A years-long saga over a monument to Italian heritage reached a resolution this week with the announcement that a statue of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini will replace a statue of Christopher Columbus in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood.
The statue of Christopher Columbus had become a lightning rod of controversy in recent years. It was the target of ongoing vandalism in 2020, so Chicago’s mayor at the time, Lori Lightfoot, ordered it removed — only to find the city subject to a lawsuit from Chicago’s Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans (JCCIA), who wanted the statue restored and protected at taxpayer expense.
The solution? A new monument. The Chicago Park District announced on Ash Wednesday, February 18, that a saint, known as Mother Cabrini, was the winner of a public selection process to determine which figure of Italian heritage would be represented in a new statue to be built at Arrigo Park.
Nearly 160 figures were nominated to take Columbus’ place, and the Park District whittled these down to eight candidates: St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Renato Dulbecco, Enrico Fermi, Phillip Mazzei, Maria Montessori, Florence Scala, Antonin Scalia, and Amerigo Vespucci.
Mother Cabrini received nearly 40% of the public vote, winning in a landslide. Ron Onesti, president of JCCIA, told WTTW News he had voted for Cabrini.
The first American citizen to be canonized a saint, Cabrini was born in Italy, founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and served Italian immigrants in Chicago. She founded 67 schools, orphanages, and hospitals over the course of her lifetime and is the patron saint of immigrants.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement:
When Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini came to Chicago in 1899, she didn’t just serve immigrant families; she built institutions that transformed lives. 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.
Artists interested in creating the sculpture can submit an application online beginning March 1. Upon completion, the statue will be owned by the City of Chicago and displayed in the seven-acre Arrigo Park.
The Columbus statue will get new life too, with plans to display it inside a building in Chicago that the JCCIA is redeveloping into a museum honoring Italian immigrants.
