VILLA CABRINI YEARBOOKS - MORE THAN JUST STUDENT AUTOGRAPHS

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY            2013

Your Museum collects yearbooks from San Fernando Valley schools and colleges for several reasons. The first is the most obvious; they give us photographs of students, teachers, clubs, sports and other events. But they reveal the nature of school funding, the school's curriculum, parent and community involvement, and in the case of religious schools like Villa Cabrini in Burbank, aspects of the doctrines being taught in the institution.

Here are a dozen photographs from the "Cabrinian" yearbooks for 1961 and 1966. They are gifts to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2013.

First grade class. Villa Cabrini taught students from first grade through seniors in high school. The school had both day students and residents. Note the size of this class.

 Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Mother Cabrini was the first American citizen to be canonized as a Catholic saint.

 In 1961, the followers of Mother Cabrini were under the jurisdiction of the "Reverend Mother" Valentina Colombo, the Superior General of the Missionary Sisters.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1961 was the exceptionally power James Frances Cardinal McIntyre. He was the first "prince" of the Catholic Church or cardinal of Los Angeles. His selection as a future elector of a new pope, recognized Los Angeles as a major force in the Catholic Church. Villa Cabrini and its nuns were under the shared jurisdiction of Cardinal McIntyre and Vallentina Colombo.

 Grounds of the Villa Cabrini 1961

 Devotion to the Virgin Mary was high lighted in the month of May. Images of Mary were crowned, in Burbank and across the world, as the "Queen of the May."

U.S. Congressman Ed Reinecke bought a page in the Villa Cabrini yearbook to demonstrate his support of the school.

Donate tax-deductible yearbooks and school artifacts to your Museum today.

The Museum of the San Fernando Valley

Acquisitions Committee
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SANCTUARY OF ST. FERDINAND CHURCH

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY                 2013

Constructed under the jurisdiction of the Catholic religious Order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Saint Ferdinand Church is a vital part one of the Valley's oldest cities.

Sanctuary of Saint Ferdinand Church in San Fernando. Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2013.
Statues above the main altar are (l to r) San Fernando Rey de España, Saint Mary the Immaculate Conception and Saint Patrick Apostle of Ireland. Above the altar is an image of Jesus on the cross. (click on image to enlarge it.)

THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY'S VERY OWN SAINT

Chapel of Villa Cabrini - Burbank - Postcard collection - The Museum of the San Fernando Valley - gift of Gerald Fecht
Entrance to Villa Cabrini - Postcard Collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley - Gift of Gerald Fecht
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini - Founder of Villa Cabrini Burbank

Few places in the United States can claim that a canonized saint lived and worked there. The San Fernando Valley is an important exception. Known in her lifetime as Mother Cabrini, the diminutive Catholic nun worked tirelessly to provide education, housing and opportunities for America's poor, especially children of immigrant families.
In 1880, Mother Cabrini became one of the founding nuns of an Italian religious order called The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
She was the superior of the order until her death just prior to America's entry into World War I.
Pope Leo XIII sent Mother Cabrini to America in 1889 to work for the poor. She was especially concerned about children with diseases of the lungs, a common thing among inner city children in her era.
Mother Cabrini founded 67 institutions in the United States, one of which was the Villa Cabrini School for girls in Burbank, California.
Mother Cabrini became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1909, upon her elevation to sainthood, America's first citizen saint. Woodbury University now occupies the site of the historic Villa Cabrini.
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
15 July 1850 to 22 December 1917