Our dear Sister Cabrini Delaney (Mary Catherine) passed away at home at Hudson Villa in Englewood Cliffs this morning, October 28, 2026, surrounded by love from near and far. She was ninety-five years old. Let us pause and give thanks for the gift of Sister Cabrini among us—her deep faith, love of the poor, and exuberant spirit. We hold especially in prayer her family and the community and caregivers at St. Michael Villa and Hudson Villa.
Sister Cabrini was proud of the fact that she came from Kenmare, County Kerry, where our founder Mother Francis Clare (Margaret Anna Cusack) ministered for so many years. In fact, in an interview for the Jersey Journal on the occasion of her sixtieth Jubilee in 2017, she told Fr. Alex Santora that she attended a school founded by Mother Clare herself. Sister Cabrini worked with children at St. Joseph Village, at St. Michael Villa as a licensed practical nurse, and on mission in the Philippines.
She spent three decades in Jersey City, where she ran a soup kitchen at the York Street Project and later was a presence at Peace Care St. Joseph and St. Joseph Parish in Jersey City, where she continued to provide food to the hungry. “No one has given out more cups of coffee and clothing than I have and paid for none of it," she reflected. "The price was right!” And we can all attest to the truth of her statement to Fr. Alex: “I put my whole self in everything I did.”
A woman of deep faith, in her later years Sister Cabrini took her ministry of prayer very seriously and held the needs of the world in her heart, from the smallest concern to the biggest. From her regular seat in the front row in the St. Michael Villa chapel, she listened intently to Fr. Jim’s homilies … sometimes even adding to them. While she will be deeply missed by her family, community, and caregivers, we know that we truly have another strong advocate in heaven. Filled with gratitude, she once wrote, “I thank everyone for all you did for me, and I thank God for putting each one of you in my path.”