Marianne Cope shortly before her departure for Hawaii (1883). Mother Marianne Cope (23 January 1838 – 9 August 1918), was a Franciscan nun of the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Born in Heppenheim (Germany) and entered religious life in Syracuse, New York, she worked, lived and died for the lepers on the island of Moloka‘i in Hawai‘i.
Sainte Marianne Cope
Américaine, membre des
Sœurs de saint François de Syracuse, évangélisatrice des lépreux à
Molokai (+ 1918)
Marianne Cope,
américaine, membre des Sœurs de saint François de Syracuse, évangélisatrice des
lépreux à Molokai
Béatification, 14 mai
2005.
- 21 octobre 2012 -
canonisation à Rome de Jacques
Berthieu, Pedro
Calungsod, Giovanni
Battista Piamarta, Maria
Carmen Sallés y Barangueras, Marianne Cope, Kateri
Tekakwitha, Anna
Schäffer - Livret
de la célébration avec biographies en plusieurs langues.
"La vie de la
bienheureuse Marianne Cope fut une œuvre d'art de la grâce divine. Elle fut un
exemple de la beauté d'une vie franciscaine. Son service aux malades de la
lèpre rappelle à l'esprit l'expérience touchante de François d'Assise...
Pendant trente-cinq ans, elle pratiqua à des niveaux très élevés le précepte de
l'amour de Dieu et de son prochain. Elle collabora avec le bienheureux Damien
de Veuster, désormais arrivé à la fin de son apostolat extraordinaire...
Elle écrivait: "Je ne m'attends pas à une place élevée dans le ciel.
Je serai pleine de gratitude pour une petite place, où pouvoir aimer Dieu pour
toute l'éternité"..."
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/12496/Sainte-Marianne-Cope.html
Vous avez perdu confiance
en Dieu ? Invoquez sainte Marianne Cope
Marthe Taillée - publié
le 04/01/21
Une épidémie ? Même
pas peur ! Armée d’une foi inébranlable, sainte Marianne Cope, religieuse
américaine, a pris soin des lépreux sur l’archipel hawaïen de Molokai jusqu’à
la fin de sa vie, à la suite du père Damien de Veuster. D’un tempérament
optimiste, tous ses choix de vie ont été guidés par la confiance en Dieu. Novembre
1883. Le port d’Honolulu dans l’archipel d’Hawaï, en plein océan Pacifique.
Après une longue traversée, le navire américain SS Mariposa est en
vue. Les cloches de la cathédrale sonnent à toute volée tandis que sur les
quais, la foule se presse pour accueillir les voyageurs : parmi eux, six
religieuses franciscaines arrivent d’Amérique en renfort pour s’occuper des
lépreux. À leur tête, sœur Marianne Cope. Alors que de nombreuses congrégations
ont refusé l’invitation de l’Église d’Hawaï à venir lui prêter main-forte en
raison d’une situation sanitaire ingérable, la religieuse a répondu oui sans
hésiter. “Je n’ai pas peur des maladies […], ce serait mon plus grand bonheur
d’être au service des lépreux” a-t-elle déclaré, acceptant de quitter à l’âge
de 45 ans ses fonctions de responsable de congrégation à Syracuse dans la
région de New York. Un pari fou. Mais une fois encore, sœur Marianne a
fait confiance à Dieu.
Abandon à la Providence
En effet, tous les choix
de vie de cette religieuse américaine d’origine allemande ont été vécus dans
l’abandon à la Providence : attirée très jeune par la vie consacrée, elle
patiente pourtant dans la foi jusqu’à l’âge de 24 ans avant d’entrer chez les sœurs
franciscaines car elle doit subvenir aux besoins de ses frères et sœurs. Plus
tard, la jeune religieuse, toute empreinte de la spiritualité de saint
François, crée des hôpitaux dans la région de New York en ouvrant grand les
portes aux patients démunis et alcooliques. “Elle fut un exemple de la beauté
d’une vie franciscaine” déclarera le cardinal José Saraiva Martins lors de sa
béatification en 2005.
À peine débarquées à Hawaï, les religieuses découvrent des malades dans un état déplorable et vivant dans la promiscuité. Dotée d’un solide sens pratique et le cœur greffé au Christ, sœur Marianne fonde à Maui un centre pour les filles lépreuses puis reprend la gestion d’un autre hôpital insalubre et surchargé. Punaises de lits, sols crasseux : les infatigables religieuses assainissent les lieux et consolent les patients.
