Celebrating Italian Heritage & International Women's Day with "Cabrini"

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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My wife Diane (née Martellotti) likes to go out for Italian dinners, especially meals that remind her of Uncle Mike’s big pots of ‘ghettis.

So, I’m sure she would enjoy an Italian Night at the Movies.

The Sons and Daughters of Italy are providing just that, presenting “Cabrini” this Saturday evening at Tropic Cinema. Being that this marks International Women’s Day, the first 40 women who attend will receive a yellow mum (compliments of Love in Bloom).

“Cabrini” is a biographical film depicting the life of Catholic missionary Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American to be recognized by the Vatican as a saint.

Mother Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC), a religious institute that provides education, health care, and other services to the poor in 15 nations. During her lifetime, she established 67 schools, orphanages and social service institutions in Italy, the United States, and other countries.

The film gives us her remarkable story:

As a girl, Francesca sat by a river in Livrage and made paper boats, which she imagined sailing off to start missions in faraway Asian countries.

As an adult, her repeated attempts to found a missionary order failed. Frustrated, she visits the Vatican, demanding to have an audience with Pope Leo XIII. She pleads to the Holy Father that she wants to start a mission in China. The Pope points out that no woman has been allowed to found such an order but gives her permission to start one in New York City to assist an ineffective Priest in the poverty-stricken Five Points neighborhood.

Finding shelter in a brothel, Mother Cabrini begins her work, despite the opposition of New York’s Archbishop Michael Corrigan. Even though her health is deteriorating (she’s been given two years to live), she occasionally ventures into the sewers at night to find missing children. There she encounters Paolo and Enzo, who try to steal bread from her, but wind up helping her found an Upper West Side children’s home.

They discover the City is not welcoming to Italians, and when Mother Cabrini tries to hold an Italian-American fundraiser with famous singer Enrico DiSalvo, the police shut it down and arrest her.

Archbishop Corrigan orders her back to Italy, but the Pope overrules him, allowing Mother Cabrini to continue her good work to the age of 67. The Vatican beatified Cabrini in 1938 and canonized her a saint in 1946. In 1950, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was named the patron saint of immigrants.

Cristiana Dell’Anna (“The King of Laughter,” “The Hand of God”) takes on the title role as Mother Cabrini. David Morse (TV’s “St. Elsewhere,” “The Green Mile”) is the resistant archbishop. Federico Ielapi (“Pinocchio”) gives us Paolo.

Director Alejandro Monteverde (“Bella,” “The Sound of Freedom”) admits he “didn’t know anything about her’ when he took on the project and had no idea how to make an entertaining movie about a Catholic nun.

“When I started reading the script, I saw her life and how powerful her life was. I also saw this was a movie about a woman who happens to be a nun, that happens to be the first American saint, that it was an immigrant that came here with nothing and revolutionized life for the Italian immigrants.”
Monteverde continues, “She fought for social justice, and she fought for things that bring the community together. Her habit did not get in the way and that’s what I love about her story.

“This film in many ways celebrates the power of the woman’s voice. She lived in a time where women were not even allowed to vote, and she was able to open these institutions.”

He adds, “It’s the ultimate underdog story.”

“Cabrini” captures the spirit of early Italian immigrants and the hardships and resistance they faced. Somewhat surprising, director José Alejandro Gómez Monteverde is Mexican – not a paisano.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com