TODAY’S SAINT: MARIANNE COPE, A SAINT FOR VICTIMS OF LEPROSY – POPE: NEVER FORGET OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WITH HANSEN’S DISEASE

TODAY’S SAINT: MARIANNE COPE, A SAINT FOR VICTIMS OF LEPROSY

(Franciscanmedia.com) – Though leprosy scared off most people in 19th-century Hawaii, that disease sparked great generosity in the woman who came to be known as Mother Marianne of Molokai. Her courage helped tremendously to improve the lives of its victims in Hawaii, a territory annexed to the United States during her lifetime (1898).

Mother Marianne’s generosity and courage were celebrated at her May 14, 2005, beatification in Rome. She was a woman who spoke “the language of truth and love” to the world, said Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the of Saints. Cardinal Martins, who presided at the beatification Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, called her life “a wonderful work of divine grace.” Speaking of her special love for persons suffering from leprosy, he said, “She saw in them the suffering face of Jesus. Like the Good Samaritan, she became their mother.”

Just a few of the photos I took on an early visit to the peninsula of Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka’i. It was here that victims of leprosy were exiled to live (and there are still a few living here today). The heroes of Kalaupapa became saints – Damien and Marianne – and a third one, Joseph Dutton, has had his cause for canonization opened. Damien died of leprosy in 1889.

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On January 23, 1838, a daughter was born to Peter and Barbara Cope of Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany. The girl was named after her mother. Two years later the Cope family emigrated to the United States and settled in Utica, New York. Young Barbara worked in a factory until August 1862, when she went to the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York. After profession in November of the next year, she began teaching at Assumption parish school.

Marianne held the post of superior in several places and was twice the novice mistress of her congregation. A natural leader, three different times she was superior of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse, where she learned much that would be useful during her years in Hawaii.

Elected provincial in 1877, Mother Marianne was unanimously re-elected in 1881. Two years later the Hawaiian government was searching for someone to run the Kakaako Receiving Station for people suspected of having leprosy. More than 50 religious communities in the United States and Canada were asked. When the request was put to the Syracuse sisters, 35 of them volunteered immediately. On October 22, 1883, Mother Marianne and six other sisters left for Hawaii where they took charge of the Kakaako Receiving Station outside Honolulu; on the island of Maui they also opened a hospital and a school for girls.

In 1888, Mother Marianne and two sisters went to Molokai to open a home for “unprotected women and girls” there. The Hawaiian government was quite hesitant to send women for this difficult assignment; they need not have worried about Mother Marianne! On Molokai she took charge of the home that Saint Damien de Veuster had established for men and boys. Mother Marianne changed life on Molokai by introducing cleanliness, pride, and fun to the colony. Bright scarves and pretty dresses for the women were part of her approach.

Awarded the Royal Order of Kapiolani by the Hawaiian government and celebrated in a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, Mother Marianne continued her work faithfully. Her sisters have attracted vocations among the Hawaiian people and still work on Molokai.

Mother Marianne died on August 9, 1918, was beatified in 2005, and canonized in 2012.

Reflection

The government authorities were reluctant to allow Mother Marianne to be a mother on Molokai. Thirty years of dedication proved their fears unfounded. God grants gifts regardless of human shortsightedness and allows those gifts to flower for the sake of the kingdom.

POPE: NEVER FORGET OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WITH HANSEN’S DISEASE

In a message to participants in a seminar on Hansen’s disease (or ‘leprosy’) and other neglected tropical diseases, Pope Francis says we must ask ourselves, “Will we bend down to touch and heal the wounds of others?”

By Christopher Wells

“We must not forget these brothers and sisters of ours” who are afflicted by Hansen’s disease.

Pope Francis offered that invitation in a message to an international symposium focusing on serving those afflicted by leprosy and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

The two-day “Leave No One Behind” symposium is underway in Rome (January 23-24) and is sponsored by the French Raoul Follereau Foundation, Italy’s Amici di Raoul Follereau (“Friends of Raoul Follereau”), and the Sasakawa Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) Initiative, in collaboration with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The symposium is focused on achieving the goal of “zero leprosy” in the world and establishing societies where no one is left behind due to Hansen’s Disease and other NTDs.

Will we bend down to help others?

