Written by Barb Spies, OFS, Director of Mission Services and Pastoral Care

When I was on pilgrimage in Assisi, I was able to visit two chapels where St. Francis in the 1200s served the lepers who had been forced to leave the city walls and fend for themselves in the valley outside the protection and care of the community. Fear and lack of medical knowledge has resulted in the quarantine of those with Hansen’s Disease throughout history. From 1883 to 1918, St. Marianne Cope served people with leprosy on Molokai in Hawaii. I learned about this saint while in Assisi, which made a modern connection to the actions of care in which St. Francis engaged. This week we celebrate the feast day of St. Marianne on Thursday, January 23.

St. Marianne was a Sister of St. Francis in Syracuse, New York, where she served at St. Joseph’s Hospital and as the provincial of her community. She received a letter from a priest in Hawaii requesting assistance from the Sisters. St. Marianne and six other Sisters answered the call. They brought their practices of cleanliness and care to the hospital in Honolulu. St. Marianne and two other Sisters then went to Molokai to serve those with leprosy directly.

Robert Louis Stevenson made a trip to Hawaii. While there he visited St. Marianne and observed the heroic charity she possessed while serving the leper colony there. Stevenson stayed for eight days, and before leaving, he wrote the following poem:

TO MOTHER MARYANNE

To see the infinite pity of this place,
The mangled limb, the devastated face,
The innocent sufferer smiling at the rod—
A fool were tempted to deny his God.
He sees, he shrinks. But if he gaze again,
Lo, beauty springing from the breast of pain!
He marks the sisters on the mournful shores;
And even a fool is silent and adores.

St. Marianne worked to make those suffering from leprosy comfortable and to know the care and love of God. She also made their world a more beautiful place, planting flowers around the hospital. These children of God deserved love, comfort, and beauty. She provided that.

Blessed Angela: “God is close to those who call upon Him.”