Lire aussi :
Père
Christophe, le prêtre qui combat la tuberculose en Corée du Nord
Mais Dieu a prévu pour
sœur Marianne une mission plus difficile. Un appel qu’elle va suivre comme
d’habitude dans une paix confiante. En 1887, le gouvernement décide d’envoyer
les lépreux à l’isolement au nord de l’île de Molokai, à Kalaupapa, petite
langue de terre au pied des falaises volcaniques. “Nous acceptons joyeusement
ce travail”, s’exclame-t-elle avant d’y accompagner les malades. Elle ne
quittera plus l’île.
Optimisme et sérénité
Là, elle y retrouve le
père Damien de Veuster, en charge de la léproserie depuis
plusieurs années. Infecté par la lèpre, il s’éteint en 1889. Il sera canonisé
en 2009. Après sa mort, sœur Marianne reprend l’établissement pour garçons
qu’il avait créé tout en s’occupant d’un autre centre, pour les
filles. Tâche harassante. Au milieu des malades parfois repoussants,
certaines sœurs se découragent mais s’apaisent au contact de sœur Marianne,
surnommée la “mère des lépreux”. Toujours optimiste et sereine, son désir est
de “rendre la vie des patients aussi confortable que possible” : alors elle
plante des fleurs, habille décemment les enfants et les fait chanter.
Mère Marianne meurt à
Molokai le 9 août 1918 à 80 ans, sans jamais avoir contracté la maladie et
laissant un héritage spirituel et humain considérable. “La vie de la
bienheureuse Marianne Cope fut une œuvre d’art de la grâce divine” a encore
prononcé le cardinal Martins lors de sa béatification.
En images : Ces saints
qui prenaient soin des lépreux
SOURCE : https://fr.aleteia.org/2021/01/04/vous-avez-perdu-confiance-en-dieu-invoquez-sainte-marianne-cope
Bienheureuse Marianne
COPE (KOOB)
Nom: COPE (KOOB)
Prénom: Barbara
Nom de religion: Marianne
Pays: Allemagne -
Etats-Unis - Hawaï
Naissance:
23.01.1838 à Heppenheim (Essen-Darmstadt)
Mort: 09.08.1918 à
l’île de Molokai (Hawaï)
Etat: Religieuse
Note: Née en Allemagne,
sa famille émigre aux Etats-Unis en 1840. Profession religieuse en 1863 chez les Sœurs
franciscaines de Syracuse (ville de l’Etat de New-York). Part en 1883 pour les
îles Hawaï et se dévoue auprès des lépreux.
Béatification: 14.05.2005 par Benoît XVI
Cérémonie à Rome présidée par le Card. José Saraiva Martins, Préfet de la
Congrégation pour les causes des Saints
Canonisation
Fête: 23 janvier
Réf. dans l’Osservatore
Romano: 2005 n. 21 p.4-6
Réf. dans la Documentation
Catholique:
Notice
Barbara Koob naît en
Allemagne en 1838, à Heppenheim dans le grand-duché de Hesse-Darmstadt. Ses
parents sont de petits agriculteurs. Poussés par la pauvreté, ils émigrent aux
Etats-Unis en 1840 et s’installent à Utica, dans l’État de New York. Le nom de
Koob, anglicisé, devient Cope. Barbara ne fait que quelques années de
scolarité. Dès l’âge de 15 ans, elle manifeste le désir d’entrer en religion,
mais elle doit travailler d’abord 9 ans en usine pour aider ses parents
gravement malades et soutenir la famille qui compte 7 enfants. A 24 ans, en
1862, elle peut enfin réaliser son rêve de vie religieuse et entre dans la
Congrégation toute nouvelle des “Sœurs franciscaines de Syracuse”, lesquelles
viennent de s’établir dans la ville de ce nom, sise dans l’État de New York. Dans
ses débuts, la Congrégation s’occupe surtout de la scolarisation des enfants
d’immigrés allemands. La novice émet ses vœux en 1863 et prend le nom de sœur
Marianne. Elle est d’abord professeur, puis exerce des fonctions importantes
telles que maîtresse des novices, supérieure d’un couvent et finalement,
pendant 8 ans, supérieure du premier hôpital général de Syracuse. (Sa
Congrégation deviendra célèbre en fondant les cinquante premiers hôpitaux
généraux des Etats-Unis.) Dans son hôpital, fait remarquable à l’époque, la
mère Marianne ne fait aucune distinction de religion, de nationalité ou de
couleur. Au contraire, dans l’esprit franciscain, elle est attirée de
préférence par les plus pauvres et s’occupe notamment des alcooliques et des
filles mères.
