St. Marianne Cope

January 23rd, we celebrate the feast of St. Marianne Cope, (1838-1918), also known as Saint Marianne of Molokai, religious, missionary to leprosy patients, who ministered to the forgotten and downtrodden lepers of Hawai’i for over 30 years of her life.

Born into a poor family of eight children in Germany, Marianne emigrated to the United States at a young age, growing up in upstate New York. While she was called at a very early age to serve the Lord, Marianne delayed entering the convent in Syracuse for nine years, working in a factory to help support her family after her father fell ill.

In 1862, she entered the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, New York, receiving the religious name Marianne and she made her vows. Her intention was to teach, but the Lord had other plans for her.

After a series of teaching positions that eventually led to mostly administrative positions, Marianne found herself working in healthcare. She successfully served as administrator of several small clinics and hospitals, and became known for treating patients who most facilities turned away. She looked with kindness on the “outcasts” of society, including alcoholics and drug users, and others the world had written off.

As news of her caring heart and practical mind (despite never attending school past the eighth grade) spread, she received a life-changing offer from a Catholic priest in Moloka’i, Hawai’i. He asked Marianne for help running a small community for lepers.

Marianne and six sisters from her order traveled to Hawai’i, where she would spend the next thirty years tirelessly working to aid those in need. In 1888, Mother Marianne moved to Kalaupapa, a leper isolation community established by Hawaiian King Kamehaha V, and ministered to by Blessed Father Damien.

She undertook administration of that colony upon his death, working to “bring joy” into the lives of the ill. She miraculously remained healthy throughout her service, known for unflinching courage, and a cheerful disposition.

Mother Marianne changed life on Molokai by introducing cleanliness, pride, and fun to the colony. Bright scarves and pretty dresses for the women were part of her approach.

Awarded the Royal Order of Kapiolani by the Hawaiian government and celebrated in a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, Mother Marianne continued her work faithfully. Her sisters have attracted vocations among the Hawaiian people and still work on Molokai. Mother Marianne died on August 9, 1918 and was beatified in 2005 and canonized seven years later in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Prayer

O God, who called us to serve your Son in the least of our brothers and sisters, grant, we pray, that by the example and intercession of the Virgin Saint Marianne Cope, we may burn with love for you and for those who suffer.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Marianne Cope, pray for us.

Termed the “heroine” nun , a saint for outcasts and lepers in Molokai, St. Marianne Cope emulated Saint Francis’ heroic example of personally caring for those outcasts of all outcasts—lepers.

She could have developed her abundant talents in many directions and used them for many purposes, but she re-directed what God loaned her to serve and honor Him, His Church, and mankind

In 1883, Mother Marianne’s community was the only one of fifty to respond positively to an emissary from Hawaii who requested Catholic sisters to provide health care on the Hawaiian Islands, especially to those with leprosy.

Over the next five years, St. Marianne set up a system of long-term education and care for her patients. She ministered to patients at Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai. Her time of service overlapped with the last years of St. Damien of Molokai, a priest who served victims of Hansen’s disease and himself died of leprosy.

Mother Marianne changed life on Molokai by introducing cleanliness, pride, and fun to the colony. St. Marianne promised her sisters that none of them would ever contract the disease. To this day, no sister has. Her care earned her the affectionate title “beloved mother of the outcasts.”

An 80-year-old Cope died on Molokai on Aug. 9, 1918, originally buried on the island.

“At a time when little could be done for those suffering from this terrible disease, Marianne Cope showed the highest love, courage and enthusiasm,” Pope Benedict XVI said in his homily during the Mass for her canonization. “She is a shining and energetic example of the best of the tradition of Catholic nursing sisters and of the spirit of her beloved Saint Francis.”