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If you have driven along I-70 in the foothills, no doubt you've seen signs.

The Mother Cabrini Shrine or the statue of Jesus up on the hillside.

This is a familiar landmark for Coloradans.

But tucked away in thes foothills is a remarkable story.

Some people know Mother Cabrini as the first naturalized American saint.

Others know her as Colorado's saint or the patron saint of immigrants.

But for those who visit Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, Colorado, her story becomes more than history.

It becomes a source of comfort, strength and hope.

Born in Italy, Saint Francis Cabrini devoted her life to serving others.

Drawing strength from her deep devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

As the founder of the missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she crossed oceans, overcame countless obstacles by mule going over the Andes, and cared for those most in need.

When Mother Cabrini came to Colorado, she found both the beauty of the Rocky Mountains and the community she was called to serve.

Encouragin immigrants, comforting miners, and creating opportunities for orphaned girls.

The land she purchased in Golden for those children to enjoy as a summer camp is now Mother Cabrini Shrine.

Today, visitor block the hillside she walked, pray in the gardens, gather for mass, spirit, visit the grotto and sacred spring, and reflect on the life of a woman whose compassion and determined spiri continue to inspire generations.

So she started hospital in New York, Chicago and Rome.

Many come to Mother Cabrini Shrine seeking peace.

Many leave feeling renewed.

Mother Cabrini is more than a figure from history.

She is a reminder that a life rooted in love, service, and faith can transfor countless others and draw hearts closer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Hi, I'm Kyle Dyer.

You know, when I started learning about Mothe Cabrini story here in Colorado, I wanted to know more.

It was more than a century ago.

This beautiful property was a summer camp for orphaned girls who lived down in Denver under the care of Mother Cabrini and her missionary sisters.

More than 350 step lead to the top of the property, where Mother Cabrini would take the girls for hikes and picnics.

The girls staye right here in the stone house.

Today, it still welcomes people who come for overnight retreats.

This place, the shrine now is a place of peace, reflection and prayer.

And more and more people are coming to the shrine to learn about the life of Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini.

Earlier this year, that curiosity took more than three dozen Coloradans over to Italy, and they retraced the steps of her early life.

I decided to go along with m longtime storytelling partner, Julie Andrews.

In Denver.

Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini has been a person of mystery.

Pictures of her.

The Stone House, the spring.

Oh, good heavens, the spring.

Things that she touched and the way that she has touched so many people.

The desire among Coloradans to know even more about Colorado Saint led to a pilgrimage to Italy.

So now we'll go to the house where Francesca Cabrini was born and raised, and where she took her vows and founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Now she's a person of history.

She is so real.

She is so phenomenally real.

So this room was hers.

The heavy coat was the petticoa she was wearing when she died.

This is her traveling bag.

Her little slippers, her rosary.

The first time in Europe.

First time to Italy.

Obviously.

First time being this close i the footsteps of Mother Cabrini.

I just feel really close to her.

We're going to be going down towards the chapel.

They really wanted to walk in her actual steps.

I'd never been to the towns that she was born in or the towns that she worked in.

And so I just wanted to see, you know, what was that like?

Colorado, that Colorado scene.

I think the humble beginnings of her, he birthplace is really impactful.

Her own life was pretty fragile.

But even in the midst of that, she she persevered.

It puts everything in perspective, and it makes you realize even more how dynamic she was and what a wonderful person she was.

She never took no for an answer, and she would just turn around and say something to the Lord, and she got everything done the way that she has touched so many people.

In her short 67 years of life spanned over 15 countries and 67 schools, hospitals, orphanages from the 1900s to this very day.

Absolutely astounds me.

I was just thinking, wow this is just so much information about her.

How do I categorizes?

Where do I put it?

What do I do with this?

What am I supposed to do next?

The two days that we spent in Sant'Angelo and Colonia were just, I don't know what other word to use other than inspiring and just wonderful.

Just seeing the sisters there.

All of the senior sisters.

That was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip, getting to meet with them and talk with them, and just seeing the joy in the sisters hearts every single sister that we have come across, no matter what city.

The joy that they have.

And it just.

It just burst.

It's contagious.

Yes.

Yeah.

The love.

Everywhere we've been, there's also been a sense of healing, a sense of watching.

What mother did thi week has just been so wonderful.

It's like I don't even know how to capture it.