Un jour, du royaume
indigène des îles Hawaï (ou îles Sandwich), parvient un appel de l’évêque de
Honolulu invitant à évangéliser l’archipel,… sans préciser immédiatement qu’il
y a des lépreux. Un missionnaire est envoyé aux Etats-Unis pour donner des détails.
En fait, l’appel a été lancé auprès de 50 congrégations : toutes se sont
récusées à cause de la lèpre, excepté Mère Marianne qui accepte au nom de sa
congrégation. On pense au geste de son Père saint François embrassant le
lépreux. Reste à trouver des volontaires : il s’en présente 35. Six
partent en 1883 avec Mère Marianne. Son projet est de rester quelques semaines
avec ses compagnes, puis de revenir, car la congrégation a besoin d’elle. Mais,
au terme de son séjour, les autorités locales jugent que, sans elle, l’affaire
va péricliter et l’on veut la retenir. Elle y restera 35 ans, toute sa
vie ! Une autre supérieure est nommée pour Syracuse. Il est vrai qu’à leur
arrivée, le tableau qui s’offre aux yeux des sœurs est lamentable. D’ailleurs,
quelques-unes ne tiendront pas le coup. Les sœurs séjournent d’abord à Honolulu
dans un ‘hôpital’ chargé du dépistage. Ceux qui sont reconnus malades sont
séparés : les maris de leur femme, les enfants de leurs parents ; et
ils sont relégués dans une île sans rien prévoir pour la nourriture et les
soins : Il ne leur reste plus qu’à attendre la mort, dans la promiscuité
et l’immoralité débridée. Femmes et enfants sont les premières victimes. Mère
Marianne crée une école pour les petites filles et un hôpital général sur l’île
Maui. En 1888, elle se dirige vers l’île Molokai, cette prison naturelle cernée
par l’Océan. Le Père Damien (béatifié en 1995) y était arrivé en 1873. La sœur
collabore avec lui, mais il meurt de la lèpre une année après son arrivée et
celle-ci continue son œuvre en créant un école pour petits garçons. Auparavant,
elle avait créé sur l’île une école pour les filles à Kalaupapa sur la même
île. Elle aménage le site, s’ingénie à mettre de la joie franciscaine en
plantant des arbres et des fleurs ; elle fait chanter les petites, les
accompagnant au piano. De ses propres mains, elle travaille à les habiller
correctement, insistant même pour que ce soit à la dernière mode. Elle est
vraiment “la mère des lépreux”. Cela se paye par la souffrance, non seulement
en raison de son travail héroïque et du risque de contagion, mais aussi à cause
des contradictions qu’elle rencontre, tout cela sans se départir de sa joie,
qu’elle communique autour d’elle. Sans Dieu, cela aurait été impossible. Sa
devise est : « Tout pour Dieu ». Immobilisée dans ses dernières
années par une maladie des reins mais sans avoir contracté la lèpre, elle meurt
paisiblement âgée de 80 ans en 1918. Elle laisse un héritage extraordinaire
dans le domaine de l’éducation et de la santé.
Remarque : Mère
Marianne Cope est béatifiée avec Mère Ascension
Nicol Goni 2 le
samedi soir 14 mai 2005, veille de la Pentecôte, au cours d’une eucharistie
présidée par le Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, Préfet de la Congrégation pour
le Culte des Saints. C’est la première béatification de Benoît XVI, qui reprend
la tradition de déléguer un cardinal pour la cérémonie, au début de laquelle
celui-ci lit le décret du Pape. (Mais le Saint-Père continuera à présider
personnellement les cérémonies de canonisations.) En effet Paul VI, en 1971
avait décidé de béatifier lui-même le prêtre polonais Maximilien
Kolbe 2.
Et Jean-Paul II avait continué dans cette ligne en présidant toutes les
béatifications. Cette décision de Benoît XVI permet de mieux mettre en valeur
les canonisations qui offrent un saint pour le culte de l’Église universelle,
tandis qu’une béatification n’ouvre le culte, en principe, que pour l’Église
locale.
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/hagiographie/fiches/f0704.htm
MESSE ET BÉATIFICATION
DES SERVITEURS DE DIEU
ASCENSIÓN NICOL GOÑI ET MARIANNE
COPE
HOMÉLIE DU CARDINAL JOSÉ
SARAIVA MARTINS
Veillée de Pentecôte
Basilique Saint-Pierre
Samedi 14 mai 2005
Eminence,
Vénérés confrères dans
l'épiscopat
et dans le
sacerdoce,
éminentes Autorités,
chers pèlerins,
1. L'Eglise
naissante se prépara à la première Pentecôte chrétienne en parcourant un
itinéraire de foi dans le Seigneur ressuscité. C'est Lui, en effet, qui donne
son Esprit au peuple de la Nouvelle Alliance.
