The Churches of New York XVII: Saints Preserve Us!

The Shrine of St. Frances X.Cabrini
701 Fort Washington Avenue

We cannot say that Americans and specifically New Yorkers show the reverence that is due for the relics of the few saints in their midst. The most spectacular site in the greater New York area – the Shrine of the North American Martyrs west of Albany at Auriesville – sits for most of the year forlorn and forsaken above the New York State Thruway. (A Traditionalist pilgrimage takes place there each Fall – an enthusiastic but minor copy of the Chartres pilgrimage). In the city itself, the body of St Dacianus, acquired from “a Roman lady,” was brought to the Redemtorist church of the Most Holy Redeemer in 1892 amid indescribable jubilation. The martyr’s wax image now reposes forgotten in that splendid church on East 3rd Street. And then there are the mortal remains – and once again, a wax image- of the other saint whose body rests in Manhattan: Mother Frances Cabrini.

In the immediate pre-Conciliar era Mother Cabrini, canonized in 1946,was a familiar image of holiness. For she was arguably “the first American Saint” (she had taken United State citizenship) and thus filled a perceived need for saints we Americans could call our own. This was so even though her activity was largely restricted to her own countrymen swept up in the vast migration from the economic disaster that was liberal Italy to the Americas. And New York had been one of the many locations of her ministry ( for example, at the parish of St. Anthony of Padua on Houston Street – the first Italian parish in the City). But as time went on devotion waned. Her shrine in Washington Heights fell into increasing obscurity. I can modestly claim to have a reasonable knowledge of Catholic New York and had visited the nearby Cloisters many times. Yet I was unaware the Cabrini shrine even existed until I participated two years ago in the first pilgrimage to the sacred sights of Manhattan organized by the Archdiocese.

The shrine was erected starting in 1955 next to the high school that Mother Cabrini founded in 1899. It is one more product of the vast building program of Cardinal Spellman and is a veritable museum of that era. At the time the Cardinal seemed to be at the apex of his success and influence. Yet we cannot say that he created in this building a worthy monument to the saint. As we shall see, the style of the shrine is uncertain and the execution problematic. There was an obvious need to appear ”modern” while at the same time retaining devotional and pictorial elements of the past. This profound spiritual ambiguity is characteristic of Catholic sacred architecture in the United States immediately before and during the Council.

The exterior of the yellow brick structure is hard to identify as a church – what with its vaguely circular form and huge concrete awning. The cross, statues and lettering do help in this regard.

Inside is a simple hall completely decked out with decorations of all kinds. Regrettably, the statues, mosaics and windows are uniformly undistinguished, to put it mildly. The wax effigy of the saint reposes under the main altar. Surrounding the main sanctuary are spaces containing a “saints’ corner” and shops, as well as glass reliquary cases which seem to contain the saint’s entire wardrobe.

The “other saint” of New York: St. Dacianus (Datian), an early martyr.

The Cloisters. Despite the splendor, the visitor sometimes senses unfamiliarity with the actual purpose of the objects on display. Here, the surreal placement of a reliquary bust on an altar.

The Cloisters.

The artistic ineptitude of the shrine is all the more glaring in contrast with the Cloisters, a ten minute walk away. Here, only twenty years before the Cabrini shrine, a non Catholic family – admittedly one with a little money, the Rockefellers – had recreated a wholly Catholic “monastery” high above the Hudson River. It is a wonderful monument to the Catholic middle ages. But regardless of the challenge of this nearby competitor, the Cabrini shrine did not make the slightest attempt to create a beautiful house of God to honor the saint. We sense in this architecture the underlying spiritual unease of the Spellman years, so apparently full of confidence and growth. The shocking contrast between the Catholic “art” of 1959 and achievements of 1000-1500 enshrined in the Cloisters is almost too great to be borne.

So the Cabrini shrine exists as a kind of relic in its own right, a survival in pristine condition of the late nineteen fifties. Those Traditionalists who still fondly imagine that all was well before the Council would do well to come up to Washington Heights and study this church carefully. While they are here they should also say a prayer and light a candle (electric) in honor of Mother Cabrini. She is a great saint and in a sense one of our own. In these last times we (and the Church in New York) need all the help we can get.

Despite all the questionable art, it is wonderful to have a statue of Pius XII; at least here he is honored.