It's just been so busy, but still very, like, very still at the same time.

Seeing all these people here.

It's it jus you just feel the love of God.

It's such a beauty to see.

See the history come alive throughout Rome.

Mother Cabrini whose presence is very much felt from a statue above the altar inside Saint Peter's Basilica to a sculpture in Saint Peter's Square honoring immigrants.

Her legacy is visible across the city.

And for the pilgrims from Colorado, few places felt more personal than Casa Cabrini.

To just feel her spirit is so special.

She's still so relevant today, even after all these years for so many people.

Mother Cabrini is my confirmation saint.

I was baptized at the Easter Vigil.

To me, she was an advocate not just for immigrants, but also for anybody that wa forgotten who was left behind.

That's how I have tha personal relationship with her.

I have a daughter who's intellectually disabled, and I spend every day of her life since she was born.

She's 26.

Advocating for her in times where I just need an extra pat on my back.

An extra.

I can do it.

Go forth.

Somebody that gives me strength when I need it.

That's what she is.

Me.

Strength.

Frances Cabrini is my role model.

She's been my North Star for many years, and she continues to be.

And she will continue to guide and inspire generations to come.

I love the expression on her face.

It's that expression of someday, you know, holding on to those those little paper ships in Rome.

The letters and journals of Mother Cabrini are still being preserved.

A reminder there's much more t discover about Colorado Saint.

And for those who walke in her footsteps through Italy, she is no longer a woman o mystery, but a woman of history.

Our journey t Italy came in an important here the 80th anniversary of Mother Cabrini.

Canonization.

Born in Italy, she came to America, became an American citizen, making her the first naturalized American citizen to become a saint.

Many miracles were attributed to her after her death.

But there's one story here in Golden that's special in the hearts of Coloradans because of the rocky terrain.

Water was really scarce here at the summer camp.

Mother Cabrini just kne there had to be water somewhere, and told her sisters to start digging right in.

This area.

They did, and they found water.

And the spring is still running today.

People will come here, fill up water.

Take a sip, Philip.

Drugs.

Take them home or simply pause and reflect.

But you know none of this spring.

The shrine would be part of Colorado story if it were not for what happened thousands of miles away in Codogno, Italy.

Via Cabrini is an unassuming, tree lined street in Codogno.

But what happened in this small northern Italian town is anything but small.

It's historical and sacred.

Well, this building is where Mothe Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in November of 1880.

So this was the very beginning.

Being here in the motherhouse where it all started is such a gift.

It's such a blessing.

So grateful to be here on the pilgrimage with people from Denver, Colorado, for the shrine of Mother Cabrini.

The realness of Mother Cabrin life and her far reaching legacy will not be forgotte by those who, until this trip, mostly knew Saint Francis Cabrini from her time in Colorado.

Now, their connection t the Colorado Saint runs deeper as they were able to see and feel what she built behind these wooden doors.

Please come in.

It's holy.

It's sacred ground.

They allow you to go into her bedroom, which is the most sacred space for any of us, because it's where we sleep.

We reflect, we pray.

We were told if we wanted to, we could bring petitions from the community in Denver and to ask Mother Cabrini intercessions and the traditio is that you put those petitions under her pillow, and Mothe Cabrini will take care of them.

I always ask her to intercede for me.

Health and well-being, safety, our children, our family.

And then just the the vulnerable, the homeless, the helpless.

Those are the ones that I know that she will intercede for the most.

I just wanted to be in her roo for some moments of gratitude.

Right now we're asking for he intercession in Robbie's healing because she's been diagnosed with cancer.

I've been trying to beat the cancer holistically and through prayer with six kids.

We just blessings for the and our marriage for 33 years.

I had a couple that friends of mine had given me, and so I was able to put those under her pillow as I walked out of the room.

I just put my hand on that pillow.

Other of u and I just have every confidence answer the whisper.

Those prayers are going to get answered.

All because she sai that she would intercede for us.

And I believe that igniting.

I think you can feel her spiri just like you know, people say when they come to the shrine, they feel something.

And I think when you walk up that path in Cardano, you feel it and you can't miss it.

That's just that's really special.

You go.

Growing up in Italy, Francesca Cabrini knew she wanted to go into religious life.

She tried to get into many orders.

They said no because she was sickly as a child.

So she started her own order.

