January 23 is the feast of St. Marianne Cope (1838-1918), a Sister of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, who was canonized on October 21, 2012. She is the first Franciscan woman from North America to be canonized, and only the 11th American saint. St. Marianne Cope is the patroness of lepers, outcasts, those with HIV/AIDS, and Hawaii.
Marianne was one of ten children born to a German farm family who immigrated to upstate New York. She entered the Sisters of St. Francis at the age of twenty-four and the following year made her religious profession. She served as a teacher and principal in several elementary schools in New York State, a task which she had intended to do for the rest of her life, but God had other plans, At the age of 32, 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.
In 1877, she was elected Mother Provincal, when she received a request from the Sandwich Islands to send sisters to care for the sick. At the age of forty-six, Mother Marianne Cope traveled to Hawaii with six other Franciscan Sisters, to serve those suffering from leprosy. Their immediate task was to manage the Kakaako Receiving Station outside Honolulu and they made major improvements to the living conditions and treatment of the patients there. They also opened a hospital and a school for girls. Mother Marianne ran the Bishop Home, and until 1895, managed the Home for Boys at Kalawao, founded by Father Damien for boys and young men.
A woman of great charity, compassion, and courage, this beloved mother of outcasts, devoted 35 years to caring for those afflicted with Hansen’s disease on Kalaupapa, Molokai, Hawaii.
She died in 1918 at the age of 80 and was buried on the grounds of Bishop Home. Her remains were returned to Syracuse in 2005.
Mother Marianne Cope’s faith, compassion, self-sacrifice, devotion, courage and service, as a Sister of St. Francis led her to canonization by the Vatican in 2012.
St. Marianne Cope Quotes
“The charity of the good knows no creed and is confined to no one place.”
“I do not think of reward. I am working for God and do so cheerfully.”
” 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.”
” I…ask our dear Lord to give you the necessary grace to work out your salvation in deep humility and sweet gentle patience.”
“I think life is all too short to spend any part of it in worry and anxiety.
“I do not expect a high place in heaven. I shall be thankful for a little corner where I may love God for all eternity.”
“Let us make best use of the fleeting moments. They will not return.”
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