Farewell, Columbus: in Los Angeles, the Italian-American heroine is Mother Cabrini

‘We have resurrected Christopher Columbus,’ said Trump, gloating that, with a new statue in Washington, he had defeated the ‘woke crowd’ who were tearing down statues. He did not, however, bring the Genoese navigator back to progressive, health-conscious, nature-loving California, where Columbus Day, on 12 October, is still ‘cancelled’, and in its place there is ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day’, with singing, dancing and feathers – a proper federal holiday with post offices closed. And so the Italian-American community has lost a hero. It has, however, just gained another.

The following day, at the town hall meeting in Los Angeles, the city council approved the establishment of Mother Cabrini Day. Maria Francesca, later Maria Saverio – or Xavier, as they say here – a saint, an immigrant, a woman from Lodi who grew up on the banks of the River Lambro whilst Italy was unifying and the wars of independence were being fought; she set off for the Americas with the blessing of Leo XIII and there established a system of support for the orphans of immigrants, boarding schools, schools, girls’ boarding schools and care homes – some of which still exist today – and travelled extensively across the country, fighting against the discrimination practised by WASPs against Italians.

The first American woman to be canonised and then beatified, as Tony Soprano’s son recalls in the first series, when Meucci, John Cabot, Michelangelo and Sacco & Vanzetti are mentioned. Quite a pantheon. In June, another Pope Leo – the first American – travelled to Sant’Arcangelo Lodigiano specifically to pay homage to the saint, who died in his native Chicago. At the first Mother Cabrini Day in Los Angeles, the last nun of her congregation, Sister Regina—whose parents were from Sicily and Calabria but who grew up in Hollywood—was present, along with a woman whose grandmother had been ‘one of Mother Cabrini’s orphans’; she still wears the medallion of the saint around her neck and was named ‘Rini’ in her honour.

Tears are shed amongst the community of San Pedro, the Italian-American neighbourhood, whilst the town councillors approve everything; one of them, McOsker – an Anglo-Saxon whose wife is from Pescara and is ‘deeply devout’ – recalls that Mother Cabrini had ‘a very strong entrepreneurial spirit, and wasn’t afraid to go and ask people for money, face to face, for her missions’. These qualities are highly celebrated here. He is followed by another councillor, of Asian descent, who recalls becoming a huge fan of Bari and Napoli after a university trip. And then an African-American who speaks of the importance of Cabrini schools in less affluent neighbourhoods. In the chamber, there are pins and ties bearing the Italian tricolour. And she was a woman, too.

Raffaella Valentini, the Italian Consul-General on the West Coast, emphasises this when speaking to Il Foglio: “Women’s empowerment before such terms even existed. It is part of the history of immigration, which forms the very foundation of this country, but also the story of a woman living in a historical period when doing things for women was doubly difficult.” She also reminds us that last year California officially recognised Italian-American Heritage Month, and there is much talk of what the ‘paisà’ have done for this country, from Ellis Island to Scorsese, via Nancy Pelosi.

“Mother Cabrini dedicated her life to caring for the most vulnerable,” says Anna Manunza, president of the Little Italy association, visibly moved, after years of campaigning for this recognition. “She didn’t care where you came from, only what you needed.” A champion of immigrants celebrated at a time when Trump’s henchmen are hunting down South Americans, and shop windows in the city centre display signs reading “ICE, get out!”.