The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

And here in Golden, at the very top of Mother Cabrini Shrine, is this massive statue to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a powerful reminder of what motivated her throughout her life.

When we were over in Italy, we saw something that made a very powerful connection.

When a group of Coloradans entered a chapel in Italy, where Mother Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, they discovered her heart.

I've never seen anything like that before.

There is this human heart.

And I had to hang on to that.

I didn't want to get up and leave the church.

I felt very close to her.

I felt like she was there because her heart was there.

I just felt like I was actually speaking to her person, a person.

I watched my sons and daughter in law walk up and kneel in front of it.

Very emotional, beautiful.

A feeling I can't even hardly describe.

I'm always touched by the fact of just being in the church that holds her heart.

It's very quiet, very peaceful, and the reality of the heart is the most important gift.

Because she loved with a heart toward the Sacred Heart, which is that which flows everything flows the gift of her strength and her hopefulness and her spirit.

She found her mission in the heart of Jesus by helping people, by drawing them closer to the heart of Jesus.

And I think that's what we're all called to do when Mother Cabrini is missionary work.

Brought her to Colorado.

She bought land in Golden for orphaned girls to enjoy in the summer, and she referred to the hillside as the mount of the Sacred Heart.

Mother Cabrini would certainly celebrate that for the 250t birthday of the United States.

The U.S.

Conference of Catholic Bishops dedicated the nation to the Sacred Heart as a time for reflection.

The more I've gotten to know her, the more I admire her.

I mean, I love her, but there's this admiration for her that I have, especially the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

You know, that just it comes down to that, that that love, you know.

Still that that theme of love that keeps coming up over and over again.

And on this trip, I feel like I bonded with her more.

For many on the pilgrimage.

The journey to Italy led them not only closer to Mother Cabrini, but closer to the heart that guided her life.

Many of the people who went over to Italy have come back to Mother Cabrini Shrine with a renewed sens of connection to Colorado Saint.

And there are many places like this here at the shrine, where you can just sit and be stil during the pilgrimage in Italy.

We went to another town that had that same sense of peace.

Assisi, home to another famous Italian, Francis.

This pilgrimage is all about Mother Cabrini.

With the opportunity of coming to the very place where the order began.

And so this is the house she found and where she began her life.

So what a beautiful place that is not too far to the south of where Saint Francis Cabrini grew up and founded.

Her order is Assisi, the home to another famous Francis?

It's meant to be one of the most peaceful places on the planet, and primarily it was because of Francis and Francis, his whole love for individuals.

Mother was so inspired by Saint Francis and his love for the poor, simplicity, poverty and to really be bold in wanting to discover Jesus in every person that she met.

And primaril those who who suffered the most.

Father John Lager got to know and love Mother Cabrini as a child during visits to the shrine in Colorado.

As he grew up, he was drawn to the Franciscan Order and its founder.

So there's a lot of Franciscan saints in the church today.

All right, let's take a walk.

Father John led a group from Colorado to Basilica of Saint Mary of the angels at the foot of Assisi.

Inside the soaring basilica stands a tiny chapel, Saint Francis, restored in 1208.

He was to rebuild the church back to its fullness of being open and welcoming to all peoples you know, rich and poor alike.

The basilica is also where Saint Francis would later die.

800 years ago, it was already a meaningful stop on the Cabrini pilgrimage, but made even more memorabl by Father John, whose reverence for Saint Francis brought the space to life.

And may the blessin of Almighty God, who is father, Son and Holy Spirit descend upon you.

Remain with you forever and ever.

Amen.

Let us go in the peace of Christ.

You know, from here we get to bring both of these significant saints with us on our way to Rome, because both had the encounter at the Vatican with the Holy Father about the rule of life that they wanted to live, and how relevant they are is, by the way, and we continue to live out their legacy.

Our trip to Italy ended in Rome, because that is where the Pope assigned Mother Cabrini to come to America.

At first she landed in New York and was there for a while.

And then eventually, she made her way to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains that she just loved.

Her legacy, though, extends far beyond our state.

Around the world, she is know as a patron saint of immigrants, and that is part of Colorado story as well.

In 2020, lawmakers designated the first Monday of October every year as Cabrini Day.

Mother Cabrini Shrine is a place of peace, a place where all are welcome.

If you've never been come to Cabrini, I'm Kyle Dyer.

Thanks for coming along here on PBS 12.

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