Feast day: January 23
Saint Marianne Cope was born in Germany and was given the name of her mother, Barbara. The family emigrated to the United States when she was a young child and settled in Utica, New York. When her father became too ill to work, Barbara went to work in a factory to provide for her family.
When her father passed away and her siblings became old enough to look after the family, Barbara entered into religious life, joining the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York. She was given the name Marianne. She was appointed superior general of her congregation in 1883 and was then given the title “Mother.” Soon after her appointment, she received a plea from the Hawaiian government, looking for people to help those on the islands suffering from leprosy.
Mother Marianne responded to the desperate plea and traveled to Hawaii with six of her sisters to manage the Kakaako Branch Hospital near Honolulu. The sisters also established Malulani Hospital and a school for girls on the island of Maui. Mother Marianne and her companions also served on Molokai, where they founded a home for vulnerable women and took on leadership of the home that Saint Damien de Veuster had opened for men. In fact, Mother Marianne cared for Saint Damien in the months before he died.
Even though she was constantly exposed to the disease, Mother Marianne never contracted leprosy herself. Saint Marianne’s community, the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis (since 2004, part of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities) still serves in various ministries in the Hawaiian Islands.
(Image in public domain.)