Marianne Cope
1838-1918 19th century Feast day: January 23
The joy of choosing what everyone else refuses, and bringing beauty into it.
Who was Marianne Cope?
The daughter of German immigrants, a factory worker before joining the Franciscans of Syracuse, she was running hospitals when a plea arrived in 1883 from the Kingdom of Hawaii, one that fifty congregations had already refused. She left with six sisters, then moved to the leprosy settlement of Molokai, where she served for thirty years, until her death.
In their own words
I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen ones, whose privilege it will be to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders.
I am not afraid of any disease, hence, it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned lepers.
Let us make best use of the fleeting moments. They will not return.