Blessed Marianne Cope
![[Blessed Marianne Cope]](saintmc4.jpg "23kb jpg photograph of Blessed Marianne Cope, date unknown, photographer unknown; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
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Barbara Koob;
Maria Anna Barbara Cope;
Mother Marianne
- Memorial
- 9 August
- Profile
- Born to a poor working class family, one of eight children.
Came to the United States when her parents emigrated in 1840, and she grew up in the Utica, New York area.
Left school after the eight grade to work in a factory for nine years and help raise her younger siblings.
Joined the Sisters of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York in 1862, taking the name Sister Marianne, and making her vows in 1863.
Teacher.
Superior of a convent.
Member of the council that governed her community.
Supervisor of Saint Joseph's Hospital in 1870; it was the only hospital in Syracuse, and cared for the sick regardless of race or religion, a rarity in the day.
Directress of novices.
Provincial Superior of her community in 1877.
In November 1883 she and six of her sister Franciscans went to Honolulu, Hawaii to care for lepers.
Mother Marianne had planned to stay a few weeks, help establish the facilities, and then return to Syracuse; she spent 35 years there and only returned when her remains were moved in 2005 as part of her beatification preparations.
They completely revamped the conditions of the patients, vastly improving their housing and care.
In 1885 she founded a home for the daughters of patients who lived in the colony.
In November 1888 she and two sisters founded a home and school for girls on Molokai.
In 1895 she took over the boy's home that had been founded by Blessed Damien de Veuster.
In her later years she was confined to a wheelchair due to chronic kidney disease.
- Born
- 23 January 1838 in Heppenheim, grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany as Barbara Koob
- Died
- 9 August 1918 at Kalaupapa, Maui County, Hawaii, United States of a heart attack
- Venerated
- 19 April 2004 by Pope John Paul II
- Beatified
- 14 May 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI;
recognition celebrated by Cardinal Saraiva Martins at Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
- Canonized
- pending;
if you have information relevant to the canonization of Blessed Marianne, contact:
Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, O.S.F.
Cause of Mother Marianne
1024 Court Street
Syracuse, New York, 13208
- Prayers
- Lord Jesus, You gave us Your commandment of love of God and of neighbor, and identified Yourself in a special way with the most needy of Your brethren; hear our prayer.
Faithful to Your teaching, Mother Marianne Cope loved and seved her neighbor, especially the most desolate outcast, giving herself generously and heroically for the victims of leprosy.
She alleviated their physical and spiritual sufferings, thus helping them to accept their afflictions with resignation, as a pledge of God's love and their eternal happiness.
Through her merits and intercession, grant us the favor which we confidently ask of You (mention request) so that she may be raised to the altars of the Church, and that the People of God, following the inspiration of her life and apostolate, may practice fraternal charity, accordiing to Your word and example.
Amen.
say one Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be
- prayer for the beatification of the Servant of God, Mother Marianne Cope;
for private devotion only;
imprimatur+ John J. Scanlan, Bishop of Honolulu
- Additional Information
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Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Catholic Heritage Curricula, by Sister Elizabeth Ann, SJW
Find a Grave
National Park Service
Vatican
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