A Jubilee Mass marking multiple celebrations surrounding the life of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini will take place July 30, 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Cardinal Roger Mahony will preside and the St. Charles Borromeo Choir, under the direction of Paul Salamunovich, will provide the music at the liturgy which will acknowledge the 100th anniversary of Mother Cabrini's arrival in California. The Italian-born nun opened the Regina Caeli orphanage at 610 N. Hill St., Los Angeles, and in 1906 founded a tuberculosis sanatorium for children in Burbank. It later became Villa Cabrini Academy, a private Catholic school for girls, and is now home to Woodbury University.

Additionally, this year marks the 125th anniversary of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, the order founded by Mother Cabrini. Born Maria Francesca Cabrini on July 15, 1850 in Sant' Angelo in Lombardy, Italy, she was 30 years old when founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, and 39 when she was sent to America by Pope Leo XIII to provide for what was then a flood of Italian immigrants.

She created her first orphanage for Italian girls in New York City, today known as Cabrini Home, which continues to heal the lives of troubled children and is still administered by her order of sisters with the help of lay collaborators and support. In her lifetime, Mother Cabrini established dozens of institutions caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick in the U.S. and around the world.

She died Dec. 22, 1917 at age 67. In 1946 she became the first American citizen canonized a saint by the Catholic Church (feast day: Nov. 13) and is the patron saint of immigrants. A parish in South Los Angeles bears her name.

The July 30 celebration will also raise awareness for the Villa Cabrini Academy Library Fund for Woodbury U. The Villa Cabrini Academy chapel was erected in 1950. Woodbury University purchased the Villa property in 1986 and renovated the chapel to house their library.

Donations made by the Library Associates group help fund Library improvements such as remodeling of the front entrance lobby, providing new carpet, and remodeling of the annex building which included the creation of the electronic classroom/study hall.

"I became a Library Associate primarily because of my love and fond memories of the Villa Cabrini chapel," said Roa Brand, who edits the Villa Voice newsletter. "I wanted to show my gratitude to Woodbury for taking such excellent care of the building and for the respect and understanding they demonstrated in its renovation. Quite frankly, other than as the VCA chapel, I can't think of any better use of that building than a library

The commemorative year for the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart was formally opened Nov. 14, 2004, by Sister Lina Columbini, Superior General, in Codogno, Italy, the city where the Institute first began. According to the community, Mother Cabrini was moved to action "by the spirit of the Gospels, the word of the Church expressed by the Holy Father, the cry of the suffering, the misery of the poor and the tragedy of the abandoned."

Today, the Missionary Sisters serve in 16 countries, on six continents in an effort to meet the changing and rigorous demands of responding to the cry of the poor. They are committed to providing services to women, children and immigrants most in need through healing, teaching, caring and giving, with a personal and life-giving approach.

The community serves at hospitals in New York, Australia and Swaziland; in social justice programs in New York and The Philippines; and at schools in New York, Pennsylvania and Louisiana.

For further information call Gisela Von Huene Slonneger, (818) 362-2523, or Roa Brand, (818) 248-6578.