Some Thoughts on Cabrini

“We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend upon material success, but on Jesus alone.” ~ The real St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

“Men can never do what we do.” ~ Cabrini’s cringe girlboss

I have mixed feelings about Alejandro Gómez Monteverde’s Cabrini (2024), a dramatic depiction of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s (1850–1917) early travails in these United States. Considering I genuinely dislike most movies these days, I guess the fact that I like some things about it can be considered an endorsement of sorts.

Let’s begin with what was good. I thought the acting, cinematography, film score, and costumes were all top-notch. It was visually and aurally up to scratch. I thought Cristiana Dell’Anna was fantastic as Mother Cabrini and her supporting cast all put in good performances. Little details, like her pectoral cross and childhood fondness for making paper boats filled with violets, were nice touches. The tableaux vivants recreating the portraits of Mother Cabrini and dramatic photos from Jacob A. Riis’s How the Other Half Lives (1890), specifically his “Street Arabs at Night on Mulberry Street,” were especially impressive.

Street Arabs at Night on Mulberry Street
by Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890)

I also liked that they depicted the great Catholic missionary and the first U.S. citizen [1] to be canonized as a strong, driven and capable woman. It shows what a person of faith and intelligence can achieve with the grace of God. Her many accomplishments are even more impressive considering that they were brought to fruition in a society that once (!?!) was rife with anti-Catholic and anti-Italian bigotry.

Often forgotten today, Cabrini is a much-needed reminder of the great hardships our ancestors endured and overcame during the mass exodus from Southern Italy throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, the choice to have Mother Cabrini save young Vittoria (Romana Maggiora Vergano) from a brothel in Five Points, Lower Manhattan, seemed fanciful and expedient, especially if renowned historian Thomas Sowell’s Migrations and Cultures: A World View (1997) can be believed. Our problems were many, but according to Sowell, “Prostitution was virtually unknown among Italian American women.” 

Mother Cabrini, 1880

As for what I didn’t like about the movie, let's begin with the most obvious criticism: First and foremost there was nothing remotely religious about the film. Her faith and piety were glaringly omitted. She was portrayed as an uppity “dago” who just happened to wear a habit and was repeatedly told “to know her place.” Too often, she seemed only motivated by pride, ambition and sticking it to the patriarchy, not her feminine vocation as a nun, compassion, or love for God. The script was lousy with feminist claptrap.

This seemed like an odd creative choice for a movie allegedly “based on the true story” of a Catholic saint. There can be no doubt that they faced many hardships, but Mother Cabrini and her Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were no feminists. Urged by Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903), the indomitable sisters obediently, dutifully and lovingly helped the orphans, foundlings, and struggling Italian immigrants in America. They were too busy founding missionary institutions to serve the sick and poor to be corrupted by the pernicious cancer of feminism.

As someone who often attends and participates in many Italian religious feasts and celebrations, I enjoyed the scene where she was arrested for organizing an outdoor festival featuring the fictitious Sicilian tenor Enrico DiSalvo. As of this writing, I found no evidence of her ever actually being arrested and would not be surprised if it, like other parts of the movie, was fabricated for dramatic effect, but I had a chuckle when the Deputy Mayor confidently told her, “There will never be another Italian feast in New York City again.”

The Feast of St. Rocco, Bandits' Roost
by Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890)

Considering tens of thousands of devotees celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in East Harlem and St. Rocco in the Lower East Side, among other Italian religio-cultural celebrations throughout the city every year since the 1880s, this was almost certainly another apocryphal exchange.

The DiSalvo character, played by Rolando Villazón, was probably based on the great Neapolitan tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). If so, the decision to portray him as anticlerical and tightfisted was grossly inaccurate and unfortunate. While not particularly religious, Enrico Caruso was born and baptized Roman Catholic in Naples and was famously generous and did extensive charity with great largesse.

Also unlikely, yet a grim reminder of what actually came to pass, was her closing exchange with the fictional Mayor Gould, played by John Lithgow. Reminding His Honor that Italian immigrants are fast becoming U.S. citizens, she portentously foretells a day when they will vote themselves into power. Sadly, as predicted, we are well on our way to being completely assimilated and our so-called political leaders, like all politicians, leave a lot to be desired.

Following the ugly row between Gov. Cuomo and Comrade de Blasio in 2019, statues of Mother Cabrini were erected outside Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen Church in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and at Battery Park City Esplanade

There is no question that this film was meant to serve as feminist agitprop and not Catholic apologetics. If there were any doubts, releasing it on International Women’s Day all but confirms it. Nevertheless, attempts to co-opt our glorious patroness for their own agenda—like the recent She Built New York City monument debacle and subsequent Mother Cabrini row between disgraced New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and incompetent New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio—will only backfire on them.

Let’s be honest, the godless (if interested at all) will soon move on to some other flashy distraction. If her cult was genuinely adopted by lukewarm, misguided, or questionable Catholics, she can only help strengthen their devotion and bring them closer to Our Lord Jesus Christ. And finally, like it has for me and my circle of friends, the biopic's shortcomings have inspired us to do better, pray more, and work harder to emulate her God-fearing example. Santa Francesca Saverio Cabrini, ora pro nobis.

~ Giovanni di Napoli, March 22nd, Feast of Sant'Isidorio

Notes
[1] Mother Cabrini became United States Citizen in 1909.