In his message Monday, Pope Francis noted that, “the stigma attached to leprosy continues to cause serious human rights violations in various parts of the world.” He insists that we must not ignore a disease that still affects hundreds of thousands of people around the world, especially “in more deprived social contexts.”

Basing his appeal on “the human family’s vocation to fraternity,” Pope Francis calls on everyone to ask, “Will we bend down to heal the wounds of others? Will we stoop to carry one another on our shoulders?” “This is the present challenge, of which we should not be afraid.”

Building an inclusive society

Pope Francis then goes further, urging people to “seize the occasion of World Leprosy Day [the last Sunday in January] to review our models of development and to seek to correct the discrimination they cause.” He added, “This is a propitious occasion to renew our commitment to building an inclusive society that leaves no one on the margins.”

Returning to the specific question of Hansen’s disease, the Pope said we must ask ourselves “how best to work with people with leprosy, treating them fully as persons and recognizing them as the main players in their struggle to participate in basic human rights and live as full members of the community.”

“I hope that this conference will help gather voices from around the world and discuss measures that can be taken to further promote respect for human dignity.”

Pope Francis expressed his sympathy for those suffering from Hansen’s disease, and encouraged them in their efforts to secure spiritual support and medical care. At the same time, he invited Christian communities to allow themselves to be evangelized “by these brothers and sisters” and to be at the forefront of efforts aimed at promoting their full integration into society.

 

POPE FRANCIS: NURSES ARE THE GUARDIANS OF LIFE

Today is International Nurses’ Day and Pope Francis today prayed especially for nurses during his daily Mass at Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday morning, noting at the start of Mass that nursing is more than just a profession, it is a vocation. Especially in this time of pandemic, nursing is marked by heroism – even to the point of giving one’s life. He has had daily special intentions at Mass throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Calling nurses “among the saints next door,” he also had a special written message is a number of languages for this special day that also marks the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing who was born in Italy on this day in 1820. (Vatican news summary below): https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-05/full-text-of-pope-message-for-international-nurses-day.html

One biography notes: “Known as the ‘Lady with the Lamp,’ Florence Nightingale provided care and comfort for British soldiers during the Crimean War. She helped revolutionize medicine with her no-nonsense approach to hygiene, sanitation and patient care and turned nursing into a valued profession.”

One of my favorite people, St. Marianne Cope distinguished herself in her care for victims of Hansen’s disease or leprosy in Hawaii by her radical (at the time) hygiene and sanitation policies. A Franciscan nun, Mother Marianne and her sisters started two hospitals in Syracuse, New York.

In 1883, Marianne and six of her sisters answered a invitation by Hawaii’s king to come to the islands to minister to the lepers who lived there, They were in Honolulu until 1888 when they went to care for the lepers who lived in exile on the peninsula of Kalaupapa on the island of Molok’ai. They brought all of their nursing skills to the island to assist Fr. Damien de Veuster (St. Damien) who had been there since 1873 and who would die in 1889. Mother Marianne promised her sisters that, if they adhered to their strict, successful sanitation practices, none of them would ever contract leprosy.

ST. MARIANNE

ST. DAMIEN

To this day the sisters still serve on Kalaupapa and none have ever contracted leprosy.

St. Damien’s feast day was Sunday, May 10.

In coronavirus news:

(ANSA) – Rome, May 12 – Premier Giuseppe Conte’s government has agreed to demands from Italy’s regions for an acceleration of phase two of the coronavirus emergency. As a result, regional governments will be able to give the OK for bars, restaurants, hairdressers, barbers and beauty parlours to open from Monday, May 18.

According to the government’s previous plan, these businesses were not to be allowed to open until June 1.    But now it will be possible for them to open on Monday when Italy’s other shops are set to reopen too. he central government, however, will be able to intervene if there is a new upswing in COVID-19 contagions.

I read the requirements for restaurants to open: reservations highly suggested, meals could be served in turns like they have on cruise ships, absurd social distancing, no menus (menu must be on a bulletin board or a throwaway piece of paper or digital, such as an iPad that can be sanitized), the wearing of masks at all times except when eating (seems like you wear them when you are conversing, not eating), if there is a small group that wants to dine together, there must be proof they are all related!!! I hope I’m wrong on the last rule! Sounds like good friends or colleagues cannot dine together!