La communauté des
disciples, après l'ascension de Jésus au ciel, se recueillit au Cénacle dans
l'attente d'être "baptisés dans l'Esprit Saint" (Ac 1, 5) et se
prépara à l'événement en vivant une intense expérience de communion fraternelle
et de prière: "Tous d'un même coeur étaient assidus à la prière...
dont Marie, mère de Jésus" (Ac 1, 14).
Ce soir, nous nous
trouvons nous aussi réunis en esprit au Cénacle. Nous sentons la présence
maternelle de Marie et la proximité de l'Apôtre Pierre, sur la tombe duquel
s'élève cette Basilique.
Nous sommes à présent une
assemblée liturgique qui proclame la même foi dans le Christ ressuscité; qui se
nourrit du même Pain eucharistique; qui élève au ciel, avec une insistance
confiante, la même invocation: "Viens Esprit Saint, /
envoie-nous du ciel / un rayon de ta lumière. / Viens, Père des pauvres, /
viens, dispensateur des dons, / viens, lumière des coeurs"
(Séquence).
Je salue donc ceux qui
ont quitté leurs villes et leurs maisons et ceux qui, à travers les océans et
les continents, sont ici pour partager avec nous la grâce de la Pentecôte et la
joie de la béatification de Mère Ascensión du Coeur de
Jésus et de Mère Marianne Cope.
Je souhaite une cordiale
bienvenue aux Soeurs missionnaires dominicaines du Rosaire et aux Soeurs du
Tiers Ordre de saint François de Syracuse, ainsi qu'aux nombreux pèlerins
provenant des lieux de naissance et d'apostolat des nouvelles bienheureuses.
2. Chers frères et
soeurs, la parole de Dieu, qui vient d'être proclamée, nous aide à rappeler le
grand mystère de la Pentecôte, qui marqua le début solennel de la mission de
l'Eglise dans le monde.
Cet épisode évangélique a
fait parvenir jusqu'à nous le cri de Jésus: "Que celui qui a soif
vienne à moi et boive". L'homme de chaque époque et de chaque culture
a soif de vie, de vérité, de justice, de paix, de bonheur. Il a soif
d'éternité. Il a soif de Dieu. Jésus peut étancher cette soif. Il disait à la
samaritaine: "Qui boira de l'eau que je lui donnerai
n'aura plus jamais soif" (Jn 4, 14). L'eau de Jésus est l'Esprit
Saint, Esprit créateur et consolateur, qui transforme le coeur de l'homme, le
vide de l'obscurité et le remplit de la vie divine, de sagesse, d'amour, de
bonne volonté, de joie, réalisant ainsi la prophétie d'Ezéchiel: "Je
mettrai mon esprit en vous et je ferai que vous marchiez et pratiquiez mes
coutumes" (Ez 36, 27).
La présence de l'Esprit
Saint dans l'Eglise et dans chaque âme est une "inhabitation"
permanente, dynamique, créative. Celui qui aura bu l'Eau de Jésus, portera en
lui "des fleuves d'eau vive" (Jn 7, 38), "une source d'eau
jaillissante en vie éternelle" (Jn 4, 14).
L'Esprit Saint transforme
l'existence de celui qui le reçoit, renouvelle la face de la terre et
transforme toute la création qui - comme l'affirme saint Paul dans la deuxième
lettre de la messe - "jusqu'à ce jour gémit en travail
d'enfantement" (Rm 8, 22), dans l'attente d'être à nouveau le
jardin de Dieu et de l'homme.
L'Esprit Saint est le
maître intérieur et, dans le même temps, le vent vif qui gonfle les voiles de
la barque de Pierre pour la conduire au large. Duc in altum! C'est
l'exhortation que le Souverain Pontife Jean-Paul II a lancée à l'Eglise du
troisième millénaire (cf. Lett. apost. Novo
Millennio Ineunte, n. 58).
Les Apôtres firent
l'expérience de l'Esprit Saint et devinrent les témoins du Christ mort et
ressuscité, missionnaires sur les routes du monde. La même expérience se répète
chez tous ceux qui, accueillant le Christ, s'ouvrent à Dieu et à l'humanité;
elle se répète surtout chez les saints, aussi bien chez les saints anonymes que
chez ceux qui ont été élevés aux honneurs des autels. Les saints sont les chefs
d'oeuvre de l'Esprit qui sculpte le visage du Christ et insuffle dans leur
coeur la charité de Dieu.
