One hundred thirty years ago, in 1883, St. Marianne Cope arrived with six sisters from Syracuse, N.Y., to the shores of the Sandwich Islands responding to a call to care for the kingdom’s poor abandoned natives. Since then, and without interruption, hundreds of Sisters of St. Francis have followed in the saint’s footsteps to serve the people of Hawaii and beyond, including approximately 100 women from the Islands.
Fifty years ago, on the 80th anniversary of the sisters’ arrival, Msgr. Charles A. Kekumano said: “True to their Franciscan heritage, they followed the Gospel norm of doing well, and they did it gladly and prayerfully.”
Answering a call from Hawaii’s King Kalakaua, Queen Kapiolani and Board of Health, Mother Marianne Cope, the second provincial general of the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, left her family and the sisters to whom she was a spiritual mentor, to come to the Islands.
Placing her total trust in God, she embraced a place where the culture, language and .government — in fact, everything — was very foreign. A person who lived that she believed, Mother Marianne said: “What little good we can do in this world to help and comfort the suffering, we wish to do it quietly and so far as possible, unnoticed and unknown.”
Today, her legacy lives on.
Here is a history of the work of the Sisters of St. Francis in Hawaii since 1883.
1883-1888
Branch Hospital (Kakaako)
Upon arriving in the Sandwich Islands in November, the Sisters of St. Francis began work at the Branch Hospital in Honolulu’s Kakaako district. They remained until June 15, 1888, when the Board of Health decided to “support only one place of treatment” — the settlement on Molokai at Kalawao and Kalaupapa.
1884-1929
Malulani Hospital (Wailuku)
In Hawaii only a few months, St. Marianne was asked by Queen Kapiolani to open Malulani Hospital, now known as Maui Memorial, in Wailuku. Her sisters remained at Malulani for 45 years, leaving in August 1929.
1885-1928
St. Anthony School (Wailuku)
While Mother Marianne opened Malulani Hospital, the sisters were asked to teach English to girls in Wailuku. The Marianists started a school for boys the same year. The sisters administered St. Anthony School for Girls until 1928, when they left it in the care of the Maryknoll Sisters and moved to Lahaina to run the smaller Sacred Hearts School.
1885-1938
Kapiolani Home for Girls (Kakaako, Waikamilo, Kalihi)
Queen Kapiolani, Father Damien de Veuster, Dr. Eduard Arning and Mother Marianne recognized the need for a home for the non-infected children of the leprosy patients. On Nov. 9, 1885, the healthy girls living in Kalawao moved into Kapiolani Home on the grounds of the sisters’ convent at the Kakaako Branch Hospital. After the hospital closed in 1888, the home was moved three times: first, to a more suitable new building; second, to a temporary camp in Waikamilo when a typhoid epidemic closed the previous home in 1900; finally, in 1912 to Kalihi where the patients’ children were housed until 1938.
1888
Bishop Home/St. Elizabeth Convent (Kalaupapa)
Unable to find a suitable person to care for the women and children in Kalaupapa after the Branch Hospital closed in Honolulu, the Board of Health asked Mother Marianne and the sisters. They agreed and arrived in Kalaupapa to run the new complex of cottages called Bishop Home, after the benefactor Charles Bishop, husband of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. St. Elizabeth Convent and chapel were built at the complex. In the 125 years that followed, approximately 65 sisters served there as nurses and health care workers.
In 2008, two sisters were accepted as National Park Service volunteers to care for St. Elizabeth Convent and chapel, the Bishop Home grounds and St. Marianne’s gravesite, while a third sister remained employed by the State of Hawaii as a nurse.
The nurse, Sister Frances Therese Souza, left the settlement this past January. One of the two volunteer sisters left in September and was replaced in October. It is the Franciscan Sisters’ hope that their presence will continue in Kalaupapa for many years to come.
1890-2009
St. Joseph Schools (Hilo)
The Sacred Hearts Fathers founded St. Joseph Church in 1862 and opened a school in 1871. Fourteen years later, the Marianist Brothers took charge of St. Mary Boys School in Hilo. The girls were taught by Catholic laywomen until 1900 when the Sisters of St. Francis took over. When the Marianists left in 1951, the sisters assumed charge of both the elementary and high schools.
