Italian immigrant Francesca Cabrini arrives in 1889 New York City and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children. Cabrini sets off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor to secure housing and healthcare for society's most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini uses her entrepreneurial mind to build an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.
Acting
Dell'Anna's ferocious stillness—she weaponizes fragility
Production
Gilded Age rot vs. immigrant squalor, shot like opposing armies
Writing
Cabrini's business-deal confessions: holy manipulation at its finest
Director
Alejandro Monteverde
Cristiana Dell'Anna
Francesca Cabrini
David Morse
Archbishop Corrigan
Giancarlo Giannini
Pope Leo XIII
John Lithgow
Mayor Gould
Romana Maggiora Vergano
Vittoria
Federico Ielapi
Paolo
Virginia Bocelli
Aria
Rolando Villazón
Disalvo
Jeremy Bobb
Calloway
Federico Castelluccio
Senator Bodio
Patch Darragh
Dr. Murphy
Seán Cullen
Peterson
Andrew Polk
Deputy Mayor Jenkins
Allen Lewis Rickman
Jacob Abrams
Giampiero Judica
Father Morelli
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Cristiana Dell'Anna learned English specifically for this role, mirroring Cabrini's own linguistic hustle.
Cabrini became the first American saint in 1946, but the film deliberately avoids miracles—this is canonization via spreadsheet.
US
