Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1880. The Patron Saint of Immigrants, she was canonized as America's first Citizen Saint in 1946.

Sent by Pope Leo XIII in 1889, she arrived in New York with a small group of sisters. Her mission was to minister to the many Italian immigrants living in poverty and disease in the lower Manhattan communities. She found families torn apart, children orphaned and people with no access to medical care.

To address the clear need for health care, as well as the moral and spiritual issues of these immigrants, she took $250 in donations, bought 10 metal bed frames, and in 1892, founded Columbus Hospital in two small tenement houses in lower Manhattan.

Within two years the hospital moved to its present location on 19th Street in Gramercy Park and continued to expand its services to meet growing health care needs. In the early 1970s Columbus Hospital merged with the Italian Hospital and changed its name to Cabrini Medical Center.

Recognizing the need for special care for individuals with advanced illness, Cabrini established a Hospice program in 1980 that has served as a world renowned model for home and hospital-based hospice care. In 1992, our Centennial year, Cabrini opened Cabrini Nursing Home, now the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, on 5th Street and Avenue B, to provide residential care for the growing senior population in the Lower East Side.

Today, Cabrini, with its sponsors, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, carries on the mission and traditions of Mother Cabrini by staying current to changing heath care needs and providing a full spectrum of medical services in a caring and compassionate way.

For more information about the history of Cabrini Medical Center, contact the Community Relations Department at (212) 995-6056 or send email to [email protected]. To learn more about the life and accomplishments of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, visit www.mothercabrini.org

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