In 1949, two modern buildings were erected for the elementary and high schools. In 1956, a three-story convent was built with accommodations for 30 sisters. In 1957, 28 Sisters of St. Francis were working at the schools.
In 2009, after 119 years, the last three Franciscan sisters left St. Joseph Schools. They were Sister Marion Kikukawa, Sister Stephen Marie Serrao and Sister Barbara Jean Wajda.
1915-1919
Hilo Hospital
As early as 1897, the Hawaii Board of Health had requested the medical expertise of the Sisters of St. Francis for the Islands’ second largest city. Eighteen years later, in 1915 the sisters accepted and agreed to run Hilo Hospital. However, in 1919, after only four years, the sisters withdrew.
1923-1928
Maui Children’s Home (Wailuku)
Sacred Hearts Father Justin Van Schayk recognized the need to care for orphans on the Valley Isle and persuaded the government to build the Maui Children’s Home. With the blessing of Bishop Libert Boeynaems, the home was constructed on church property near St. Anthony Church and School and close to Malulani Hospital. The home opened in 1923 under the care of four Franciscan Sisters. In August 1928, because of the lack of Franciscans to staff the home, it was turned it over to the Maryknoll Sisters.
1924
Novitiate and School (Honolulu)
The sisters established on Maui a novitiate and school to prepare Island girls for religious life. It was then moved that first year to Liliha Street in Honolulu at the site of the future St. Francis Hospital. It later became a preparatory school for young girls who wished to qualify for the School of Nursing at St. Francis Hospital.
1927
St. Francis Hospital (Honolulu) / St. Francis Healthcare System
St. Francis Hospital was founded to serve anyone in need of medical help regardless of creed or race. During its 82 years, it pioneered many programs in response to the needs of the people. In 2005, the hospital was sold to Hawaii Medical Center and a group of physicians. In 2012, as part of HMC’s bankruptcy settlement, the facilities were returned to the Sisters of St. Francis who have plans to use it for long-term patient care among other things.
The following programs were initiated under the sisters’ leadership:
1929: St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing opened and was accredited by the National League for Nursing. It closed in 1966.
1962: Home Health Care Program began and is still in operation.
1965: The dialysis program was established. It was sold in 2006.
1969: The organ transplant program, primarily for kidney transplantation opened. It moved in 2012 to Queen’s Medical Center.
1978: A home and in-patient hospice program was created. The first in-patient facility opened in Nuuanu in 1988, the second in Ewa Beach in 1997. Both are still in operation.
1989: The Bone Marrow Donor Registry was created.
1990: St. Francis Medical Center-West opened, filling the need for an acute hospital in Leeward Oahu. In 2006, the hospital was sold to Hawaii Medical Center and, following HMC’s bankruptcy, to Queen’s Medical Center in 2012.
1996: SMILE (Sister Maureen Intergenerational Learning Environment), the Franciscan Adult Day Center, was developed in Manoa at the Sisters of St. Francis Convent. This program, a dream of Sister Maureen Kelleher, allows adults and children to share songs and games.
2003: St. Francis Residential Care Community, Ewa Beach, was opened.
2005: Our Lady of Keaau was developed by Sister Beatrice Tom on 58 acres in Waianae as a spiritual retreat center. An ideal location for peace and serenity, it provides meals weekly for the homeless and maintains a Christian homeless tent community.
2012: Intergenerational Day Care, adult day care and preschool, Ewa Beach, was opened.
Under the direction of CEO Jerry Correa, St. Francis Healthcare System still has many Sisters of St. Francis involved throughout its many departments, supporting its mission and carrying out the legacy of St. Marianne Cope.
1927-2001
Sacred Hearts School (Lahaina, Maui)
The Sacred Hearts Fathers, on Maui since 1846, dedicated Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina on Sept. 8, 1858. In the 1870s, the four-classroom Sacred Hearts School was built and run by lay women until 1928, when the Sisters of St. Francis took over. In 1970, the school was destroyed by arsonists and the sisters rebuilt it with donations alone. After administering and teaching there for 75 years, the sisters left in 2001.
