St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, born two months premature and the youngest of 13 in northern Italy, overcame the odds time and again. She and her sisters of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus made a huge difference for Italian immigrants in the U.S. and elsewhere. She personally founded 67 schools, hospitals, and orphanages in New York, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, Seattle, and other cities in the U.S. and other countries.

She had to overcome her own fragile health, plus the (initial) opposition of the Archbishop of New York, Michael Corrigan, plus a regular lack of funds and other resources. But through a deep faith in God’s providence, combined with her own tenacity and business savvy, she did amazing work.