Mother Cabrini Statue to Grace South Cove of Battery Park City

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Christmas came early for devotees of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, the patron of immigrants, with the decision that a statue in her honor will be placed in Battery Park City’s South Cove, in direct view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the lower Manhattan location announcement Dec. 13, bringing a peaceful resolution to a dispute that began earlier this year when Mother Cabrini was snubbed for a statue after she received the most votes in a public poll connected with the She Built NYC project, overseen by Chirlane McCray, wife of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Experienced artists can find guidelines for proposed designs and submit proposals via the link governor.ny.gov/cabrinimemorial. Proposals must be completed and submitted online before midnight Friday, Jan. 31.

The Mother Cabrini Memorial Commission will review and select finalists from the submitted proposals and recommend proposals to the governor for his final selection.

The budget for design and fabrication of the memorial site and artwork is approximately $750,000.

“This memorial will honor the legacy of Mother Cabrini—a great New Yorker and Italian-American—and the commission chose a site that perfectly symbolizes her commitment to helping new Americans settle in the United States,” Gov. Cuomo said. “We want this memorial to pay tribute to the charity and good will she spread to countless others in her lifetime, and I look forward to seeing the designs that the artists propose to capture that spirit of her generosity.”

In October, Gov. Cuomo announced that state aid will be used to assist Italian-American groups and the Diocese of Brooklyn in constructing a St. Frances Xavier Cabrini statue. The Mother Cabrini Memorial Commission was established Oct. 24 at his behest. The commission comprises 19 members appointed by the governor.

Mother Cabrini arrived in New York Harbor in 1889, with six Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, nine years after she founded the religious congregation in her native Italy.

She became the first naturalized U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint, by Pope Pius XII on July 7, 1946. That was after she spent nearly 30 years opening schools, hospitals, orphanages and missions across her adopted land.

She died in 1917, and left a mark in New York City. Her mortal remains are displayed underneath the altar at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Shrine in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.