1931
St. Francis Convent (Honolulu)
The novitiate remained on Liliha Street until 1932 when it was relocated to 11 acres purchased in Manoa Valley for the novitiate, a home for retired and convalescent sisters and a secondary school for girls.
Construction of the new complex was financed mostly from money raised by the St. Francis Little Flower Circle. One donation of $1,284.43 came from the people of Kalaupapa who wanted a “home in Honolulu, which will stand as a monument commemorating the work of our beloved Mother Marianne and the Sisters of St. Francis.” Mother M. Bernadette and three remaining sisters from the “old days” moved into the new Mother Marianne Memorial complex on Dec. 24, 1931.
St. Francis Convent School for girls opened with 10 students. Four sisters graduated in its first class in 1933. Four lay women graduated the next year. Under the leadership of Sister Joan of Arc Souza, the school was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the Western Catholic Educational Association and the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools. The school began to accept boys in 2006. The current enrollment for preschool through grade 12 is more than 500 students.
St. Francis School opened a co-ed second campus on Kauai in July 1997 at the former Immaculate Conception School in Lihue. It was the island’s first Catholic high school. However, because of insufficient enrollment and financial difficulties, the school closed after four years.
1964-1997
Our Lady of Good Counsel School (Pearl City)
Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish School opened in September 1964 with four Sisters of St. Francis and about 160 students. Although the sisters left in 1997, the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi continues to guide the school today.
In 1984, Sister Florence Remata joined the sisters at the school convent and began 11 years as the parish director of catechetical ministry.
1976-1979; 2002
Our Lady of Perpetual Help School (Ewa Beach)
Our Lady of Perpetual Help School opened on Aug. 28, 1967, staffed by the Marist Sisters and later a lay faculty. The Sisters of St. Francis assumed leadership in 1976 with principal Sister Margaret Antone Milho who served for two years with two retired sisters in residence. The Augustinian Sisters of the Philippines ran the school from 1979 until 2002 when Franciscan Sister Davilyn Ah Chick became the principal, joined by an all lay faculty and staff.
1992-2011
St. Michael School (Waialua)
Franciscan Sister William Marie Eleniki was named principal of St. Michael School and director of its preschool in 1992. With the help of the parish and school communities, she started numerous programs and activities, strengthening the school’s educational efforts and resources. Sister Grace Michael Souza and Sister Joan Souza, the last of the Franciscans, left the school in 2011.
Individual ministries
Throughout the years, Sisters of St. Francis have served in individual ministries. St. Marianne Cope once said: “the charity of the good knows no creed and is confined to no one place.”
1994-1997
Molokai Catholic Community (Kaunakakai, Molokai)
Sister M. Jeanette Joaquin served the Catholic community on topside Molokai as pastoral minister until 1997.
1995-2013
Immaculate Conception Parish (Lihue, Kauai)
Sister Florence Remata returned to her home island in 1995 as director of catechetical ministry. Sister Laurenza Fernandez served as a parish nurse from 1996 to 1997. Sister Francis Cabrini Morishige and Sister Lina Pagdilao worked at St. Francis High School when it opened in Lihue in 1997. Sister Therese Chow came to Kauai in 2001 to serve as the parish receptionist. Sister Florence, after 17 years as the director of religious education and a pastoral associate, returned to Honolulu in 2013.
1991
Healthcare administrator
After developing a caregiver training program for Kapiolani Community College, Sister Alicia Damien Lau worked for the Ito Healthcare Group as the chief operating officer of three long-term care facilities, a case management agency and a home health/home care agency until 2012. She currently operates her own consulting agency, Damien Healthcare Consultants, and serves as a liaison for mission advancement for the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.
1995
College educator
Sister Marie Jose Romano teaches at Chaminade University of Honolulu. She also served there as a supervisor in the Student Teacher Program and worked as an office manager at St. Vincent DePaul Society. In addition, she taught at Leeward Community College from 1980 to 1992.
2013
Registered nurse
Sister Rose Marie Pelligra recently began serving as a registered nurse and nursing supervisor at the Kahili Palama Health Center-Downtown in Honolulu’s Chinatown. She cares for the pediatric population and in the women’s clinic for the homeless and those with no medical insurance.
