In 1892 Mother Cabrini boldly and compassionately started Columbus hospital in New York City, thus marking the beginning of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC’s) entry into health care. Over 132 years later, the MSCs have served thousands of people without distinction or discrimination, across ten countries with quality, lifesaving health services. This month we celebrate 144 years since the founding of the Institute and 86 years since Mother Cabrini was beatified (13 November 1938, her Feast Day).
From the beginning, the main characteristic of the Cabrinian health ministries has been to see in both the poor and the rich the face of the suffering Christ in need of comprehensive assistance: physical, psychological, social, and spiritual. The health ministries were developed to be at the service of mission, an embodiment of the values of the MSC, with excellent medical and other supportive services. Through the foundation of hospitals, clinics, dispensaries and care homes for the elderly, since the time of Mother Cabrini, the MSCs have spent their lives in the care of the sick in a heroic way, facing immense material and spiritual difficulties, always with the aim of demonstrating the love of Christ.
Over the years, the MSCs have moved with the needs of the time, shifting from predominantly running large healthcare institutions in major cities in developed countries, to include providing primary healthcare in both rural and peri-urban settings in areas of complex poverty in developing countries. Their services including prevention, treatment, and care through active engagement with local communities.
As we enter this time of St. Francis Xavier Cabrini’s Feast, we reflect how Mother Cabrini’s spirit and the MSC’s charism shines on through the Sisters and their lay collaborators working in healthcare globally. Below are a few updates from some of the MSC ministries in health responding to the pressing needs of their local realities, highlighting how “Mother Cabrini and the love of the Sacred Heart is active in the world today”.
The MSCs provide comprehensive health services to vulnerable and impoverished communities in Guatemala. They believe that health is a human right that should not be denied to anyone, which is why they work in curative and preventive medicine, under a concept of health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, beyond the absence of conditions or diseases.” To meet these objectives, they have two works in Guatemala: Dispensario San José, located in Zone 6, Guatemala City, and the Dispensario Madre Cabrini, located in Bárcena, Villa Nueva.
Both dispensarios work closely in partnership with the community, engaging all ages with health literacy and education. Here are two recent instances of their active engagement with the community: A dramatized play teaching about the use of antibiotics ; and Cabrini Guatemala’s first children’s science fair.
For Cabrini Guatemala, community feedback is key in the development of their programs. In the following videos we hear testimonies (in Spanish) from: a member of Programa Mujer, tú vales (“Woman, You are Worth It”) , and mothers from the Shekinah Education Programme
Links provided will take you to articles on Cabrini Guatemala’s website and videos on Cabrini Guatemala’s YouTube Channel.
It was one of Mother Cabrini’s dreams to reach the continent of Africa. The fulfilment of this dream began in 1971 when the first MSC African mission was established in St. Philips, Eswatini (Swaziland at that time). In 1999 the mission in Ethiopia was opened, followed in 2019 by the mission in Uganda.
“Now and again I turn my thoughts towards the West Coast of Africa and Morocco, for I have aspirations to go there also. I should love to fly and save the souls there, but this cannot be done during my lifetime, as there is too much to be done in the Americas. May God bless us and help us to spread our work, and thus save a great number of these good peoples, our brethren. In the meantime, let us help with our prayers. Prayer is the greatest relief at all times, especially when an amount of work has to be undertaken and when I see that things are impossible owing to our limited means.” – from Buenos Aires to Barcelona – August 1896 – The travels of Mother Cabrini.
Today, health care and addressing the social determinants of health are cornerstones of the ministry work of the MSC’s missions in Africa. As Mother Cabrini remained close to the people she served and partnered with others to ensure the effectiveness of the missions, so the Sisters and their lay collaborators have continued these traditions in the African context up to today. Recent examples include:
St. Mary Hospital in Ethiopia expanding its outreach program to reach young girls with essential health information and sanitary products to help them remain healthy and stay in school; and Cabrini Ministries eSwatini partnering with the University of Milan in pioneering a non-invasive HPV test.
Links provided will take you to articles on the MSC Holy Spirit Region’s new website.
In 1948 ten pioneering Cabrini Sisters left Italy bound for Melbourne having been invited by the Catholic Archbishop to take over St Benedict’s Hospital in Malvern and to minister to the Italian migrants arriving in Australia. Cabrini Health Australia (CHA) continues to pioneer today in many fields, including oncology research, women’s mental health and serving asylum seekers. CHA has grown over the past 76 years to include: Cabrini Malvern (508-bed acute care hospital providing a wide range of services), Cabrini Brighton (138 bed hospital providing a wide range of services), Cabrini Women’s Mental Health (a 30-bed inpatient unit, Australia’s first private, women’s-only mental health hospital), Out of Hospital Care, Cabrini Research including Cabrini Cancer Institute, Cabrini Foundation (fundraising), Cabrini Outreach Services (focusing on serving asylum seekers and refugees), and Cabrini Technology Group.
Recently CHA’s Asylum Seeker and Refugee Health Hub was honourably recognised by the Australian government, click HERE to read more. CHA’s Women’s Mental Health Service was also featured recently in Catholic Health Australia Magazine, click HERE to read the article.
Click here to read more about CHA’s Asylum Seeker and Refugee Health Hub, and click here to learn more about Cabrini Women’s Mental Health.
For more information about CHA’s other pioneering work and stories of lives impacted through CHA’s staff and services, see: https://www.cabrini.com.au/.
For more news about the MSCs other ministries see: www.cabriniworld.org.
“The world is too small to limit ourselves to one point;
I want to embrace it entirely and to reach all its parts.”
~ Mother Cabrini to Monsignor Scalabrini, 1887
~ Thanks to Mrs Nicole Rose for this article.