The rats have it better than children in Five Points.
When Mother Cabrini tells this to New York Times reporter Theodore Calloway, he doesn’t believe her. So she takes him there.
It’s a bold act on Cabrini’s part: She’s been forbidden by the Archdiocese of New York to solicit American citizens for funds to help the dying Italian children. But she figures if she can get New Yorkers to care about the immigrants on their own (since many of them were children of immigrants themselves), then she won’t be in defiance of the church by accepting donations.
Of course, Archbishop Corrigan doesn’t quite see it that way. Neither does Mayor Gould.
What Cabrini doesn’t understand—or rather, what she refuses to accept—is that nobody cares about 19th century Italian immigrants. They see Italians as having inferior intelligence (since many are illiterate and don’t speak English), fit only for menial labor.
And while Corrigan feels for the suffering of the Italian people, they aren’t the only members of his proverbial flock. He needs the cooperation of Gould and city hall to provide for other immigrant groups, such as his native Irishmen.
But Cabrini won’t be swayed.
Her entire life she’s been told that she doesn’t belong. Doctors told her mother that the girl would be bedridden forever after nearly drowning as a child. Three different orders of the church rejected her for her “weakness of constitution.” And even the Pope was hesitant to send her on the first female-led mission overseas.
Nevertheless, she persisted.
Mother Cabrini overcame her illness. She founded her own order within the church. She established schools and orphanages in her homeland of Italy. And she convinced the Pope that if God would entrust the mission of informing the Apostles of Christ’s resurrection to Mary Magdalene, a woman, then the Pope should allow Cabrini to start building her “Empire of Hope”: a worldwide network of orphanages, schools and hospitals to serve the poor.
Again, it’s a bold act. Cabrini doesn’t have the funds, the political support or the immune system to conquer Five Points, the first stop on her worldwide campaign.
But she does have faith.
Cabrini knows she can do all things through Christ, who strengthens her. And she believes that if she can just begin the mission, the means will come.
Most of Mother Cabrini’s acts of kindness are directly correlated to her faith, so I’ll expound more upon that below. But faith motivates Cabrini and the other sisters in her order to serve others with dedication in concrete ways. They take in orphans, assist the needy and provide for the sick. They teach those under their care to obey the law and help them to become American citizens by teaching them English. (They also teach their children Italian songs to preserve their heritage.) They never judge people, such as the prostitute Vittoria, for what they’ve done to survive. And they never respond in violence or anger, even to those who have done them wrong.
Cabrini also has a strong sense of justice. She battles racial discrimination—and not just the prejudice aimed at Italians such as herself, but racial animus aimed at other ethnic groups as well.
Cabrini likewise demonstrates the strength of women, reminding many people (including the Pope) that being a woman doesn’t mean she can’t make a difference in the world. We learn that every institution that Cabrini founded was female-led, but we also see that she fought for the equality of all mankind.
Vittoria protects Cabrini and the other sisters when they first arrive in New York. She gives them a place to stay for the night at great personal risk to herself. And she volunteers her time at the orphanage that the sisters establish. Eventually, she and Cabrini become friends, encouraging each other through the toughest times.
Dr. Murphy, a friend of Cabrini’s, volunteers his time at a medical clinic in Five Points, serving the Italian people without any promise of payment. Other folks donate their time and money to serve Cabrini’s cause. We hear that a couple of “good Samaritans” brought Cabrini to the doctor when she was found unconscious.
There are many elements of the Catholic faith present throughout this film: Cabrini is a nun; a few people wear rosary beads; scenes take place at the Vatican; and even the Pope makes an appearance, as well as several other esteemed members of the clergy. We also learn that Cabrini eventually became the first American saint.
Cabrini’s heart for the poor, the sick and the orphaned is very clearly a conviction of her faith. When she first arrives in Five Points, she tells her sisters to open their eyes and “see everything,” because these are the people they’ll be serving. But some members of the clergy resist her Empire of Hope because they think it’s driven by ambition. However, Cabrini never gives up. She continues to follow the path God has set her on. And she overcomes every obstacle in her path, convinced that God will give her the strength to carry on and the means to see the mission through.
