Biography Of Mother Marianne Cope - continued
Mother to Outcasts
Mother Marianne herself again responded to the plea for help coming from the new Hawaiian government leadership in 1888. Her response would take her into a lifetime of exile together with those she served.
Because her presence was the necessary agent for the success of the mission, she then considered whether or not by her accepting the challenge she ever would be able to return home to see her beloved family and friends again. Again, she followed the path of sacrifice. It clearly was God’s will.
“We will cheerfully accept the work…� she courageously responded upon her reception of an official appeal from government authority asking for someone to found a new Home for leprous women and girls at the Kalaupapa settlement. “Our hearts are bleeding to see them shipped off,� she wrote to Damien at Molokai. Her role was clear to her in following God’s will regardless of her personal losses because as she explained in mail sent home to Syracuse, it had been her intent to set up a mission at Molokai from the beginning to give care to the exiled patients.
Arriving at Kalaupapa several months before Damien’s death with two youthful assistants, she was able to console the dying priest by assuring him she would provide care for the patients at the Boys' Home at Kalawao on the opposite end of the settlement. And, happily, two weeks after the death of the self-sacrificing priest on April 15, 1889, at a Board of Health meeting in Honolulu, it was she who was chosen officially by its officials to be Damien’s successor at the Boys’ Home. She then set about building up an entirely new Home, which was renamed in honor of Henry P. Baldwin, its chief benefactor. After the time of its completion, she suggested Brothers be invited and the very same day as their arrival in 1895, she withdrew the sisters working there under her supervision to work with her at the needy Bishop Home. “Brother� Joseph Dutton who once assisted Damien and who then later became her assistant was placed in charge of the Baldwin Home by the government.
Heroine of Molokai
The psychology of Mother Marianne in treatment of patients was known to be far ahead of her time. She never forgot the value of education and productively sponsored or advocated programs or classes in connection with hospitals in Syracuse, Honolulu and Kalaupapa, always featuring lessons which were chosen to suit the needs of the individuals to be served. At Kalaupapa, she incited an interest in color harmony, needlework, and landscaping. For spiritual direction, the pastor of St. Francis Church was invited to give instructions to the patients at the Home and non-Catholics were free to see their pastors.Â
The legacy of Mother Marianne continues its far-reaching effects in health care and education in Hawaii in many ways. The Franciscan Sisters run medical centers in Utica and Syracuse, the latter hospital owing a special note of gratitude to Mother Marianne. And, although the numbers of patients at Kalaupapa are few today, Franciscans still serve there although in a more limited role.
In 1927, the sisters had opened St. Francis Hospital in Honolulu, which today provides a wide-ranging health care system which extends to the other major islands in Hawaii. Franciscan Sisters work at several schools and minister to parishioners in the Islands. But what lives on most is the story of compassionate care brought to others by Mother Marianne in the spirit of Christ and His follower, Saint Francis, a comfort which is given to the body and soul of each individual encountered.  Â
At her death on August 9, 1918, of natural causes, Mother Marianne was extolled as “Heroine.� Robert Louis Stevenson, almost thirty years previously, in his visit to Kalaupapa had expressed his own appreciation of Mother Marianne and her sister-nurses. He wrote poignantly in verse of the inspirational effect on the viewer of finding “beauty springing from the breast of pain� in the comforting presence of devoted nurses:
“He marks the sisters on the painful shores.
And even a fool is silent and adores.�
Sainthood Cause
The Sisters of Saint Francis began collecting materials soon after Mother Marianne’s death for her eventual canonization. On Oct. 24, 2003, theologians at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared her heroically virtuous. On Apr. 19, 2004, Pope John Paul II issued the decree officially naming her Venerable. On Dec. 20, 2004, after receiving the unanimous affirmation of the Congregation, Pope John Paul II ordered a decree to be issued authenticating a miracle attributed to Mother Marianne’s intercession.
On May 14, 2005, Venerable Marianne Cope was beatified. Another verified miracle happening after her present status of Blessed would lead to her canonization.
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