Saint Marianne Cope

Woman religious, Comforter of the afflicted

 

Hanson’s disease, also known as “Leprosy” has afflicted humans for thousands of years. It is even mentioned in the in the bible.  For many years it was not known what caused the disease or how it was spread and so it was feared.   Those who suffered from the disease were shunned. In the middle ages, those with leprosy had to wear special clothing, ring a bell to warn others of their presence and to live in remote, isolated places away from the rest of society.  But there were people who saw beyond the stigma of a label and strove to help the sufferers.  One such compassionate person was Saint Marianne Cope. 

Mother Marianne, name Barbara was born in Germany in 1838. She was the oldest of nine children and her father was a farmer.  One year after she was born, her father moved his family to the United States to start a new life.  The family became naturalized citizens of their new country in the 1850s. 

Barbara heard God’s call to religious life at a young age. However, her father got sick and became an invalid.  Barbara quit school after the eighth grade and got a job in a factory to support her brothers and sisters.   Her father passed away in the summer of 1862. By that time her younger siblings were able to care for themselves.  One month after the death of her father, Barbara entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, N.Y.

After taking vows, Sister Marianne was assigned to teach and eventually served as the principal in several schools.  She also help administrative positions within her congregation.  She helped to establish two of the first hospitals in central New York. 

In 1883, Mother Marianne, now the f Superior General of the congregation, received a letter from Hawaii asking for sisters to help in caring for those with leprosy. More than 50 religious institutes had already declined his request for Sisters to do this. She responded to the letter enthusiastically. . "I am not afraid of any disease…" was her generous response.

Six sisters arrived in Honolulu on November 8, 1883, Mother Marianne among them.   There were many trials during those early years.  They established Malulani Hospital on the island of Maui.  Mother Marianne was given charge of the hospital in Oahu. In 1887 government officials decided to close the hospital in Oahu and enforce the policy of sending patients with Hanson’s disease to the settlement for exiles on the Kalaupapa peninsula on the island of Molokai.  But who help Father Damien to care for the sick on Molokai?  Father Damien had spent many years living and working on Molokia and eventually he contracted the disease. 

Mother Marianna arrived at the settlement on Molokia several months before Father Damien died. She assured him that she would provide care for the patients there.  She and two sisters of her community cared for the patients at the Boys Home at Kalawao in addition to caring for the female patients on the island.

Cope died on August 9, 1918, due to natural causes and was buried at the Bishop Home.  In 2005, Blessed Marianne's remains were moved to the mother house of the congregation in Syracuse, N.Y.  She was declared a saint by Pope Benedict the XVI in 2011.

For more information visit Sisters of St. Francis, Syracuse, New York.

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