Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu
Women wearing the Franciscan habits of a century ago reenact the arrival of Mother Marianne Cope and six companion Franciscan Sisters before a Mass commemorating the 135th anniversary of that event in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. Mother Marianne was the superior of her order in Syracuse, New York, in 1883 when she answered a request from the Hawaiian government for religious nursing sisters to care for leprosy patients. She and six sisters arrived in Hawaii on Nov. 8, 1883. The other sisters were Sister M. Bonaventure Caraher, Sister Crescentia Eilers, Sister Ludovica Gibbons, Sister Renata Nash, Sister M. Rosalia McLaughlin and Sister Mary Antonella Murphy. Their first stop was at the Honolulu cathedral. Mother Marianne served the rest of her life in Hawaii, dying in Kalaupapa in 1918. The Franciscan Sisters have since prospered in the islands in the areas of health care and education. Pope Benedict XVI canonized St. Marianne in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 21, 2012. Bishop Larry Silva celebrated the anniversary Mass. (HCH photo | Dann Ebina)