SAINT FEAST DAY 23 JANUARY: ST MARIANNE COPE

SAINT MARIANNE COPE, ABBESS

Saint Marianne Cope was born in 1838 in Heppenheim, Germany, the daughter of a farmer. Her parents had five children born in Germany and then five born in the United States of America, where the family emigrated in 1839 (to New York).

SHE BECAME A NATURALISED AMERICAN

St Marianne became a naturalised American and she wrote of experiencing a call to religious life at an early age. However, after completing her education she went to work in a factory in order to support her poor family after her father became an invalid. Only when her siblings became older did St Marianne feel free to enter the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse.

SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS

Her desire was to become a teacher and this she did, working in several schools in New York State. St Marianne also participated in the establishing of two hospitals in the New York area, one in Utica and the other in Syracuse.

In 1877 she was elected Mother General when she responded to a request from the Sandwich Islands to send sisters to care for the sick, particularly those suffering from leprosy. St Marianne went with the sisters to help them settle in but, being moved by the plight of the lepers, she decided to stay.

SHE STAYED WITH THE LEPERS

In 1884 St Marianne established Malulani Hospital on the island of Maui and then worked in the hospital at Kaka’aoko, Honolulu. She then opened a home for the children of parents with leprosy. When St Damian (the apostle to the lepers) was diagnosed with the dreaded disease, St Marianne gave him hospitality. In 1888 St Marianne agreed to take over the work with lepers on the island of Molokai.

Her treatment of the patients was way ahead of her time, encouraging them in their material and spiritual lives. St Marianne died in 1918 and was buried among the people she loved, the ‘Mother of Outcasts’.

LOVE, COURAGE AND ENTHUSIASM

In his homily at the Canonisation Mass, Pope Benedict said of St Marianne, ‘At a time when little could be done for those suffering from this terrible disease [leprosy] Marianne Cope showed the highest love, courage and enthusiasm. She is a shining and energetic example of the best of the tradition of Catholic nursing sisters and the spirit of her beloved St Francis.

Text from: Spiritual Thought from Fr Chris

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Marianne may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

WELCOME

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