A monument honoring Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini will replace a statue of Christopher Columbus in Chicago’s Arrigo Park in Little Italy, according to a Feb. 18 announcement from the Chicago Park District (CPD).
The CPD said Chicagoans overwhelmingly voted for Mother Cabrini during a contest to determine which individual should replace Columbus’ image. The candidates were required to be of Italian heritage and have demonstrated civic impact, historical and cultural significance, integrity, and enduring influence. Mother Cabrini received 1,500 of the 3,900 votes.
CBS News reported that other nominations for the memorial included Nobel Prize-winning virologist Renato Dulbecco, physicist Enrico Fermi, physician and educator Maria Montessori, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, among others.
Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged Mother Cabrini’s contributions to the Italian-American community in Chicago, stating, “When Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini came to Chicago in 1899, she didn’t just serve immigrant families, she built institutions that transformed lives.”
“She founded schools, orphanages, and hospitals that cared for Italian immigrants facing hardship, and she ensured that resources flowed back into the neighborhoods that needed them most,” he continued. “Her work reflects Chicago at its best: a city that rises by lifting others. This monument at Arrigo Park will honor her enduring legacy and all of the communities who continue to shape our city.”
CBS News reported that Chicago’s former mayor, Lori Lightfoot, had statues honoring Christopher Columbus around the city — including the one in Arrigo Park — taken down in 2020 after protesters tried to remove one of the statues themselves.
According to the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mother Cabrini was born near Milan, Italy, in 1850. She founded the Missionary Sisters in 1880 and hoped to become a missionary to China. When she asked Pope Leo XIII about her desire, he told her, “not to the East, but to the West,” prompting a missionary journey to New York.
Mother Cabrini and her sisters worked among Italian immigrants in New York, establishing catechism and education classes, as well as schools and orphanages. She continued her work across the U.S. and in Europe and Central and South America until her death in 1917 in Chicago. She was canonized in 1946 and was the subject of a 2024 theatrical film from Angel Studios.