The restaurant unions (and surely restaurant owners!) are up in arms, noting that the distancing requirements (each customer should have free spacing of 3 feet in front, in back and at each side!) mean that businesses will lose about 60 or 70% of their clients. At that point, why stay open? Sounds like a prison with food to me!

POPE FRANCIS: NURSES ARE THE GUARDIANS OF LIFE

Pope Francis celebrates International Nurses Day on 12 May, noting that through the tragedy of coronavirus we have rediscovered their fundamental role, one that makes them “the guardians of life”.

By Francesca Merlo

Pope Francis opened his Message for International Nurses Day by noting that due to the global health emergency in which we find ourselves, “we have rediscovered the fundamental importance of the role being played by nurses and midwives.”

Those who put others first
He said each day, as we face this critical time, we witness the courage and sacrifices made by healthcare workers and by “nurses in particular.” They dedicate themselves “to the point of putting their own health at risk,” he said, adding that, sadly, this has been demonstrated through the high number of healthcare workers who have died “as a result of the coronavirus.

“I pray for them,” said the Pope, “and for all the victims of this epidemic”. “The Lord knows each of them by name”.

Guardians of life
“Nurses have historically played a central role in health care”, said the Pope. He noted that this year, on this exact day, we face the bicentennial of the birth of Florence Nightingale, “the pioneer of modern nursing.” He described nurses as “guardians and preservers of life” who never cease to offer “courage, hope and trust” as they administer necessary treatment.

Dear nurses
“Dear nurses”, said Pope Francis, “moral responsibility is the hallmark of your professional service”. Nurses are tasked with “continuous listening”, as they take care of women and men, children and the elderly, “in every phase of their life, from birth to death”, said the Pope. Before each unique situation, nurses do not only follow a protocol, but a constant effort of “discernment and attention”.

Carrying out the mission of Jesus
Nurses are amongst the saints next door, said the Pope. “You are an image of the Church as a ‘field hospital’ that continues to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ, who drew near to and healed people with all kinds of sickness and who stooped down to wash the feet of his disciples. Thank you for your service to humanity”, he added.

Healthcare provisions
Addressing leaders of nations throughout the world, Pope Francis noted that in many countries the pandemic has also brought to light a number of “deficiencies” in the provision of healthcare. He asked that leaders “invest in healthcare as the primary common good by strengthening its systems and employing greater numbers of nurses, so as to ensure adequate care to everyone, with respect for the dignity of each person”.

He expressed the importance of enhancing nurses and midwives’ professionalism and involvement with the suitable “scientific, human, psychological and spiritual tools” necessary for their training, “so that they can carry out their service in full dignity”.

The role of the associations
The Pope noted that in this regard, associations of healthcare workers play an important role. “In addition to offering comprehensive training, they support their individual members, making them feel part of a larger body, never dismayed and alone as they face the ethical, economic and human challenges that their profession entails”

A special word to midwives
Addressing a “special word” to midwives, Pope Francis noted that their work is amongst the most notable professions, “for it is directly dedicated to the service of life and of motherhood”. Today, too, he added, “the Holy Father looks at you with gratitude”.

Finally, Pope Francis assured all nurses and midwives of his prayers for them, their families, and all those for whom they care. Imparting his Apostolic Blessing to each of them he concluded, saying, “may this annual celebration highlight the dignity of your work for the benefit of the health of society as a whole”.

POPE TO DAVOS FORUM: HUMAN PERSONS, THEIR RIGHTS AND DIGNITY MUST BE AT CENTER OF ECONOMICS

Today is the feast day of Hawaii’s own St. Marianne Cope, also know as Saint Marianne of Moloka’i, for her decades spent in Hawaii – 30 years alone on Kalaupapa, Moloka’i with the victims of Hansen’s disease or leprosy. Marianne was born on January 23, 1838 and died August 9, 1918. She arrived in Hawaii in 1883 and began her mission on Moloka’i in 1888.

Her first grave on Kalaupapa –

A mosaic on a gatepost on Kalaupapa –

A statue in a Honolulu park-

An image in Our Lady of Peace cathedral –

Thus, 2018 marks 3 significant dates for St. Marianne: the 100th anniversary of her death, the 130th anniversary of her arrival on Kalaupapa and the 180th of her birth. The diocese of Honolulu will be celebrating these dates, as well as the 175th anniversary of Honolulu’s cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Marianne’s remains were transferred here in July 2014, a ceremony I attended, videoed and wrote about.

