sale but at a much higher price. Since Cabrini had only $1,000, she turned to Archbishop Quigley for a decision. He selected the property Cabrini favored, which left her with the challenge of raising the significant sum of $25,000. She succeeded.

Cabrini had organizational skills to match her talent for fundraising. Further, she developed a sharp business sense. For example, in purchasing the site for the hospital, Cabrini suspected the sellers were being dishonest in stating the property’s measurements. One morning at daybreak, Cabrini and her sisters tied shoestrings together to create a makeshift tape measure. Sure enough, they discovered mistakes. Faced with the facts, the sellers made the corrections and adjusted the price.

There were more challenges ahead in the creation of the hospital. The contractors who were hired to do the remodeling stole materials, ran up a huge debt and demanded payment to continue the work. Cabrini filed a lawsuit and succeeded in getting the contract canceled. Then, she took on the task of supervising the work, hiring unemployed laborers and enlisting the help of her sisters to complete the renovation. In 1905, Columbus Hospital opened.

Cabrini took great pride not just in renovating the building but also in offering quality health care. To that end, she sought professional staff and the best and latest equipment. Columbus Hospital emerged as a preeminent health care institution in Chicago, remaining so for nearly a century.

A report sent to Rome by the sisters in March 1913 provides insights into Cabrini’s philosophy. It noted that Columbus Hospital annually cared for 1,400 patients, “accepting not only Italians, but Slavs, Poles, Germans and Spaniards.” The report also noted that the sisters who taught in the hospital’s school of nursing provided spiritual guidance as well as medical instruction, allowing the nurses to “offer the comforts of religion as well as the care of the body.”

Cabrini next turned her attention to the health care needs of the teeming Italian enclave on the city’s Near West Side. Securing an appropriate building and making the necessary alterations, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus opened the Columbus Extension Hospital in 1911, offering free care to the Italian community of the Taylor Street neighborhood. Later renamed St. Cabrini Hospital, it remained open until 2001.

In 1917, Cabrini purchased a 102-acre farm in northwest suburban Park Ridge, near Northwest Highway and Dee Road. Anticipating wartime shortages, she planned to supply fresh milk, eggs, and chickens to her hospitals and other institutions. She also hoped to use the property as a possible site for a school, orphanage or hospital.

Cabrini’s impact on the Italian community extended well beyond bricks and mortar. She would walk the streets of the Italian areas, consoling families and delivering a message of faith in God. She and her sisters taught catechism at area parishes with large Italian populations. Among them were St. Philip Benizi, which was opened in Little Sicily on the city’s Near North Side in 1904.

The children in those catechism classes referred to their teachers simply as “le sisters,” while Cabrini’s fellow sisters regularly called her “La Madre.” Many in the Italian community addressed her simply as “Madre Cabrini.”

As the decades went by, Cabrini’s influence spread across North, Central and South America. She and her sisters established 67 missions in U.S. cities like New Orleans and Seattle, as well as in Central and South American countries like Nicaragua, Brazil and Argentina.

Despite her far-flung efforts, Chicago remained Cabrini’s spiritual and physical home. She passed away in her beloved Columbus Hospital on Dec. 22, 1917. Beatified in 1938 and declared a saint in 1946, she was formally proclaimed “Patroness of Immigrants” in 1950. Her feast day is Nov. 13.

Cabrini’s strong links to the city are confirmed by her inclusion in the book “Chicago and the American Century, The 100 Most Significant Chicagoans of the Twentieth Century” by Richard F. Ciccone.

On the occasion of her beatification, Chicago Archbishop Cardinal George Mundelein underscored the Chicago bond, saying, “I knew Mother Cabrini very well. I was the last one to whom she spoke outside the nuns of her own community. I celebrated the Pontifical Mass at her funeral (in the chapel of Columbus Hospital).”

On the day of her canonization in Rome, a special candle with her picture was presented to Pope Pius XII by Monsignor George Casey of Chicago, who helped advocate the cause for her canonization. On WGN Radio, Chicago’s archbishop, Samuel Stritch, said, “Today, we pray to her and beg her to be the special patron of Chicago. She loved Chicago. She served Chicago’s best interests. She is a benefactress of Chicago.”

The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus continued Cabrini’s work in the city long after her death, opening the Frank Cuneo Memorial Hospital in the Uptown neighborhood in 1957.

Cabrini was so well known locally that at one point she became the unofficial patron saint of parking spaces, with Windy City residents chanting, “Mother Cabrini, Mother Cabrini, please find a spot for my little machiney,” as they searched for a spot.

Cabrini has been honored in numerous ways across the country and beyond since her passing. There are statues and shrines dedicated to her at the base of the Statue of Liberty, at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Her image can be found on an Italian postage stamp issued in 2016 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of her canonization. And she is listed in the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

Here in Chicago, the Cabrini Townhomes were built in 1942 in the neighborhood around Division Street and Clybourn Avenue, where many immigrants from Lucca lived and worked in nearby plaster shops.

In the early 1960s, Chicago’s Little Sicily was plowed under to make way for a large, high-rise public housing complex that came to be known as Cabrini-Green. A source of affordable housing for more than 15,000 residents at its peak, it devolved into a magnet for crime, with the last of the high rises being demolished in 2011.

In the Taylor Street neighborhood, where Cabrini had such a huge impact, a short street just west of the University of Illinois Chicago Circle Campus bears her name.

In 1955, the National Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was created to celebrate her life and accomplishments. Originally constructed as a chapel inside Columbus Hospital, it became a center of worship and prayer for patients and staff.

The shrine and hospital closed in 2002, but when the building reopened as luxury residences in 2012, a remodeled shrine also reopened to serve as a spiritual center and “a symbol of the great work and mission of a remarkable woman.”

The shrine’s main altar features a glass case containing St. Cabrini’s humerus, and above that are stunning frescoes depicting different stages of her life. The room where Cabrini died has been preserved and is currently on exhibit inside the shrine.

In October 2022, a new statue of Cabrini was unveiled in the courtyard of Holy Name Cathedral at State Street and Chicago Avenue, and a bas-relief reliquary was mounted inside the Cathedral. (Turn to page 59 for details.)

The groundbreaking nature of Cabrini’s accomplishments can’t be overemphasized. The Milan Catholic magazine pointed out that Cabrini’s title of “missionaire” (the feminine form or missionary) was a new term that didn’t exist in any dictionary at the time.

Cabrini never wavered in her commitment to social justice, despite the many challenges she faced in staring down prejudice and sexism, coping with a frequently skeptical clerical world and constantly raising money while navigating rough-and-tumble local politics. In an attempt to find the right word to encompass Cabrini’s diverse skills in the public arena, one Italian minister described her as a “statesman.”

Her achievements are sometimes attributed to her fast pace, but hers was not the sort of high-octane energy that fuels much of secular ambition. Rather, Cabrini exuded an inner calm and was known for her dignified demeanor. She once wrote: “Give me your grace, most loving Jesus, and I will run after you to the finish line, forever. Help me, Jesus, because I want to do this with burning fervor, speedily.”

While Cabrini was surrounded by people throughout her life, she found solace in solitude and was content to be alone. The story is told that she asked to be left by herself in her last hours.

Viewed from a distance, Cabrini appears quite ordinary, down to the simple veil she wore as part of her habit. Upon closer inspection, though, the veil revealed a checkerboard pattern that was quite delicate, intricate and beautiful. That veil can be seen as a metaphor for her multifaceted nature and career.

The above appears in the March 2023 issue of the print version of Fra Noi. Our gorgeous, monthly magazine contains a veritable feast of news and views, profiles and features, entertainment and culture. To subscribe, click here.