This park honors Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), a Roman Catholic missionary, and the first American citizen to be canonized. Cabrini was born in a small town near Lodi, Italy. At the age of 30, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, dedicating the group to the ministry of the poor. In 1889, Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) sent Cabrini and her missionaries to the United States to aid Italian immigrants. In Manhattan, Cabrini taught at St. Joachim’s parish, the Church of Our Lady of Pompeii, and the Transfiguration Catholic Church. She also taught at St. Rita of Cascia in the Bronx as well as the Church of St. Stephen (now Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen’s Church) in Brooklyn.