When Cabrini’s lifelong illness threatens her mission and sows seeds of doubt in her would-be supporters, the nun states that she can serve her weakness or she can serve her purpose. And knowing that her time is limited, she works all the harder toward her mission so that it won’t die with her. (She also trains up the sisters serving alongside her, knowing that they’ll be the ones to carry on the mission after she’s gone.)
One of the reasons that clergymen stand against Cabrini is because she’s a woman. Some of her opponents genuinely want to protect Cabrini from the discrimination she’ll face even more harshly outside the church. (Archbishop Corrigan, at least, seems worried that Cabrini’s persistence may make it harder for the church to operate in New York. And although he initially tries to dissuade her, she eventually brings him over to her way of thinking.) And the Pope notes that if Cabrini fails on her mission, many will take it as a sign that women shouldn’t lead missions.
However, Cabrini takes this criticism in stride, reminding these people that God has used and will continue to use women to further His Kingdom. Moreover, her distinctive abilities as a woman, such as her maternal instincts towards the orphans she cares for, make her uniquely capable to build the Empire of Hope.
Cabrini warns a man that God’s wrath will descend upon him if he harms a certain woman. When she reaches the end of her rope with politicians unwilling to lend money to help her orphans and the other dying immigrants, she shouts at several people. However, her anger is righteous, reminiscent of Christ in the temple. And her pleas are for people to remember that we all deserve to live with dignity and that we are all children of God.
Vittoria tells Cabrini that there isn’t enough water in the world to make her clean. However, Cabrini tells Vittoria that the woman is a survivor. Her circumstances were beyond her control. And even though we don’t get to choose how we come into this world, God gives us the freedom to choose how we live in it. Thus, Cabrini encourages Vittoria to walk a different path in life. It’s unclear if Vittoria ever professes faith, but her actions from that point on seem to follow a Christian lifestyle.
Father Morelli, who serves the Five Points community, has given up all hope. He scoffs at Cabrini when she states her intention to reopen the orphanage he failed to keep. He yells at two boys to leave the building when he finds them squatting—which Cabrini admonishes herself, since those are the very children she’s trying to save. And when the hospital he runs begins to fail too, he’s overwhelmed and resigns to shut it down.
We hear references to a few Bible stories, including David and Goliath. The sisters pray before a meal.
We learn that Vittoria became a prostitute when she was still a child in order to survive in Five Points. (And we hear that other young girls have been and will be forced to do the same.) Before she’s taken in by Cabrini and the other sisters, Vittoria wears an off-the-shoulder dress to signify what she does. We hear her called a “hooker” and a “whore,” and we also learn she works for a pimp.
We see a couple of children from the shoulders up in a bathtub.
Vittoria protects Cabrini and her sisters on their first night in Five Points by giving them a place to stay for the night. She warns them to barricade the door and not to let Geno, her pimp, see them, unless they want to be beaten. They obey her orders and sure enough, Geno attempts to break the door down, threatening them all the while. (We later see that Geno has bruised Vittoria’s face.)
Later, Geno comes to the orphanage where Vittoria is volunteering. He grabs her by the ear and drags her along. When one of the boys, Paolo, tries to stop them, Geno smacks the child across the face. Then Cabrini stands in his way, begging him to let Vittoria go. While she does so, Paolo pulls a gun on Geno. Cabrini immediately tells Paolo to stand down—that violence is not the answer—but as he begins to obey, the gun goes off, hitting Geno (offscreen). Later, Cabrini gives Paolo the gun back, sans bullets and asks him what he intends to do with it. And he decides to destroy the weapon.
Geno survives (Cabrini takes him to a doctor) and later accosts Vittoria in an alleyway. He knocks her to the ground and begins beating her, causing her face to bleed in several places. His friend attempts to pull him off, but Geno persists. And just as he picks up a brick to smash Vittoria’s skull, she stabs him with a knife that she had armed herself with earlier. And it should be noted that Vittoria greatly regrets her actions, even though they were in self-defense.
