Imagine this: you’re standing at the edge of a ship, the Atlantic stretching before you, waves churning while the wind gusts intensely past you. This is no short journey, but a trip that could take weeks.
For Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, this was no imaginary scene but a reality she faced time and time again, despite her crippling fear of water.
Her fear originated in a childhood accident in which she nearly drowned. For the early part of her life, Mother Cabrini could avoid water. But God had a plan for her life, one that would require her to face her fear.
In fact, Mother Cabrini had long harbored a dream of becoming a missionary in far off places like China, a dream that would almost certainly involve water-travel. As it turned out, God’s call led her to water, but not in the way she was expecting—He called her all the way across the Atlantic to serve Italian immigrants in America!
And not only did God call her to cross the Atlantic once—He called her to cross it over 20 times throughout her life.
Her first journey was one of profound trust. When Pope Leo XIII encouraged her to travel “not to the East, but to the West,” Cabrini felt God’s calling—one that she knew would mean facing the open sea. Cabrini trusted in God’s will, praying quietly on deck as the ship crested wave after wave.
Though her fear never truly left her, Mother Cabrini leaned into her faith each time she boarded another ship, setting her sights on the mission instead of her apprehensions. Because she overcame her fear, God employed her to bring His love and mercy to countless Italian immigrants through the United States and even Central and South America.
Learn more about the extraordinary Mother Cabrini—the first U.S. citizen to become a saint—in the powerful biography The World is Too Small: The Life and Times of Mother Cabrini. Available today from The Catholic Company!