Nos deux bienheureuses
ont ouvert tout grand leur vie à l'Esprit de Dieu et se sont laissées conduire
par lui dans le service de l'Eglise, des pauvres, des malades, de la jeunesse.
3. La
Bienheureuse Ascensión du Coeur de Jésus est l'une des grandes
missionnaires du siècle dernier. Dès sa jeunesse, elle conçut sa vie comme un
don au Seigneur et à son prochain et elle ne voulut appartenir à aucun autre
qu'à Dieu, auquel elle se consacra comme moniale dominicaine dans le monastère
de Santa Rosa de Huesca, en Espagne. Elle seconda sans réserves le dynamisme de
la charité, que l'Esprit Saint insuffle en ceux qui lui ouvrent leur coeur.
Son premier domaine
d'apostolat fut l'enseignement dans le collège jouxtant le monastère. Les
sources des témoins s'en souviennent comme d'une excellente éducatrice,
gentille et forte, compréhensive et exigeante.
Mais le Seigneur avait
des projets différents pour elle. A l'âge de quarante-cinq ans il l'appela à
devenir missionnaire au Pérou. Avec un enthousiasme juvénile et une totale
confiance dans la Providence, elle quitta sa patrie et se consacra à
l'évangélisation du monde, commençant par le continent américain. Son oeuvre
fut tellement généreuse, vaste et efficace qu'elle laissa une empreinte
profonde dans l'histoire missionnaire de l'Eglise. Elle collabora avec l'Evêque
dominicain, Ramon Zubieta, à la fondation des Soeurs missionnaires dominicaines
du Très Saint Rosaire, dont elle fut la première supérieure générale. Sa vie
missionnaire fut riche de sacrifices, de renoncements et de fruits
apostoliques. Elle sema largement et elle obtint une récolte abondante. Elle
effectua de fréquents voyages au Pérou, en Europe et arriva même en Chine. Elle
mêlait le tempérament d'une lutteuse courageuse et inlassable, avec celui d'une
douceur maternelle capable de conquérir les coeurs. Enracinée dans la charité
du Christ, elle exerça avec tous le charisme de la maternité spirituelle.
Soutenue par une foi vive et une fervente dévotion au Sacré-Coeur de Jésus et à
la Madone du Rosaire, elle se consacra au salut des âmes jusqu'à se sacrifier
elle-même. Elle exhortait souvent ses filles à en faire tout autant, leur
disant que l'on ne sauve pas les âmes sans se sacrifier soi-même. Elle aspira à
une charité toujours plus pure et intense et, pour cette raison, s'offrit comme
victime à l'Amour miséricordieux de Dieu.
4. La vie de la
bienheureuse Marianne Cope fut une oeuvre d'art de la grâce divine.
Elle fut un exemple de la beauté d'une vie franciscaine. Son service aux
malades de la lèpre rappelle à l'esprit l'expérience touchante de François
d'Assise, dont la bienheureuse fut la disciple. Dans son Testament, le
saint rappelle: "Cela me paraissait trop dur de
voir les lépreux et le Seigneur lui-même me conduisit parmi eux et je fus
charitable avec eux". La rencontre de François avec les malades de la
lèpre ne fut pas seulement une expérience de proximité humaine et de
solidarité, mais fut le baiser au Christ crucifié et le
début de son chemin vers la sainteté héroïque.
La rencontre de Mère
Marianne avec les malades de la lèpre eut lieu lorsque celle-ci était déjà à un
bon point dans la "sequela" du Christ. Elle appartenait depuis vingt
ans à la Congrégation des Soeurs du Tiers Ordre de Saint François de Syracuse.
Elle avait accumulé une vaste expérience et une solide maturité spirituelle.
Mais à l'improviste Dieu l'appela à un don plus radical, à un service
missionnaire plus difficile.
Dans l'invitation de
l'Evêque de Honolulu, qui cherchait des soeurs qui viennent en aide aux malades
de la lèpre sur l'île de Molokai, la bienheureuse Marianne, alors Supérieure
provinciale, reconnut la voix du Christ et, comme Isaïe, n'hésita pas à
répondre: "Me voici, envoie-moi" (Is 6, 8). Elle quitta tout
et s'abandonna complètement à la Volonté de Dieu, aux requêtes de l'Eglise et
aux attentes de ses nouveaux frères et soeurs. Elle mit sa santé et même sa vie
en danger.