Many men and a few young boys are injured when boilers explode at a coal plant. Dr. Murphy, Cabrini and several others treat the injured at the Five Points hospital, but many perish because there aren’t enough doctors or medical supplies (and because another nearby hospital has refused to assist, since they don’t serve Italians).
During a festival to raise funds for a hospital Cabrini is trying to open, police show up and incite a riot, beating Italian immigrant attendees with batons. Later, someone throws a brick through that hospital’s window as a threat. And finally, someone sets the building on fire with Cabrini and her sisters sleeping inside (although Cabrini believes the arsonists thought the building was empty).
A young boy runs through the streets begging for help for his dying mother (who he’s pushing around in a wheelbarrow). A guard roughly escorts him out of the aforementioned hospital, telling him that they don’t serve Italians. And the boy’s mother passes away in the street as people walk by, largely ignoring the child as he sobs over her body.
Flashbacks show how Cabrini nearly drowned as a child (she was pulled from the water by a passerby). From that point on, we’re told she was very sickly, and she coughs roughly throughout the film, even collapsing on one occasion. Her prognosis isn’t good, and she’s told that she only has a few more years to live (though she exceeds those dire predictions).
Cabrini sobs over the body of a girl who died in the Five Points sewers. The Pope reads a letter from an Italian who found a child frozen to death in an alley in New York. We hear a man killed himself in front of his child. A dead horse rots in the street.
There are three uses of “h—” (twice in Italian). We also hear one use each of “b–ch” and the British profanity “bloody.”
Characters smoke and drink casually throughout the film. Archbishop Corrigan is ordered to drink like a “good Irishman” by Mayor Gould on one occasion. And even Cabrini accepts a drink from Gould in one scene. Corrigan tells a story about how his father would get drunk after a hard day’s work.
Before Mother Cabrini takes them in, we see many children literally living in the sewers beneath Five Points. We also glimpse a few huddled together in alleyways trying to keep warm. Most are starving and freezing. Some have resorted to thievery to survive.
People are incredibly racist and rude toward Italian immigrants. They use racial slurs and imply that all Italians are “dirty” because of their darker complexions. And we learn about other marginalized groups who have been victims of racial discrimination.
Cabrini also faces persecution as a woman. She’s initially dismissed in the Italian Senate because of her gender, and many American politicians reject her proposals for the same reason.
Cabrini occasionally resorts to manipulation and even blackmail to accomplish her goals. People lie. Mayor Gould uses his resources at city hall to fine and even arrest Cabrini, mostly for housing violations. He threatens to shut down other church projects in order to solicit Archbishop Corrigan’s cooperation.
To say that Mother Cabrini was kind, brave, loving, caring and just would not be enough. In fact, I’m not really sure how to describe a woman who believed in God’s purpose for her life so strongly that she was willing to risk everything—even her own life—to see it through.
Cabrini is a powerful story that teaches us what it means to pursue justice in the face of extreme persecution. The odds were against this determined nun from the start. She was Catholic, Italian and a woman. She didn’t have funding or influence. And yet, her faith that God would provide—that God bring her Empire of Hope to fruition—never failed.
Compelled by her faith and ideals, Mother Cabrini fought for the impoverished immigrant. She protected the sick and the dying. She loved her children. Because even though she didn’t give birth to them, she took it as an ordinance from God to give them the love of a mother.
And through it all, she also demonstrated what women are capable of. She wouldn’t let anyone tell her no, because she knew that God had told her yes. And she certainly wasn’t going to let sexism, racism, or anything else stand in her God’s way.
Cabrini isn’t the easiest film to watch. The perils we witness onscreen, the hardships people face, the hatred carried out by those bent on preserving their own fabrication of the “American Dream” are all heavy topics. Some light language pops up on occasion, too.
But for families looking for a faith-based biographical drama, the story of Francesca Saverio Cabrini, aka Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, is pretty inspiring.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
