BY BEN VERDE
The Brooklyn Diocese on
June 11 unveiled a statue of
Mother Cabrini, the Italian-
American nun who was the
fi rst US citizen to become a
canonized saint in the Catholic
Church.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio
blessed the shrine outside
the Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen
Roman Catholic Church
on Hicks Street in Carroll
Gardens.
“It’s a real replica of her
presence here so that people
can remember what she did
in her life,” DiMarzio said.
“She reached out to the people
on the margins of society,
and that’s our job today.”
The bronze sculpture
on Summit Street, paid for
with a $40,000 donation to
the Brooklyn Diocese, shows
Cabrini fl anked by two children
COURIER L 22 IFE, JUNE 18-24, 2021
looking up at her, with
a bible in her left hand, above
a miniature version of the Sacred
Hearts church.
Cabrini made headlines
citywide in 2019 when she received
the most votes in First
Lady Chirlane McCray’s “She
Built NYC” public art campaign
— but was not selected
to have a statue built in her
likeness by the de Blasio administration.
Catholics reacted in outrage,
and “Bronx Tale” star
Chazz Palminteri accused
McCray of harboring anti-
Italian racism during a radio
appearance. Gov. Andrew
Cuomo, always eager
to one-up his political rival,
then announced that a statefunded
Cabrini statue would
be installed in Battery Park
The Brooklyn Diocese unveiled a new shrine to Mother Cabrini on Hicks Street in Carroll Gardens on June 11.
Brooklyn Diocese
in Manhattan, a carving that
has since gone up.
The Carroll Gardens
statue marks the third
Mother Cabrini memorial in
New York City, according to
the Diocese.
Born in 1850, Cabrini emigrated
to New York in 1899,
where she went on to found
over 60 hospitals, schools,
and orphanages including
the Missionary Sister of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Catholic
institute that offered help
to the city’s plentiful Italian
immigrants. She died in 1917
and was canonized in 1946.
“Her courage was great because
her faith was great, and
even when Mother Cabrini
was met with rejection, she
never returned anything but
love,” said DiMarzio.
SHRINE ON!
After city snub, BK Diocese
unveils new Mother Cabrini
statue in Carroll Gardens
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