The story of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini opens on movie screens across the country as the Philadelphia-area university bearing her name nears its end.
"Cabrini," starring Cristiana Dell'Anna in the title role, opened in theaters on March 8. The opening coincided with International Women's Day.
Mother Cabrini was an Italian immigrant who set out to support fellow immigrants and orphans in 19th Century New York City.
"This woman, at a time when they didn't have a voice... she had a clear vision in a world of her own making," Dell'Anna told Philly Live's Aunyea Lachelle. "It's pretty remarkable that she released that by becoming a nun she would be a free woman, able to choose for herself and help other people do the same."
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Mother Cabrini died in 1917 and was canonized a saint by PopePius XII in 1946.
Philadelphia-area businessman J. Eustace Wolfington helped raise tens of millions of dollars to bring "Cabrini" to big screens.
The movie's release is bittersweet in the Philadelphia suburbs as the college bearing the saint's name -- where The Wolfington Center for community-based learning through Catholic social teaching is based -- is set to close at the end of this academic year.
Villanova University agreed to purchase the Radnor campus last year as Cabrini University dealt with money problems.
"In a shifting and increasingly difficult higher ed landscape, Cabrini University, like so many colleges and universities, has faced significant financial challenges stemming from declining enrollment, the pandemic, and economic uncertainty," Nova and Cabrini said in a joint statement last June. "Despite efforts to improve revenue streams, and changes to the leadership and academic ranks, Cabrini’s operating deficit remained insurmountable. With all other possible options exhausted and having determined that they must conclude their operations, Cabrini University initiated discussions with Villanova around a plan that would preserve Cabrini’s legacy and mission and honor the original intention for the Cabrini campus to promote opportunities in Catholic education."
This year's graduates are the last in Cabrini's more than six decades educating young people.
"I'm very grateful to be able to represent Cabrini's last softball team ever," Cabrini senior Kaitlyn Delaney said.
The message of Mother Cabrini's sacrifice isn't lost on the final class of Cabrini grads. Senior Abigail Flannagan said that her own teachers are sticking with them until the end.
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