DENVER — The Colorado Senate March 11 approved a measure to do
away with the state's observance of Columbus Day, a federal holiday, and
instead create a day to honor St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the patron of
immigrants.
The bill passed 19-15 in the Senate. The House OK'd it with a
37-26 vote in February. The measure now goes to Gov. Jared Polis for his
signature.
If signed into law by Polis, Cabrini Day will be observed the
first Monday of October. Columbus Day, which commemorates the arrival of
Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492, is the second Monday of October.
Popularly known as Mother Cabrini, the saint is revered for her
devotion to children, immigrants and the destitute. Born in Italy, she became a
naturalized U.S. citizen in 1909. She died at age 67 in Chicago Dec. 22, 1917.
She was beatified in 1938 by Pope Pius XI and canonized in 1946 by Pope Pius
XII. She was the first American to be canonized. She was named patroness of
immigrants in 1950.
One of the sponsors of the House bill, Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, a
Democrat from Commerce City, said the effort to do away with Columbus Day in
Colorado began in 2007.
At least 11 states and dozens of U.S. cities have done away with
observing Columbus Day and instead celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day in
recognition of the indigenous populations displaced after Columbus and other
European explorers reached this continent.
CNN quoted Benavidez as saying: "The pain that they endure
and the historical trauma endured by indigenous people in this country as a
result of what Columbus has put in place is real. And this is a step forward in
erasing that pain."
Sen. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican, objected to
creating a second paid holiday for state workers and offered an amendment to
observe Cabrini Day on the second Monday in October, but it was rejected.
"This is a very one-sided attempt to cast a moral judgment
with negative connotations on historical events that happened over 500 years
ago," said Sen. Vicki Marble, a Republican from Fort Collins. "This
is the way many people see it and wish it would be just laid to rest."
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was the foundress of the Missionary
Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Her dream was to go to China but at the insistence
of Pope Leo XIII, who asked her to work among Italian immigrants in the United
States, she left Italy for New York in 1889, accompanied by six sisters.
She established orphanages, schools and Columbus Hospital, and
held adult classes in Christian doctrine. She received requests to open schools
all over the world. She traveled to Europe, Central and South America and
throughout the United States. She made 23 trans-Atlantic crossings and within
35 years established 67 houses with more than 1,500 sisters.
On a hilltop in the foothills west of Denver near Golden sits the
Mother Cabrini Shrine. The shrine property was purchased in 1912 by Mother
Cabrini. It was an abandoned ranch she wanted to use as a summer camp for
children at the Denver orphanage she founded in 1904. She opened a school in
north Denver in 1902.
According to well-known Colorado historian Tom Noel, Columbus Day
was created in Denver in 1905, and the city held its first Columbus Day Parade
a couple of years later. After launching the Colorado parade, Italian American
Angelo Noce of Denver "led a nationwide campaign to establish Columbus
Day."
In recent years, Denver's Columbus Day Parade has met with
protests by groups that believe Columbus was "a killer and slave
trader." In was canceled in 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus'
landing. According to news reports, the parade was not resumed until 2000.
Julie Asher in Washington contributed to this story.