Arts & Entertainment
Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini Statue to Replace Columbus in Little Italy, Park District Announces
(WTTW News)
Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American saint, will be honored with a statue in Little Italy’s Arrigo Park, where a statue of Christopher Columbus once stood, Chicago Park District officials announced.
Cabrini, who served poor Italian immigrants in Chicago, received approximately 38% of the 3,900 votes cast during a little-advertised online contest to pick three nominees for the honor, according to a statement from the Chicago Park District.
The park district’s initial announcement of Cabrini’s selection misspelled her first name, did not identify the other two finalists and erroneously said Cabrini won “an overwhelming majority of votes.”
Artists interested in sculpting Cabrini can submit an application online starting March 1.
An agreement between Chicago’s Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans and the Chicago Park District returned the Columbus statue that stood in Arrigo Park since 1966 to the group, which plans to display it inside a building in Chicago that the joint committee is redeveloping into a museum on Taylor Street honoring Italian immigrants.
That deal called for Arrigo Park to become home to a monument to someone “who is known for their contributions to Chicago’s Italian American community,” according to a statement from the park district.
Ron Onesti, president of the committee, told WTTW News he had voted for Cabrini, a nun who is often referred to as Mother Cabrini because she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“When Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini came to Chicago in 1899, she didn’t just serve immigrant families, she built institutions that transformed lives,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement. “She founded schools, orphanages, and hospitals that cared for Italian immigrants facing hardship, and she ensured that resources flowed back into the neighborhoods that needed them most. Her work reflects Chicago at its best: a city that rises by lifting others. This monument at Arrigo Park will honor her enduring legacy and all of the communities who continue to shape our city.”
The Columbus statue in Arrigo Park was one of three Columbus statues in the city; all three were removed.
The Columbus statue removed from Grant Park will not return to the lakefront, where it stood from 1933 to 2020, park district officials said. A “public process” will determine “which new public art will call this corner of Grant Park home,” park district officials said.
The city’s third statue of Columbus spent 100 years on a plaza near the intersection of 92nd Street, Exchange Avenue and South Chicago Avenue on the city’s Far South Side. It was also removed, and no plans to display that statue have been announced.
Chicago has few public monuments dedicated to women or people of color, and city officials have yet to make good on promises to correct that imbalance.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
