St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
1850 – 1917
Patron of immigrants, hospital administrators
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850–1917) was the first American citizen to be canonized a saint, and her story runs straight through Chicago. Born in Lombardy, Italy, the youngest of thirteen children, she was turned away by a religious community because of her poor health. In 1880 she founded her own: the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.