Mother Cabrini, Saint of the Green Card

The statue, draped with a purple ribbon, money pinned along its edges, made its way down Fort Washington Avenue in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood. Its faceted crown caught the glint of the clear, early November sun, the air cool and crisp as leaves fell from the surrounding elms and maples, the entrance to Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters Museum in the distance behind the marching worshipers. 

Music boomed from the instruments of the band Red Mike, as locals stopped and pulled out smartphones, photographing the almost anachronistic procession as the image of Mother Cabrini, patron saint of immigrants, and America’s first saint, passed them by.