Saint Marianne Cope
Religious, Virgin
“Mother of Outcasts”
(1838 – 1918)

Saint’s Life Story

Her Early Life

Barbara Koob was born on January 23, 1838 in Heppenheim, Grand Duchy of Hesse (western Germany). She was one of 10 children born to Peter and Barbara. The year after Barbara’s birth, the family moved to the United States, settling in the industrial city of Utica, New York.

Her family became members of the Parish of St. Joseph, where Barbara attended parish school. She received her First Holy Communion and Confirmation at the historic Old St. Johns Church in Utica, New York.

Delayed Start to Her Religious Life

Although Barbara felt called to Religious life at an early age, her vocation was delayed for nine years because of family obligations. By the time she was in eighth grade, her father had developed a disability. As the oldest child, Barbara left school to work in a textile factory to support her family. The family became naturalized as American citizens in the 1850s.

Sister Marianne

By the time her father died in 1862, the younger children in the family were of age to support themselves, so Barbara pursued her long-felt religious calling. So, at the age of 24, Barbara entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, N.Y. On November 19, 1862, she received the religious habit and the name “Sister Marianne”. The following year, Marianne made her religious profession. Then, she began serving as a teacher and principal in several newly established elementary schools in New York State for the region’s German-speaking immigrants.

God Had Other Plans

As a member of the governing boards of her Religious Community in the 1860s, she participated in the establishment of two of the first Catholic hospitals in the central New York area. They provided care to all regardless of race or wealth.

In 1870, she began a new ministry as a nurse-administrator at St Joseph’s in Syracuse, N.Y., where she served as head administrator for six years. During this time she put her gifts of intelligence and people skills to good use as a facilitator, demonstrating the energy of a woman motivated by God alone. Although Mother Marianne was often criticized for accepting for treatment “outcast” patients such as alcoholics, she became well-known and loved in the central New York area for her kindness, wisdom and down-to-earth practicality.

Serve Lepers in Hawaiian Islands

By 1883, at the age of 50, Marianne had become the Superior General of her congregation. That year, she received a letter from a Father Leonor Fouesnel, emissary of the Hawaiian government. He asked for help in managing hospitals and schools in the Hawaiian Islands, and mainly to work with leprosy patients. King Kalakaua also sent a letter himself asking for aid in treating those isolated on the island of Molokai, as he had been declined by 50 other religious institutes.

The letter touched Mother Marianne’s heart and she enthusiastically responded: “I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen ones, whose privilege it will be to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders…. I am not afraid of any disease, hence, it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned “lepers'”.

A Mother to the Lepers

In November 1883, Marianne and six other Sisters of St Francis arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii. As supervisor, Mother Marianne’s main task was to manage the Kaka’ako Branch Hospital on Oahu, which served as a receiving station for patients with Hansen’s disease gathered from all over the islands.

The Sisters quickly set to work cleaning the hospital and tending to its 200 patients. By 1885, they had made major improvements to the living conditions and treatment of the patients.

In November of that year, they also founded the Kapi’olani Home inside the hospital compound, established to care for the healthy daughters of Hansen’s disease patients at Kaka’ako and Kalawao. The unusual decision to open a home for healthy children on leprosy hospital premises was made because only the Sisters would care for those so closely related to people with the dreaded disease.

Joins Up Saint Damien of Molokai

In January 1884, Mother Marianne met Father Damien de Veuster (today Saint Damien of Molokai who is known as the “Apostle to Lepers”) for the first time, when he was in apparent good health. Two years later, in 1886, after he had been diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, Mother Marianne alone gave hospitality to the outcast priest upon hearing that his illness made him an unwelcome visitor to Church and Government leaders in Honolulu.

In 1887, when a new Government took charge in Hawaii, its officials decided to close the Oahu Hospital and receiving station and to reinforce the former alienation policy. The unanswered question: Who would care for the sick, who once again would be sent to a settlement for exiles on the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the island of Molokai?

In 1888, Mother Marianne again responded to the plea for help and said: “We will cheerfully accept the work…”. She arrived in Kalaupapa several months before Fr Damien’s death together with Sister Leopoldina Burns and Sister Vincentia McCormick, and was able to console the ailing priest by assuring him that she would provide care for the patients at the Boys’ Home at Kalawao that he had founded.

Ran Bishops Home

Together, the three Sisters ran the Bishop Home for 103 Girls and the Home for Boys. The workload was extreme and the burden at times seemed overwhelming.

In moments of despair, Sister Leopoldina reflected: “How long, O Lord, must I see only those who are sick and covered with leprosy?”

Mother Marianne stated “My heart bled for the children and I was anxious and hungry to help put a little more sunshine into their dreary lives.”

Mother Marianne’s invaluable example of never-failing optimism, serenity and trust in God inspired hope in those around her and allayed the Sisters’ fear of catching leprosy. She taught her Sisters that their primary duty was “to make life as pleasant and as comfortable as possible for those of our fellow creatures whom God has chosen to afflict with this terrible disease…”.

Her Death

On August 9, 1918, Mother Marianne died in Kalaupapa, Hawaii, USA of natural causes and was buried on the grounds of Bishop Home. In 2005, her remains were brought to Syracuse for reinterment at her motherhouse. In 2014, her remains were returned to Honolulu and are enshrined at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. Saint Marianne Cope was the first Franciscan woman from North America to be canonized.

Born:                  January 23, 1838 in Heppenheim, Germany

Died:                  August 9, 1918 age 80 in Kalaupapa, Hawaii, USA

Beatified:          May 14, 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI

Canonized:       October 21, 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI

Feast Day:         January 23

Patron Saint:    Hawaii, USA; Leprosy Patients; Outcasts; People Suffering from HIV/AIDS

Source:

• • CatholicSaints.Info » Saint Marianne Cope
  • Saint Marianne Cope – Saint for a Minute: Saints & Blesseds
  • Biography – Marianne Cope (1838-1918) – Vatican
  • Marianne Cope – Wikipedia

Prayers

Video Link

Saint of the Week: St. Marianne Cope – YouTube (The True Enlightenment!)