Pendant trente-cinq ans,
elle pratiqua à des niveaux très élevés le précepte de l'amour de Dieu et de
son prochain. Elle collabora avec le bienheureux Damien de Veuster, désormais
arrivé à la fin de son apostolat extraordinaire. La bienheureuse aima les
malades de la lèpre plus qu'elle-même. Elle les servit, elle les éduqua, elle
les guida avec intelligence, amour et force. En eux, elle voyait le visage
empreint de souffrance de Jésus. Elle suivit les traces du bon samaritain et
devint la "mère des lépreux". Elle tira sa force de la foi, de
l'Eucharistie, de la dévotion à notre Mère bienheureuse et de la prière. Elle
ne chercha pas les honneurs terrestres ou la reconnaissance. Elle
écrivait: "Je ne m'attends pas à une place élevée dans le ciel. Je
serai pleine de gratitude pour une petite place, où pouvoir aimer Dieu pour toute
l'éternité".
5. "Des fleuves
d'eau vive jailliront du sein" de celui qui croit dans le Christ. Les
signes de sa présence ont été sommairement indiqués dans la Lettre aux Galates.
Ils sont "charité, joie, paix, longanimité, serviabilité, bonté, confiance
dans les autres, douceur, maîtrise de soi" (Ga 5, 22).
Nos deux bienheureuses
ont apporté au monde les fruits et les signes de la présence de l'Esprit Saint,
elles ont parlé le langage de la vérité et de l'amour, le seul en mesure
d'abattre les barrières de la culture et de la race, et de reconstruire l'unité
de la famille humaine, dispersée par l'orgueil, par la volonté de puissance,
par le refus de la souveraineté de Dieu, ainsi que nous l'a laissé entendre le
récit biblique de la Tour de Babel (cf. Première lecture).
Le Saint-Père Benoît XVI,
inaugurant son ministère pétrinien, a réaffirmé que "ce n'est pas le
pouvoir qui rachète, mais l'amour! C'est là le signe de Dieu: Il est
lui-même amour... Le Dieu qui est devenu agneau nous dit que le monde est sauvé
par le Crucifié et non par ceux qui ont crucifié" (cf. ORLF n. 17 du 26
avril 2005).
Saint Irénée, commentant
la Pentecôte, a proposé cette réflexion: "L'Esprit Saint a annulé
les distances, il a éliminé les malentendus et transformé l'assentiment des
peuples en prémisses à offrir au Seigneur... En effet, de même que la farine ne
s'amalgame pas en une unique masse de pâte, et ne devient pas un unique pain
sans l'eau, nous non plus, multitude sans unité, ne pouvions pas devenir une
unique Eglise dans le Christ sans l'"Eau" qui descend du ciel" (Contre
les hérésies, 3, 17).
Entre les mains de la
bienheureuse Ascensión du Coeur de Jésus et de la bienheureuse Marianne Cope,
nous déposons donc notre prière: "Seigneur, donne-moi cette eau"
(Jn 4, 15). Amen.
Copyright © Libreria
Editrice Vaticana
HOMÉLIE DU PAPE BENOÎT
XVI
Place Saint-Pierre
Dimanche 21 octobre 2012
Le Fils de l’homme est
venu pour servir et donner sa vie en rançon pour une multitude (cf. Mc
10,45)
Vénérés frères,
Chers frères et sœurs !
Aujourd’hui l’Église
écoute une nouvelle fois ces paroles de Jésus prononcées sur la route de
Jérusalem, où devait s’accomplir son mystère de passion de mort et de
résurrection. Ce sont des paroles qui contiennent le sens de la mission du
Christ sur la terre, marquée par son immolation, par sa donation totale. En ce
troisième dimanche d’octobre, où l’on célèbre la Journée Missionnaire Mondiale,
l’Église les écoute avec une particulière attention et ravive sa conscience
d’être tout entière dans un indéfectible état de service de l’homme et de
l’Évangile, comme Celui qui s’est offert lui-même jusqu’au sacrifice de sa vie.
