Office for Social Ministry
“At a time when little could be done for those suffering from this terrible disease, Marianne Cope showed the highest love, courage and enthusiasm. She is a shining energetic example of the spirit of her beloved Saint Francis.” (Pope Benedict XVI, canonization of St. Marianne Cope of Molokai; Oct. 21, 2012)
St. Marianne of Molokai lived her life as a prayer, giving thanks to God by encountering and imitating Christ through serving with the most vulnerable.
This month we celebrate the 12th anniversary of her canonization on Mission Sunday — Oct. 21, 2012. This was a special prayerful moment during that year’s synod on the “New Evangelization,” when more than 80,000 pilgrims from around the world — including nearly 300 from Hawaii — gathered in Rome to honor seven new missionary saints recognized for witnessing to Jesus by their love of God through action.
Known as the “mother to outcasts,” St. Marianne’s work reflected a quote popularly attributed to St. Francis: “Preach the Gospel at all times; use words if necessary.”
From her birth, St. Marianne lived the life and mission of a migrant. Born in Germany, she emigrated to the U.S. as a child and took on her family’s hardships, working in a factory to help her mother support the household when her father fell ill.
At age 24, she joined the Sisters of St. Francis, beginning a journey of inspiring leadership in multiple places as a teacher, principal, skilled nurse, hospital administrator and founder of orphan homes and shelters.
As mother superior of her religious congregation at age 45, she courageously responded to a request from Hawaii’s King Kalakaua, Queen Kapiolani and Prime Minister Walter Murray Gibson to provide care for patients of Hansen’s disease, then called leprosy.
Mother Marianne led six other St. Francis sisters from New York on an overseas journey, arriving in Honolulu to a royal welcome on Nov. 8, 1883. Within months, through the sisters’ selfless loving care with some of the most vulnerable in Hawaii, Mother Marianne soon took leadership of the Kakaako Branch Hospital for leprosy patients, established Maui’s first general hospital and co-founded the Kapiolani Home for orphan girls.
She and her sisters also oversaw St. Anthony School in Wailuku, Maui. These institutions became open to all people, regardless of race, color and creed.
Mother Marianne said, “The charity of the good knows no creed and is confined to no one place.” As a mana wahine, Mother Marianne witnessed to Jesus by leading with an unshakable belief that “nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything.”
In 1888, Mother Marianne and her sisters moved to Kalaupapa, Molokai, to assist people exiled with leprosy — helping to build homes for boys, women and girls, and providing health care, education, the arts and a healing sense of belonging.
When Father Damien was dying from the disease, she cared for him at his deathbed, vowing to continue the work he started. She made a bold promise to her sisters — that none of them would contract the disease — and 150 years later, none have.
As the Sisters of St. Francis often note, “The people of Kalaupapa helped make St. Marianne a saint,” reminding us that her legacy was shaped by the lives she touched. In helping others, she herself was uplifted, living her faith in action with an impact that endures today.
She worked without seeking accolades, as she 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.”
She lived by these words and in so doing, with the grace of God, she transformed systems of education and health care by lovingly serving and lifting up the dignity of the most vulnerable. She did so with humility and joy, believing that “we rejoice we are unworthy agents of our Heavenly Father through whom he designs to show his great love and mercy to the sufferers.”
St. Marianne’s legacy continues to thrive in Hawaii, New York and beyond through the dedicated work of the Sisters of St. Francis.
In education, their influence lives on in former and current students from Saint Francis School on Oahu, St. Anthony and Sacred Hearts schools on Maui, and St. Joseph School in Hilo.
St. Francis Healthcare System has also had a lasting impact through hospitals and hospices on Maui and Oahu, as well as extending care to vulnerable persons through Our Lady of Keaau in Leeward Oahu.
A statue of St. Marianne stands in Kewalo Basin today. Her outstretched hand pointing toward Molokai is a symbol of her unwavering love and service. Local families, houseless people, surfers and tourists alike share the park, connected by the aloha she left behind.
St. Marianne’s evangelizing embodied the famous prayer of St. Francis: “Lord, make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.”
Her legacy of loving service calls us to follow in her footsteps. St. Marianne, pray for us!
Mahalo,
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
(St. Marianne’s quotes in this column can be found in the book “A Walk with Saint Marianne Cope: Reflections and Inspirations from Her Life for Our Living” by Sister of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities Davilyn Ah Chick and Dominican Sister Malia Dominica Wong.)