St, Marianne was both the first beatification and the last canonization under Pope Benedict XVI.

Marianne’s mortal remains in a chapel of the Franciscan Sisters the day before her remains were placed in the cathedral –

In the cathedral –

Bishop Larry Silva and seminarians –

Bishop Silva and some of the Franciscan Sisters (and yours truly) –

In a spirit of ecumenism, St. Marianne is honored jointly with St. Damien of Moloka’i on April 15 on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.

POPE TO DAVOS FORUM: HUMAN PERSONS, THEIR RIGHTS AND DIGNITY MUST BE AT CENTER OF ECONOMICS

Following is the Message sent by the Holy Father Francis to Professor Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, taking place in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, from 23 to 26 January, on the theme “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”:

To Professor Klaus Schwab
Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum

 

am grateful for your invitation to participate in the World Economic Forum 2018 and for your desire to include the perspective of the Catholic Church and the Holy See at the meeting in Davos. I thank you also for your efforts to bring this perspective to the attention of those gathered for this annual Forum, including the distinguished political and governmental authorities present and all those engaged in the fields of business, the economy, work and culture, as they discuss the challenges, concerns, hopes and prospects of the world today and of the future.

The theme chosen for this year’s Forum – Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World – is very timely. I trust that it will assist in guiding your deliberations as you seek better foundations for building inclusive, just and supportive societies, capable of restoring dignity to those who live with great uncertainty and who are unable to dream of a better world.

At the level of global governance, we are increasingly aware that there is a growing fragmentation between States and Institutions. New actors are emerging, as well as new economic competition and regional trade agreements. Even the most recent technologies are transforming economic models and the globalized world itself, which, conditioned by private interests and an ambition for profit at all costs, seem to favour further fragmentation and individualism, rather than to facilitate approaches that are more inclusive.

The recurring financial instabilities have brought new problems and serious challenges that governments must confront, such as the growth of unemployment, the increase in various forms of poverty, the widening of the socio-economic gap and new forms of slavery, often rooted in situations of conflict, migration and various social problems. “Together with this, we encounter certain rather selfish lifestyles, marked by an opulence which is no longer sustainable and frequently indifferent to the world around us, and especially to the poorest of the poor. To our dismay we see technical and economic questions dominating political debate, to the detriment of genuine concern for human beings. Men and women risk being reduced to mere cogs in a machine that treats them as items of consumption to be exploited, with the result that –as is so tragically apparent–whenever a human life no longer proves useful for that machine, it is discarded with few qualms” (Address to the European Parliament, Strasbourg, 25 November 2014).

In this context, it is vital to safeguard the dignity of the human person, in particular by offering to all people real opportunities for integral human development and by implementing economic policies that favour the family. “Economic freedom must not prevail over the practical freedom of man and over his rights, and the market must not be absolute, but honour the exigencies of justice” (Address to the General Confederation of Italian Industry, 27 February 2016). Economic models, therefore, are also required to observe an ethic of sustainable and integral development, based on values that place the human person and his or her rights at the centre.

“Before the many barriers of injustice, of loneliness, of distrust and of suspicion which are still being elaborated in our day, the world of labour is called upon to take courageous steps in order that ‘being and working together’ is not merely a slogan but a programme for the present and the future”(Ibid.).

Only through a firm resolve shared by all economic actors may we hope to give anew direction to the destiny of our world. So too artificial intelligence, robotics and other technological innovations must be so employed that they contribute to the service of humanity and to the protection of our common home, rather than to the contrary, as some assessments unfortunately foresee.
We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of millions of people whose dignity is wounded, nor can we continue to move forward as if the spread of poverty and injustice had no cause. It is a moral imperative, a responsibility that involves everyone, to create the right conditions to allow each person to live in a dignified manner. By rejecting a “throwaway” culture and a mentality of indifference, the entrepreneurial world has enormous potential to effect substantial change by increasing the quality of productivity, creating new jobs, respecting labour laws, fighting against public and private corruption and promoting social justice, together with the fair and equitable sharing of profits.

