WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — In a twist of fate that had the makings of a Hollywood epic, St. Frances Cabrini narrowly missed being a passenger on the Titanic.
Because of a last-minute change in plans, she did not board the doomed luxury ocean liner, allowing her to avoid the tragic fate of 1,500 people who were killed when the supposedly “unsinkable” ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank to the bottom of the ocean on April 15, 1912.
“It is pretty remarkable,” said Julia Attaway, executive director of the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in Washington Heights.
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Mother Cabrini, as she was known back then, had been living and working in New York since 1889. By 1912, the 62-year-old had already founded a religious order, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and established several hospitals, orphanages, and schools in the U.S. and Europe.
She was visiting members of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in her native Italy in March of 1912 and planned to travel to missionary sites in France, Spain, and England before returning to New York.
As a treat, the sisters in England purchased a ticket for her on the Titanic so she could ride back to America on the history-making ship.
Even before its infamous voyage, the Titanic was already the most renowned ship in the world due to its massive size, luxurious accommodations, and reputation as so sturdy as to be unsinkable.
The plan was for Mother Cabrini to travel from Italy to England and board the Titanic in Southampton for its maiden voyage. But while she was still in Italy, Mother Cabrini received word that a situation had arisen requiring her attention at Columbus Hospital, a medical facility she established in Chicago in 1904. The hospital was overflowing with patients, and work was about to begin on an expansion project. Mother Cabrini’s presence was required to give final approval of the plans so construction could begin.
As a result, she purchased a ticket on a different ship, the Norddeutscher Lloyd’s Berlin, and set sail from Naples instead of Southampton, making a safe return to the U.S.
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However, while she was not part of the Titanic-iceberg legend, Mother Cabrini was previously aboard a ship that just missed hitting an iceberg during a trans-Atlantic crossing.
It was 1890, and she was a passenger on the Normandie. There were many icebergs in the North Atlantic at the time, and a stormy night made it difficult for the ship’s crew to see them. However, the Normandie’s engine broke, and the ship was stuck in port until it could be repaired.
“They were delayed almost 11 hours,” Attaway said. “That would not have been her favorite kind of event. She always wanted to get everywhere so she could keep working.”
By the time crews finished the repairs, it was daylight, and visibility was such that the crew was better able to spot any icebergs. That was only Mother Cabrini’s second trans-Atlantic crossing. She would go on to make 24 trips in total.
That’s ironic, according to Attaway.
“She almost drowned as a child, so she had a lifelong fear of water,” she explained. “But she would get on a ship for one reason and one reason only — because God wanted her on it.”