7. Mother Cabrini is entombed in Hudson Heights
Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian American Roman Catholic nun is entombed at her shrine on Fort Washington Avenue. Cabrini was the first U.S. citizen canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, almost 30 years after her death. She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Catholic religious institute. The Pope gave her the advice “Not to the East, but to the West” in instructing her to go to the U.S. to assist her fellow Italian immigrants. She also founded Columbus Hospital, which became the short-lived Cabrini Medical Center.
Throughout her life, she founded 67 missionary institutions for the sick and poor, one of which was a Catholic school at 190th Street. After her remains were moved there, the school began a pilgrimage site, and a larger shrine was built a few years after her canonization. Cabrini still rests in perpetual display at her shrine. She also names Cabrini Boulevard and the 16-story Cabrini Terrace.