Colorado celebrates Frances Xavier Cabrini Day Oct. 5

Colorado established the first state holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus in 1905, but Coloradans will have a new holiday in its place Oct. 5.

Columbus Day, the second Monday in October, will be replaced by Frances Xavier Cabrini Day in Colorado. The holiday will be observed the first Monday in October.

Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill replacing Columbus Day March 20, 2020.

The bill states that Columbus had no knowledge of or contact with the area now known as Colorado, providing no rationale for a Colorado state holiday in his name.

The bill calls Cabrini a humanitarian champion of immigrants and children in the United States.

Cabrini was born in Italy in 1850. She became a nun and founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1880 in order to care for poor children in schools and hospitals. She first came to the United States in 1889.

She arrived in Colorado in 1902, opening the Queen of Heaven Orphanage for girls in Denver in 1905. She became a naturalized American citizen in 1909 and died in 1917.

She eventually became widely known as Mother Cabrini and was responsible for founding 67 institutions in her lifetime, including schools, orphanages and hospitals in the United States and Central and South America.

Pope Pius XII canonized her in 1946, making her the first U.S. citizen to be so honored. She also became known as the patron saint of immigrants.

The bill that Gov. Polis signed states that holidays are intended to honor prominent figures in United States history and acknowledge other civic events and celebrations in Colorado.

It goes on to note that the recognition of her contribution to Colorado creates an opportunity to promote an appreciation, tolerance and understanding of the different cultures that make up the state.