St. Marianne Cope
By Sister Marie Jose Romano, OSF
Special to the Herald
This is the time to remember, to celebrate, and to give thanks for all Mother Marianne and the Sisters of St. Francis have done for the people of Hawaii. Nov. 8 marks the 140th anniversary of their arrival here in 1883, which we will celebrate with a Mass at 6 p.m. presided over by Bishop Larry Silva in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. All are welcome.
Mother Marianne and six of her sisters had willingly and heroically answered the plea of King Kalakaua and Hawaii’s officials to care for people afflicted with Hansen’s disease (leprosy). They first worked at the Government Branch Hospital in Kakaako and the Kalihi Receiving Station in environments that were overcrowded, vermin infected, and filled with the stench of rotting flesh. Conditions changed when the sisters got there.
In January 1884, Mother Marianne was asked to open and take charge of the Malulani Hospital at Wailuku, Maui. On Nov. 9, 1885, Kapiolani Home for Girls was opened for the children of those with leprosy quarantined on Molokai. These healthy children needed to be separated from the disease of their parents. A grateful King Kalakaua composed a special hymn in honor of the sisters and bestowed on Mother Marianne the pendant cross of the Royal Order of Kapiolani for her acts of benevolence to the suffering people of Hawaii.
Nov. 14 is the 135th anniversary of Mother Marianne and the sisters’ arrival in Kalaupapa, Molokai. It took five years before the sisters received the necessary permission to go to Kalaupapa, where more than a thousand people with Hansen’s disease were exiled. On Nov. 14, 1888, Mother Marianne, Sister Vincent McCormick, and Sister Leopoldina Burns arrived in Kalaupapa to work with the women and girl residents. Although they were told that conditions there were too difficult to be endured by women, they nevertheless took on the work with unwavering faith and courage. At Kalaupapa, dignity and beauty were restored, dresses were sewn in the latest fashions, and flower gardens and fruit trees were planted. To what was once a desolate, forsaken place, the sisters brought hope and the joy of God’s love.
In 1889, Father Damien de Veuster died from Hansen’s disease. Mother Marianne was asked to succeed him in running the home for boys at Kalawao and built Baldwin Home for boys in 1893. Mother Marianne never returned to Syracuse and spent the last 30 years of her life in Kalaupapa. She died in 1918 and was buried there. Following Mother Marianne’s protocols of cleanliness and hand washing, no sister who served in Kalaupapa ever contracted the disease.
On Jan. 24, 2005, Mother Marianne’s remains were transferred to her motherhouse in Syracuse, N.Y. She was declared Blessed Marianne Cope on May 14, 2005. Her feast day is Jan. 23. Pope Benedict XVI canonized St. Marianne on Oct. 21, 2012. St. Marianne’s remains were returned to Hawaii in 2014 for permanent enshrinement in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.
This time we remember, we celebrate, and we give thanks to all who, in their own way, make this tribute to Mother Marianne possible. A special thanks is extended to our Bishop Silva, who unceasingly does all he can to promote awareness of Hawaii’s two saints; Eva Andrade, who gives her time and dramatic talent portraying our Mother Marianne all these years; the Hawaiian Societies, both men and women; the Knights of Columbus, and all who have contributed in any way.
This year, we are blessed to have a special tribute by this year’s Miss Aloha Hula, Agnes Brown, who will dance to “O Makalapua,” Mother Marianne’s favorite song. Mahalo to all and God’s blessing!
