Of the relatively small number of American Saints, Hawaii claims two, and both lived there for the same reason- to devote
their lives to those suffering from leprosy.
Fr. Damien was canonized in 2009, and is perhaps better known than the
valiant lady who replaced him after his death, Mother Marianne. She was canonized in 2012 (along with St.
Kateri Tekawitha). She is remarkable for
her bravery and charity in the face of this horrible disease and for her
medical contributions in the areas of sanitation and patients’ rights.
She was born in Germany in 1838,
but her family moved to the area of Syracuse, New York when she was only a year
old. Her father had become an invalid by
the time she was in eighth grade, so after completing her basic education, she
started working in a textile factory to help support her family, putting her
own life’s plans on hold. She continued
in this role until she was 24 years old.
By that time her father had passed away and her younger siblings were
old enough to hold their own jobs and earn money for the family. Mother Marianne was finally at liberty to
follow her religious vocation.
She became a Franciscan Sister, and
began her religious life as a teacher in a school for children of German
immigrants. Later, she moved up in the
ranks of her Order, and opened the first two Catholic hospitals in New York for
which she was the administrator. In both
of her hospitals, she introduced the policy of equal treatment regardless of
race or religion. She was also a pioneer
in the area of recognizing patients’ rights to refuse treatment. Soon she was elected by her Sisters as the
head of their Order in Syracuse.
Her story could have ended there,
but God had other plans. The King of
Hawaii sent letters to 50 religious congregations, asking for volunteers to
come and help those living on the leper colony of Molokai. It had been established in 1865 in an attempt
to prevent the transmission of this disease.
There were a few quarantined hospitals in other parts of the islands,
but serious cases were sent to an isolated peninsula on the island of
Molokai. At that time, the cause and
transmission of this disease were unknown, and its disfiguring results were so
terrifying that most people were too afraid of contracting the disease to have
any kind of contact with lepers, especially providing care for them. Mother Marianne’s reply was the only letter
the King received in response to his petitions, and it was an unhesitating
“Yes.”
Many of the Sisters of the Order
volunteered to accompany Mother Marianne, and she promised them that any who
came would not contract the disease. Six
Sisters were chosen for the mission and none of them became infected with the
disease. In addition, quite
miraculously, Mother Marianne’s promise held true for all of the Sisters who
came afterwards, until a cure was found and the disease was eradicated. The Sisters arrived in Hawaii in 1883, and
their first task was to establish hospitals in the area of Honolulu in order to
treat victims of leprosy whose cases were not yet severe. Mother Marianne instituted strict sanitation
policies in the hospitals to try to prevent the spread of the disease.
In addition to establishing
hospitals, Mother Marianne opened a home for healthy children whose parents
were victims of leprosy. Often times,
these children would have been abandoned, as people were so afraid of
contracting the disease they would not take care of them, even if the
children’s own relatives. This home was
located on the grounds of the hospital to allow the families to stay together
as much as possible.
Once the hospitals and children’s
home were functioning smoothly, it was time for Mother Marianne’s next
challenge. She and her Sisters went to
the island of Molokai, to the leper colony.
There she met St. Damien, who had been the island’s only missionary for
a number of years, living on the island, among the people, and finally
contracting the disease himself. During
the next nine months, she helped care for him until he passed away.
Fr. Damien had already established
a home for men and boys, and now Mother Marianne established a home for women
and girls. These homes were essential to
helping the victims of this disease maintain and sense of dignity and order in
what was otherwise a world of despair and debauchery. Mother Marianne understood that the
disfiguring effects of the disease were especially difficult for the women and
girls, and she and the Sisters made sure that they had beautiful, fashionable
dresses to wear, and colorful ribbons with which to adorn themselves. The Sisters would find pictures in magazines,
order material, and re-create the dresses for their patients.
They also continued Fr. Damien’s
efforts to give the lepers things to do with their time. They planted gardens and taught art and music
to those living on Molokai. They were
aided in this by Robert Lewis Stevenson, the American author. He suffered from tuberculosis, so he spent
some time in Hawaii for his health, and during that time, he visited Molokai,
and was greatly impressed by the Sisters, and held them in the highest respect. He donated a piano and croquet set for the
girls living in their home.
Mother Marianne remained with the
lepers of Molokai until her death in 1918.
It had been 35 years since she had left Syracuse. When she died, she left behind her hospitals
and charitable homes in Syracuse and Hawaii, which continued to function long
after her death. She also left us with
an example of a woman who was cheerful, determined, and unafraid to follow
Christ’s command of loving her neighbor.
Her charity toward those who suffered is inspiring, as was her life’s
philosophy:
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.
St. Marianne Cope, Mother of the
Outcasts, pray for us!
Bibliography:
St Marianne Cope: Beloved Mother of Outcasts, Documentary by
Salt and Light YouTube channel
Such a neat history! I love the Robert Louis Stevenson anecdote and also how the sisters helped the ladies beautify themselves! And of course, just the sheer bravery the nuns!
ReplyDeleteI just love how down-to-earth and "common sense" nuns can be. They see things so clearly because they don't have so much stuff cluttering their minds.
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