There is a grave responsibility to exercise wise discernment, for the decisions made will be decisive for shaping the world of tomorrow and that of future generations. Thus, if we want a more secure future, one that encourages the prosperity of all, then it is necessary to keep the compass continually oriented towards “true North”, represented by authentic values. Now is the time to take courageous and bold steps for our beloved planet. This is the right moment to put into action our responsibility to contribute to the development of humanity.

I hope, therefore, that this 2018 meeting of the World Economic Forum will allow an open, free, and respectful exchange, and be inspired above all else by the desire to advance the common good.
In renewing my best wishes for the success of the meeting, I willingly invoke upon you and all participating in the Forum the divine blessings of wisdom and strength.

From the Vatican, 12 January 2018

A SPOTLIGHT ON SAINTS DAMIEN AND MARIANNE OF MOLOKAI’I

RECENT PAPAL TWEETS:

Sunday, October 8: When you experience bitterness, put your faith in all those who still work for good: in their humility lies the seed of a new world.

Monday, October 9: The search for peace is an open-ended task, a responsibility that never ends and that demands the commitment of everyone.

Put this on your calendar: At 5 pm Rome time on Thursday, October 26, from a small room in the Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis will have a linkup with the crew of the International Space Station.

A SPOTLIGHT ON SAINTS DAMIEN AND MARIANNE OF MOLOKAI’I

On Sunday I leave for Hawaii to participate in the October 20-22 Saints Damien and Marianne Catholic Conference at the Honolulu Convention Center. I am very excited about the conference because, starting in 2008, I have spent years researching the lives and works of Saints Damien and Marianne Cope, and then covering their canonizations in Rome (respectively 2009 and 2012), and now I can share my stories and listen to the stories of others who also love Hawaii’s two very special saints.

And Hawaii may well have a third saint – Brother Joseph Dutton. He was not a religious brother but rather received that name from Fr. Damien himself who told Joseph one day as they worked together on Kalaupapa, “You are like a brother to everyone here.”

Born Ira Dutton, he took the name Joseph when he became a Catholic. Joseph worked for 44 years alongside Fr. Damien and Sr. Marianne and her nuns, with the leprosy patients on Kalaupapa, this hankerchief-sized piece of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Hansen’s disease is the medical name for leprosy. When it came to the Hawaiian Islands, then a kingdom, King Kamehameha V banished all those with the disease to the isolated Kalaupapa peninsula on the north shore of the island of Molokai. The leprosy colonies operated from 1866 to 1969 and had a total of over 8,500 residents over the decades.

At the time of Fr. Damien, a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, people sick with leprosy were exiled to Kalaupapa. It was that exile of so many human beings who needed the hand not only of a doctor but of another human being to comfort them in their dreadful living conditions, both physical and spiritual, that prompted Fr. Damien to go to Kalaupapa in 1873. He served there until his death in 1889.

Damien was joined by Mother Marianne Cope and six sisters from her Order, the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse, in 1883. She lived and worked there until her death in 1918.

We see the words “heroic virtues” literally come to life in Damien and Marianne.

More than 8,000 people, mostly Hawaiians, have died at Kalaupapa. Many of their tombs can still be seen today, although many thousands were washed away years ago as the result of a tsunami. Kalaupapa is now home to just a few remaining residents who are now cured, but were forced to live their lives in isolation.

The conference will, as its title says, focus on Hawaii’s two saints, on their heroic virtues but also on human rights because that is really what Damien and Marianne fought for over so many decades – the rights of people who had been ostracized by society and forced to live in totally undignified circumstances.

When we think of sainthood and heroic virtues, we think: this is Mission Impossible – not something I can achieve. And yet, this is what we are all called to do! And this is what the conference hopes to achieve: to inspire all of us to – in our way, with whatever gifts God gave us, in whatever circumstances He placed us – aim high, to look at sanctity as something eminently achievable.

Did Marianne and Damien think like Mother Teresa: “I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much!”

A number of the speakers, as you’ll see from the program, are from the same congregation as St. Damien and the order of St. Marianne.

The special guest of honor is Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga. We have been in touch and I’ll be interviewing him!

I’ll also join Bishop Larry Silva on a pilgrimage to Kalaupapa on October 23. I’ve been there several times before, and have written stories and posted videos and interviewed many people.

I am truly looking forward to returning to a place that, for me, is a shrine.

https://www.dmcchawaii.org/