SAINT'S SHRINE TO GET HOME IN SUNLAND; MOTHER CABRINI BUILT SITE TO AID IMMIGRANTS IN 1906.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

A stone shrine is all that remains of the downtown Los Angeles orphanage built by Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first U.S. citizen to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Scarred by graffiti and use as a campsite by the homeless, the stone grotto faces a bigger threat: a multistory housing development that is planned for the site.

Rather than see the landmark destroyed, an ambitious group of preservationists is taking steps to save it.

Spearheaded by Cal State Northridge history Professor Gloria Ricci Lothrop, the conservationists will begin dismantling the historic stone shrine today in preparation of moving it to the Villa Scalabrini Retirement Center in Sunland.

``We're attempting to recapture a bit of history which is of significance not only to a city of immigrants but also of significance in terms of women's history,'' said Lothrop.

The stone grotto, at 555 Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., was part of the Regina Coeli Orphanage, which was built in 1906 by Cabrini, patron saint of immigrants.

``It's something very beautiful and important to the city,'' said the Rev. August Feccia, director of the nursing home for Catholic Italians. ``We're capable of destroying everything, but roots are very important, otherwise we remain teen-agers.''

Feccia said the nursing home, envisioned in 1976 by two priests of the Scalabrini Brothers order, is a perfect site for the shrine.

``Our founder Bishop Scalabrini and Mother Cabrini were very close friends,'' Feccia said. ``Bishop Scalabrini was the one who encouraged her to come west because she wanted to go to India. He said `Italians need you over here.' ''

Commercial building owner Robert De Pietro agreed to finance the $30,000 project as a tribute to his deceased father, Frank De Pietro, who helped build Villa Scalabrini.

``We thought it was fitting that it go to Villa Scalabrini because the Scalabrini Brothers deal with Italians who come to this country, and Mother Cabrini was involved with immigrants,'' De Pietro said. ``We definitely thought there was a connection with the Italian community at Villa Scalabrini.''

Conservationists said it will take a week to remove, clean and number each stone before moving it to the retirement home.

Lothrop began working to save the shrine last year, when she found out that a housing development was planned for the downtown site.

Cabrini crossed the Atlantic Ocean 35 times, building health clinics for Italian immigrants, hospitals, orphanages and schools, Lothrop said.

``Her initiative, administrative ability and financial resources are an inspiration to women,'' Lothrop said. ``Here's someone who really had a can-do spirit.''

Cabrini supervised the construction of the Los Angeles orphanage on the former estate of J.W. Robinson, co-founder of Robinsons department stores.

The mound-shaped shrine, built of native river rock and held together with mortar, measures 13 feet high and 19.5 feet wide, Lothrop said. It features a main altar and two niches on either side, but two wings will not be moved because they are recent additions, Lothrop said.

Cabrini later moved the orphanage to Burbank, where it underwent several transformations as a sanitarium for girls with tuberculosis, a private high school and now as Woodbury University. The campus library once served as Cabrini's chapel, Lothrop said.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO Gloria Lothrop and John Heydorff check out stones from a shrin e to Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News