Francesca Cabrini tried to enter two different religious orders in her native Italy, but was turned down by both because of her poor health. In 1880, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, which soon began to spread throughout northern Italy. She wanted to work in China, but the pope told her to help Catholic immigrants in the United States instead. She landed in New York City with six nuns in 1889 and founded her first American convent and orphanage.
