The filmmakers recognized Mother Cabrini as a historical woman who displayed tremendous heroic virtue. To be sure, she became the first U.S. citizen canonized by the Catholic Church on July 7, 1946, for doing just that: humbly serving the poor and exhibiting the depths of God’s heart for humanity.
However, Cabrini’s saint played by Cristiana Dell’Anna — while honorable for her charity — lacks an examination of what rooted her virtuous life beyond an ambition to “conquer the world with hope,” as she describes. Ultimately, what or who is foundational to that hope is unresolved in a film that instead highlights worldly motivators to appeal to secular audiences.
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