The new episode of “Hidden in Plain Sight”, the series from Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò about the Italian influences in New York City, is dedicated to Saint Frances Cabrini, also known as Mother Cabrini, the patron saint of immigrants. Stefano Albertini, from NYU, guides us in a visit of Mother Cabrini’s shrine in Northern New York City, 701 Fort Washington Avenue, reachable with the A train.
Julia Attaway, Executive Director of the shrine, explains that many, many, people come to pray and get answers to their problems at the shrine, and she tells the riveting story of Mother Cabrini: born in Northern Italy, she wanted to be a missionary in China but at the request of the ecclesiastical authorities, she moved to the US in 1889. In the course of her lifetime she established 67 schools, hospitals and orphanages in 40 locations across three continents. She was beatified in 1938 and canonized in 1946. She had been an American citizen since the beginning of the century and she was the first American to be canonized.
The shrine was designed by the De Sina & Pellegrin firm.
‘Nuova York: Hidden in Plain Sight’ is on a mission to uncover and showcase the tangible traces of Italian presence in New York City, which boasts the largest Italian-American population in North America and ranks as the third-largest Italian population outside of Italy itself. Each episode of this series shines a spotlight on something special – be it a monument, a church, a store, a building, or even a street, answering those fundamental questions: when was it established, by whom, and why?
Videography by Eugenio Pizzorno
Motion Design Dan Arnklit.
