Marianne Cope

          Barbara Koob was born in Germany in 1838 to Peter Koob and his wife Barbara Witzenbacher.  A year later, her family emigrated to the United States, making their home in Utica, New York.  Like many who have come to the United States, the family anglicized their last name, becoming the Cope family.  She and her family would become United States citizens in the 1850s.

         Barbara was the oldest child and grew up attending school at her parish of St. Joseph.  When Barbara was in the eighth grade, her father became ill and could no longer work.  So Barbara left school to find work in a factory to help support her family.  She did that for nine years, delaying her entry into the religious life that she had felt called to from an early age.  In 1862, at the age of 24, Barbara entered the novitiate of the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis in Syracuse, New York.  She chose the name Marianne when she made her religious vows.  

         Her early days as a religious sister were spent teaching in various schools in the area for German-speaking immigrants, and later as a principal.  But her vocation path would soon change as she became more involved in administrative activities.  She became part of the governing council of her religious order, and in that role, she helped establish two of the first general hospitals in the New York area.  These hospitals were founded with the goal of providing medical care to all, regardless of race, religion or economic status.  The sisters even transformed an old saloon into one of the first hospital buildings.  Marianne was appointed in 1870 as the head administrator of St. Joseph’s hospital in Syracuse.  She would serve in that role for the next six years.  She assisted with the establishment of the College of Medicine at Syracuse University, with her hospital becoming a teaching hospital open to the college’s students but on the unheard of novel condition that patients had a right to refuse care from student practitioners.

         Sister Marianne would become the Provisional Mother of her order in Syracuse.  In 1883. she received a letter from the King and Queen of Hawaii making a plea for help in caring for those with leprosy.  Previously, 50 other religious order had turned down King Kalakaua’s call for help.  Mother Marianne’s response was different:

         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 minster to the abandoned ‘lepers.’ 

Mother Cope Mother Cope and six of her sisters traveled by train and then by boat to Honolulu, arriving in Hawaii on November 8, 1883.  Initially, Mother Marianne and her sisters took over management of the Kaka’ako Branch Hospital on Oahu.  Next, in 1884, Cope established the first general hospital on Maui.  In 1885, she opened the Kapiolani Home (named after the Queen of Hawaii) on the hospital’s grounds, to provide shelter and care to homeless female children of leprosy patients.  In 1887, a new Hawaiian government ended the forced exile of leprosy patients to Molokai and asked the sisters to establish a home for women and girls in Kalaupapa in Molokai.  The sisters accepted.  Mother Marianne moved to Kalaupapa in November of 1888.  She cared for Father Damien (also featured on American Saints and Causes) in his last months before his death.  For women and girls, she established the Bishop Home, providing health and spiritual care.  Upon Father Damien’s death, Mother Marianne took charge also for the care of the boys of Kalaupapa until several Brothers of the Sacred Heart arrived in 1895.  During her time in Molokai, Mother Marianne also knew Joseph Dutton (another featured on American Saints and Causes).  Among other things, she helped Joseph Dutton become a Secular Third Order Franciscan.          

         Marianne Cope lived to the age of 80, dying of natural causes on August 9, 1918.  She spent 30 years serving the lepers in Molokai.  She never contracted leprosy.

         Marianne Cope was canonized on the same day - October 21, 2012 - as another saint featured on American Saints and Causes: Kateri Tekakwitha.

         Saint Marianne Cope is considered one of the patron saints of the Diocese of Honolulu, the State of Hawaii, and those suffering from leprosy and HIV/AIDS. She is entombed within the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. Pilgrims can also visit the Saint Marianne Cope Shrine and Museum operated by the Sisters of St. Francis and located in Syracuse, New York.  A first-class reliquary of Saint Marianne Cope is included in the Shrine and Museum.