“Begin the mission and the means will come.”
Delivered by Mother Cabrini on more than one occasion in the 2024 movie that chronicles her passion and determination to care for impoverished Italian immigrants to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, this motivational line is also applicable to the mission of the film’s Executive Producer, who brought the movie “Cabrini” to the Diocese of Harrisburg earlier this month.
J. Eustace Wolfington, a Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist, wants students across the country to see the film and be as inspired as he is about the mercy, character and missionary work of the first American saint.
“People love her life and her story, and that was our intent, to make people fall in love with her,” Wolfington said at a private screening of “Cabrini” for principals and presidents of the Diocese of Harrisburg’s six Catholic high schools. He joined representatives of Lodigiano Film Development, Inc. – a public charity to produce revenue to continue sharing Mother Cabrini’s work with the world – in introducing the movie during an event at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg on January 16. Members of the Diocesan Office of Catholic Education and Bishop Timothy Senior, a friend of Wolfington’s, were also on hand for the special event.
“Cabrini” chronicles Mother Cabrini’s perseverance – even in meetings with the pope, the archbishop and mayor of New York, a renowned opera singer and the entire Italian Senate – in finding the means to care for orphans, prostitutes and the sick living in squalor in New York City.
At the screening, Wolfington recounted how he connected in 2011 with the late Sister Mary Louise Sullivan, MSC, the former President of Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa., about producing a film on Mother Cabrini, who established 67 schools, orphanages, hospitals and other institutions during her lifetime. Her Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus provide education, health care and other services to the poor in 15 countries today.
Enamored by the life and service of the Italian-born saint after first learning about her in 1955, Wolfington was eager to jump on board the project, giving Sister Mary Louise Sullivan one condition: “It must be a universal movie with no preaching. Mother Cabrini’s life is the sermon. She delivers the sermon,” he said.
“We have to make a movie that is universal; everybody is going fall in love with her, no matter what nationality you are, no matter what religion you are,” he said.
Angel Studios released “Cabrini” in March of 2024. And, as Wolfington’s predicted, viewers fell in love. The movie has an astounding 90% review rate from Rotten Tomatoes.
Wolfington is now on a new mission: to get “Cabrini” before the eyes and into the hearts of students across the country. So far, that’s included students in places like the Archdioceses of Philadelphia, New York and Chicago, where teens have filled local theaters to be inspired by the unwavering conviction Italian nun who lived among the filth and dangerous streets of the people she served. Wolfington and representatives from Lodigiano Film Development, Inc., are also in conversation with New York City Public Schools for potential showings, and had been in talks with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles before this month’s devastating wildfires.
“We have no idea the impact this movie can have on our kids,” Wolfington said at the screening in Harrisburg. “I’m 92 years old, and my mission right now is to take this movie to as many school kids around the country as we can. We’ve already seen and heard how the story of Mother Cabrini has worked in them.”
After viewing the film, the high school principals and presidents shared reaction to the cinematic feature.
“As I watched the film, I was impressed by how she embodied two saints. The spirit of Dorothy Day and Thérèse of Lisieux were embodied in Mother Cabrini. She had a combination of strength and character that those two women exhibited in their own lives,” said William Lippe, principal of Delone Catholic High School in McSherrystown.
“The strength and conviction that Mother Cabrini demonstrated are important messages for our students, especially young women who might not otherwise believe they’re called to display these kinds of characteristics,” Lippe added.
Bishop Senior joined Wolfington in informal discussions with the educators about how schools might potentially show the movie to students.
“Eustace has been talking about Mother Cabrini ever since I first met him and has great devotion to her and a desire to expand that to others to be inspired by her as well,” Bishop Senior said.
“It couldn’t be more important, in thinking about what we deal with on a day-to-day basis, to have an enriched culture of mercy in our schools,” the bishop said. “How do we form our students to recognize that as a norm and understand it, especially in today’s culture? This film speaks for itself, and if we can move this movie forward in our schools, it would be a great opportunity.”
Wolfington himself was a young man himself when he first learned about Mother Cabrini in 1955. He was 22 then, and it set a trajectory for the rest of his life.
“People love her life and her story, and that was our intent, to make people fall in love with her,” he said.
Learn more about the efforts of Lodigiano Film Development, Inc., at https://partnerwithcabrinifilm.org
(Photos by Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness.)
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
This post was originally published on here
