It was a long time coming for the Diocese of Brooklyn to have its own Mother Cabrini statue, but the faithful finally got to see the final figure. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio unveiled and blessed the statue and shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini — also known as Mother Cabrini — outside her Brooklyn parish, Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Church on June 11.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s statue will be built in Battery Park City on a spot facing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, a fitting spot for the Italian-American saint, who is known as the “patroness of immigrants.”
The cause is personal for Msgr. Cassato. One night in 1953, David Cassato, then 5 years old, was headed home from his grandparents’ house. He turned to his father and asked about a photo he had seen. That night, he first heard about Mother Cabrini, who had helped Msgr. Cassato’s grandparents when they came from Sicily to the Lower East Side of Manhattan on 1910 with nothing.
