Italian Missionaries Lead Cape Town to Italian Saint

by Admin · March 25, 2024

By Pietro Poggiali – Youth and families, and even a few priests, flocked from different parishes of the Mother City to Labia Theatre on March 23 to come and discover the life of St Frances Cabrini. It is not every day that really good movies on Catholic saints are distributed in major cinemas. The Neocatechumenal Way missionaries, many of whom are originally from Italy, seized the occasion to invite everyone to draw inspiration from this amazing Italian woman, patron saint of immigrants and first canonised American citizen.

Thanks to the generous support of the owner, Mr Ludi Kraus, the entire theatre was booked exclusively for the group and filled to the brim with people of all ages. The management allowed the Italian missionary Dino Furgione to introduce the film, addressing the theatre with these words: “We need credible Christians and not influencers who live with schizophrenic doubling, using masks to create famous characters but who are not true witnesses. We need men and women like Mother Cabrini who do not bow to emotional logic, with low-value content, aimed only at obtaining visibility and fame, but who have the courage to still fascinate today’s world with the marvellous heights proposed by the Gospel”.

The film Cabrini, produced by the independent Christian company Angel Studios ( famous for The Chosen) and recently released in cinemas worldwide is the true story of how a nun with a handful of sisters and in spite of all oppositions, could build an “empire of hope”, starting from giving back beauty and dignity to impoverished Italian immigrants, orphans and prostitutes in the most dangerous slums of early 20th century New York. The film realistically shows that she was not moved by ambition or sheer willpower, but in her weakness (she described herself as a “survivor”) she was pushed forth by a faith and obedience to God that moves mountains. In fact, her favourite verse, quoted in the movie, from St Paul to the Philippians was: “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.”

All these privileged spectators came out of the theatre uplifted and with a desire to bring the same change to their suburbs, convinced that “a small act of love can change everything”.