J’adresse mon cordial
salut à vous tous qui remplissez la Place Saint-Pierre, en particulier aux délégations
officielles et aux pèlerins venus pour fêter les sept nouveaux saints. Je salue
affectueusement les Cardinaux et les Évêques qui participent ces jours-ci à l’Assemblée
synodale sur la Nouvelle Évangélisation. La coïncidence entre cette Assise
et la Journée Missionnaire est heureuse ; et la Parole de Dieu que nous avons
écouté se révèle éclairante pour les deux. Celle-ci montre le style de
l’évangélisateur, appelé à témoigner et annoncer le message chrétien en se
conformant à Jésus-Christ et en suivant sa vie. Ceci vaut aussi bien pour la
mission ad gentes, que pour la nouvelle évangélisation dans les régions de
vieille chrétienté.
Le Fils de l’homme est
venu pour servir et donner sa vie en rançon pour une multitude (cf. Mc 10,45)
Ces paroles ont constitué
le programme de vie des sept Bienheureux, que l’Église inscrit solennellement
aujourd’hui au rang glorieux des Saints. Avec un courage héroïque, ceux-ci ont
dépensé leur existence dans une totale consécration à Dieu et dans un généreux
service à leurs frères. Ce sont des fils et des filles de l’Église, qui ont
choisi la vie du service en suivant le Seigneur. La sainteté dans l’Église a
toujours sa source dans le mystère de la Rédemption, qui est préfiguré par le
prophète Isaïe dans la première lecture : le Serviteur du Seigneur est le Juste
qui « justifiera les multitudes en s’accablant lui-même de leurs fautes » (Is 53,
11). Ce Serviteur est Jésus-Christ, crucifié, ressuscité et vivant dans la
gloire. La canonisation d’aujourd’hui représente une confirmation éloquente de
cette mystérieuse réalité salvifique. La tenace profession de foi de ces sept
généreux disciples du Christ, leur conformation au Fils de l’Homme resplendit
aujourd’hui dans toute l’Église.
Jacques Berthieu, né en
1838, en France, fut très tôt passionné de Jésus-Christ. Durant son ministère
de paroisse, il eut le désir ardent de sauver les âmes. Devenu jésuite, il
voulait parcourir le monde pour la gloire de Dieu. Pasteur infatigable dans
l’île Sainte Marie puis à Madagascar, il lutta contre l’injustice, tout en
soulageant les pauvres et les malades. Les Malgaches le considéraient comme un
prêtre venu du ciel, disant : Vous êtes notre « père et mère ! » Il se fit tout
à tous, puisant dans la prière et dans l’amour du Cœur de Jésus la force
humaine et sacerdotale d’aller jusqu’au martyre en 1896. Il mourut en disant :
« Je préfère mourir plutôt que renoncer à ma foi ». Chers amis, que la vie de
cet évangélisateur soit un encouragement et un modèle pour les prêtres, afin qu’ils
soient des hommes de Dieu comme lui ! Que son exemple aide les nombreux
chrétiens persécutés aujourd’hui à cause de leur foi ! Puisse en cette Année de
la foi, son intercession porter des fruits pour Madagascar et le continent
africain ! Que Dieu bénisse le peuple malgache !
Pedro Calungsod est né
vers l’année 1654, dans l’archipel des Visayas aux Philippines. Son amour pour
le Christ l’a poussé à se former comme catéchiste auprès des jésuites
missionnaires qui y vivaient. En 1668, avec d’autres jeunes catéchistes, il
accompagna le Père Diego Luis de San Vitores aux Îles Mariannes pour
évangéliser le peuple Chamorro. La vie y était dure et les missionnaires
devaient faire face aux persécutions provoquées par des jalousies et des
calomnies. Pedro, cependant, faisait preuve d’une grande foi et charité et il
continuait à catéchiser ses nombreux convertis, témoignant du Christ par une
vie authentique, dédiée à l’Évangile. Son plus grand désir était de gagner des
âmes au Christ, ce qui renforça sa détermination d’accepter le martyr. Il
mourut le 2 avril 1672. Des témoignages rapportent que Pedro aurait pu fuir
pour sa sécurité mais qu’il choisit de rester aux côtés du Père Diego. Le
prêtre put donner l’absolution à Pedro avant d’être lui-même tué. Que cet exemple
et ce témoignage courageux de Pedro Calungsod inspire le cher peuple des
Philippines à annoncer avec courage le Royaume et à gagner des âmes à Dieu !
Jean-Baptiste Piamarta,
prêtre du diocèse de Brescia, fut un grand apôtre de la charité et de la jeunesse.
