
The Sisters of St. Francis at the Kakaʻako Branch Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1886. Mother Marianne Cope is at right.
“I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen ones, whose privilege it will be to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders,” Mother Marianne wrote in 1883. “I am not afraid of any disease, hence, it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned ‘lepers.’”
Welcome to "North American Sanctity," a series on holy men and women, boys and girls, saints and those on the road to sainthood, from Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Some will be familiar, others less so; but all are inspiring!
By Kimberly Bruce
She was “the beloved mother of the outcasts,” a religious Sister of St. Francis who chose to become a missionary serving those afflicted with the most terrifying of diseases in the Hawaiian islands.
Saint Marianne Cope (feast day: Jan. 23) was, in a word, fearless.
Fifty other religious orders had declined the plea for help from King Kalākaua of Hawaii for those suffering from Hansen’s disease, the flesh-eating disease known as leprosy. But not Mother Marianne.
“I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen ones, whose privilege it will be to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders,” she wrote in 1883. “I am not afraid of any disease, hence, it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned ‘lepers.’”
Coming to America
Born Barbara Koob on Jan. 23, 1838 in Germany, she was the eldest of 10 children. A year after her birth, her family immigrated to Utica, New York. Though called to religious life at an early age, Barbara put her dreams on hold for nine years, working in a factory when her father became ill and could not support the family.
At the age of 24, Barbara entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, New York where she received the name Marianne.
From early on, Sr. Marianne was a tireless worker. She was a teacher and principal of several elementary schools; served on her Order’s governing board; helped establish two of central New York’s first hospitals; and become head administrator at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse.
It was while working at St. Joseph’s that Mother Marianne, now Superior of her Order, received the request to assist in the faraway Hawaiian islands, at that time an independent kingdom with close ties to the United States (statehood was still 80 years away).
Arriving with six of her Sisters in 1883, Mother set to work managing the Kaka’ako Branch Hospital in Oahu for those with leprosy.
“For us it is happiness to be able to comfort, in a measure, the poor exiles, and we rejoice that we are unworthy agents of our heavenly Father through whom He deigns to show His great love and mercy to the sufferers,” she said.
Suffering souls
Saint Faustina, too, had a heart for suffering souls. She prayed:
Gracious God, do not reject the prayer of this earth’s exiles! O Lord, Goodness beyond our understanding, Who are acquainted with our misery through and through, and know that by own power we cannot ascend to You, we implore You: anticipate us with Your grace and keep on increasing Your mercy in us, that we may faithfully do Your holy will all through our life and at death’s hour (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1570).
The Lord, indeed, anticipated the needs of those exiled in the islands by sending Mother Marianne and her Sisters to aid them in their plight.
Mother also founded the Kapi’olani Home for healthy daughters of those afflicted with leprosy. As no one wanted to be near family members of those with the disease, the Sisters decision to open such a home was a great act of mercy.
“My heart bled for the children and I was anxious and hungry to help put a little more sunshine into their dreary lives,” said Mother Marianne.
Molokai
1n 1887, a new island government implemented a quarantine policy. All those with leprosy, regardless of its stage in a patient, were to be sent to the island of Molokai. Tragically, families were separated, and Molokai became known as a “leper colony.”
Mother Marianne cheerfully accepted this new work on Molokai. She arrived with three of her Sisters in 1888 telling them their task was “to make life as pleasant and as comfortable as possible for those of our fellow creatures whom God has chosen to afflict with this terrible disease.”
Like future saint, Fr. Damien de Veuster, another missionary on Molokai whom she had met a few years earlier, Mother helped bring “fun” and hope back to the island’s inhabitants. She had the girls wear pretty dresses and scarves, and she improved cleanliness and morale.
When Fr. Damien became a social outcast upon contracting leprosy, himself, Mother Marianne took care of him. She also promised that she would continue caring for those in his established men and boys’ home for those with the disease.
Mother never contracted leprosy, herself, but died in Hawaii of natural causes at the age of 80 on Aug. 9, 1918.
Her remains were moved to the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu after her beatification, and many of her artifacts are housed in the Saint Marianne Cope Shrine & Museum in Syracuse.
She was canonized in 2012 in St. Peter’s Square by Pope Benedict XVI.
“Send me!”
Mother Marianne saw “the suffering face of Jesus” in those with leprosy, said Cardinal José Saraiva Martins at her beatification in 2005, “and became their mother.”
Who amongst us, today, will respond to the desperate plights of those around the globe? “Like Isaiah, she [St. Marianne Cope] did not hesitate to answer: ‘Here I am. Send me!’ (Is 6:8),” said Cardinal Martins. “She left everything, and abandoned herself completely to the will of God, to the call of the Church and to the demands of her new brothers and sisters.”
May St. Marianne be our example of strength and courage derived from faith, the Eucharist, prayer, and love of the Blessed Mother, said the Cardinal. May we have confidence in God to sustain us and pray for St. Marianne’s intercession in bravely answering the call to serve others.
Saint Marianne Cope, pray for us!
Next in the series: St. Felipe las Casas Martínez, Feb. 5.
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