CV NEWS FEED // The historic St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in Manhattan was vandalized over the weekend, according to police reports on October 8.
According to a report from New York Daily News, the attack was discovered on October 6, and involved a profanity directed at Jesus and “several bizarre symbols” scrawled in black spray paint across the church wall. The statue of St. Frances Cabrini was painted with another symbol, and her face was covered in black paint.
St. Frances Cabrini, the patron saint of immigrants, was the first United States citizen to be canonized. Immigrating to the U.S. from Italy in 1889, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and dedicated her life to helping suffering immigrants all over the world. St. Frances Cabrini is buried at the Shrine.
Julia Attaway, the Shrine’s executive director, stated that while no permanent damage was done, it was “an attack on the beliefs of Christians and the Catholic Church,” the report shared.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident, which marks the second case of vandalism against a Catholic church in New York City within two weeks. On September 24, a statue of the Virgin Mary was severely damaged by a vandal wielding a large rock at the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Queens, according to the report.
The NYPD is asking anyone with information regarding either act of vandalism to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
CatholicVote’s Violence Tracker reported more than 400 attacks and vandalisms against Catholic churches in the United States since May 2020.
Attaway told the Daily News that the graffiti was “ugly” and “intentionally hurtful,” but chose not to detail the specifics of the defacement, according to the report.
“We don’t need to put images in anyone’s head,” she said. “People will do what they do, and we have to be who we are.”
“[St. Frances Cabrini] went to where the problems were and where the hurting people were,” Attaway added. “She provided compassion, consolation, love, and kindness. That’s what the shrine is about, helping people find that in their own hearts and lives.”
CatholicVote reviewed the 2024 movie “Cabrini,” which is about the saint’s life, and described it as “an uplifting and challenging film that depicts the early struggles of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini to aid Italian immigrants in the slums of New York City.”