Colorado will Replace Columbus Day with Cabrini Day
The first Paid State Holiday
Recognizing a Woman in the US
By Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN, Wed March 11, 2020
Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini founded schools, orphanages, and hospitals throughout the United States and South America, and became the first American saint, canonized in 1946
(CNN) Colorado passed legislation Tuesday to replace Columbus Day with Cabrini Day because bill sponsors say it doesn't represent their community members.
(CNN) Colorado passed legislation Tuesday to replace Columbus Day with Cabrini Day because bill sponsors say it doesn't represent their community members.
The first Monday of October will now honor Frances Xavier Cabrini, who according to the bill, is the woman responsible for creating 67 schools, hospitals, and orphanages in the United States and South and Central America throughout her lifetime.
Sen. Chris Hansen, one of the bill's sponsors, told CNN that Cabrini is a local Colorado hero because of the work that she did. Chicago and New York join Colorado in honoring Cabrini with a shrine dedicated to her, Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, another one of the bill's sponsors, told CNN.
"We need holidays to recognize the contributions of women across history"
Hansen said.
Columbus Day marks Christopher Columbus' first voyage to America, landing in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492. It became a legal federal holiday in 1971. A year later, the first Columbus Day celebration was held marking the anniversary of Columbus' landing.
In recent years, several states and even cities have stopped observing the holiday altogether after a growing movement to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day to recognize the native populations who were displaced after Columbus and other European explorers reached the continent.
Historians largely agree that he did not "discover" the Americas because people were already there, nor was he the first European to reach the "New World."
The bill will take effect no later than the beginning of August after it is signed by the governor, Benavidez said. Legislation for this particular bill started in 2007.
The bill will take effect no later than the beginning of August after it is signed by the governor, Benavidez said. Legislation for this particular bill started in 2007.
"This truly is this decade's long effort by so many people," Benavidez said."There have been so many negotiations, groups of people over the years that never gave up, this is so important to the communities that are impacted by this."
The transition from commemorating Columbus to Cabrini is a step forward Benavidez said.
"The pain that they (indigenous people) endure and the historical trauma endured by indigenous people in this country as a result of what Columbus has put in place is real," she said. "And this is a step forward in erasing that pain."
CNN's AJ Willingham, Marilia Brocchetto and journalist Emanuella Grinberg contributed to this report
The transition from commemorating Columbus to Cabrini is a step forward Benavidez said.
"The pain that they (indigenous people) endure and the historical trauma endured by indigenous people in this country as a result of what Columbus has put in place is real," she said. "And this is a step forward in erasing that pain."
CNN's AJ Willingham, Marilia Brocchetto and journalist Emanuella Grinberg contributed to this report
Honoring Cabrini, an Italian American and patron saint of immigrants,
was a compromise with Italian Americans, who take pride in the Italian
explorer, lead bill sponsor Adrienne Benavidez said.
"Although Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) is recognized as a voyager who arrived in what is now known as the Caribbean Sea, he never traveled to or entered the territory that became the United States," the text of the bill states. "He had no knowledge or contact with the area now known as the state of Colorado, providing no rationale for a Colorado state holiday in his name. In 1492, he was welcomed by the indigenous Taino people to their homeland on the island of Quiqueya, which Columbus renamed Hispaniola. Fifty years later, the Taino people had been nearly exterminated by Columbus and his successors."
Cabrini came to Colorado in 1902 and opened the Queen of Heaven
Orphanage for girls in north Denver a few years later. In 1909, she was
naturalized as a U.S. citizen and she negotiated the purchase of a rural
property to be used as a summer camp for girls at the orphanage.
The property's land on the eastern slope of Lookout Mountain had no reliable source of water, so all of the water needed had to be brought up to the camp from a stream at the bottom of Mt. Vernon Canyon.
During her last visit to Colorado in 1912, she directed the girls to dig under a rock where they found a spring of fresh water that continues to provide water to the property.
"The land upon which Cabrini established her orphanage and camp is the traditional territory and homeland to the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute indigenous nations," the bill's text read. "Those indigenous peoples, and all indigenous peoples, have a special, sacred relationship with water, similar to that of Cabrini."
Throughout the United States and South and Central America, Cabrini founded 67 institutions, including schools, hospitals and orphanages, in her lifetime.
"Although Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) is recognized as a voyager who arrived in what is now known as the Caribbean Sea, he never traveled to or entered the territory that became the United States," the text of the bill states. "He had no knowledge or contact with the area now known as the state of Colorado, providing no rationale for a Colorado state holiday in his name. In 1492, he was welcomed by the indigenous Taino people to their homeland on the island of Quiqueya, which Columbus renamed Hispaniola. Fifty years later, the Taino people had been nearly exterminated by Columbus and his successors."
The property's land on the eastern slope of Lookout Mountain had no reliable source of water, so all of the water needed had to be brought up to the camp from a stream at the bottom of Mt. Vernon Canyon.
During her last visit to Colorado in 1912, she directed the girls to dig under a rock where they found a spring of fresh water that continues to provide water to the property.
"The land upon which Cabrini established her orphanage and camp is the traditional territory and homeland to the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute indigenous nations," the bill's text read. "Those indigenous peoples, and all indigenous peoples, have a special, sacred relationship with water, similar to that of Cabrini."
Throughout the United States and South and Central America, Cabrini founded 67 institutions, including schools, hospitals and orphanages, in her lifetime.
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