Born in Italy, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini never dreamed that she would be the first (naturalized) citizen of the United States to be canonized.  In fact, almost nothing in her life turned out as planned.  The order she had hoped to enter denied her admission.  The bishop closed the orphanage she worked in but named her the first prioress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart.  She wanted to go to China, but the Pope encouraged her to go to New York to work with immigrants there instead.  When she arrived, the house she intended to turn into an orphanage was unavailable and the Archbishop of New York suggested she return to Italy.  Undaunted, she not only stayed, but she also founded a total of 67 institutions dedicated to the care of the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated, and the sick.  Pope Pius XII said of her.  “She never let anything turn her aside from striving and aiming to please God and work for his glory for which nothing, aided by God’s grace seemed too laborious, or difficult, or beyond human strength”.

-taken from, Steward Saints for Every Day, Sharon Hueckel