Il percevait l’exigence d’une présence culturelle et sociale du catholicisme
dans le monde moderne, c’est pourquoi il se consacra à l’élévation chrétienne,
morale et professionnelle des nouvelles générations, illuminé par une vigueur
pleine d’humanité et de bonté. Animé d’une confiance inébranlable en la
Providence divine et par un profond esprit de sacrifice, il affronta des
difficultés et souffrances pour donner vie à plusieurs œuvres apostoliques,
parmi lesquelles : l’institut des Artigianelli, la maison d’édition Queriniana, la
congrégation masculine de la Sainte Famille de Nazareth et la congrégation des
Humbles Servantes du Seigneur. Le secret de sa vie intense et active réside
dans les longues heures qu’il consacrait à la prière. Quand il était surchargé
de travail, il augmentait son temps de rencontre cœur à cœur avec le Seigneur.
Il préférait les haltes devant le Saint Sacrement, méditant la passion, la mort
et la résurrection du Christ pour y puiser la force spirituelle et repartir à
la conquête du cœur des personnes, surtout des jeunes, pour les reconduire aux
sources de la vie à travers des initiatives pastorales toujours nouvelles.
« Seigneur, que ton amour
soit sur nous, comme notre espoir est en toi ». Avec ces paroles, la liturgie
nous invite à faire nôtre cet hymne au Dieu créateur et provident, en acceptant
son dessein sur nos vies. Ainsi l’a fait María del Carmelo Sallés y
Barangueras, religieuse née en 1848 à Vic en Espagne. Voyant son espérance
comblée après de nombreuses épreuves, et devant le progrès de la Congrégation
des Religieuses Conceptionnistes Missionnaires de l’Enseignement, qu’elle a
fondée en 1892, elle a pu chanter avec la Mère de Dieu : « Son amour s’étend
d’âge en âge sur ceux qui le craignent ». Confiée à la Vierge Immaculée, son
œuvre éducatrice se poursuivit en donnant des fruits abondants pour la
jeunesse, grâce au don généreux de ses filles, qui, comme elle, se confient à
Dieu qui peut tout.
J’en viens maintenant à
Marianne Cope, née en 1838, à Heppenheim, en Allemagne. Elle avait un an
seulement, quand elle fut emmenée aux États-Unis. En 1862, elle entra dans le
Tiers Ordre Régulier de Saint-François à Syracuse, New-York. Plus tard, devenue
Supérieure Générale de sa congrégation, Mère Marianne, suivit volontiers l’appel
à soigner les lépreux d’Hawaï après le refus de nombreuses autres personnes.
Avec six de ses sœurs, elle alla diriger elle-même l’hôpital à Oahu, fondant
ensuite l’hôpital Malulani à Maui et ouvrant une maison pour les jeunes filles
dont les parents étaient lépreux. Cinq ans après, elle accepta l’invitation à
ouvrir une maison pour femmes et jeunes filles sur l’île même de Molokai, s’y
rendant courageusement elle-même et mettant ainsi effectivement fin à ses
contacts avec le monde extérieur. Elle s’y occupa du Père Damien, déjà connu
pour son travail héroïque auprès des lépreux, le soignant jusqu’à sa mort et
elle prit la direction de son œuvre auprès des hommes lépreux. À une époque où
l’on pouvait faire bien peu pour soulager les souffrances de cette terrible
maladie, Marianne Cope fit preuve de l’amour le plus élevé, de courage et
d’enthousiasme. Elle est un exemple lumineux et énergique de la fine fleur de
la tradition des sœurs infirmières catholiques et de l’esprit de son bien-aimé
saint François.
Kateri Tekakwitha est née
en 1656 dans l’actuel État de New-York, d’un père mohawk et d’une mère
algonquine chrétienne qui lui donna le sens de Dieu. Baptisée à l’âge de 20
ans, et pour échapper à la persécution, elle se réfugia à la Mission Saint
François Xavier, près de Montréal. Là, elle travailla, partageant les coutumes
des siens, mais en ne renonçant jamais à ses convictions religieuses jusqu’à sa
mort, à l’âge de 24 ans. Dans une vie tout ordinaire, Kateri resta fidèle à
l’amour de Jésus, à la prière et à l’Eucharistie quotidienne. Son but était de
connaître et de faire ce qui est agréable à Dieu. Kateri nous impressionne par
l’action de la grâce dans sa vie en l’absence de soutiens extérieurs, et par
son courage dans sa vocation si particulière dans sa culture. En elle, foi et
culture s’enrichissent mutuellement ! Que son exemple nous aide à vivre là où
nous sommes, sans renier qui nous sommes, en aimant Jésus ! Sainte Kateri,
protectrice du Canada et première sainte amérindienne, nous te confions le
renouveau de la foi dans les Premières Nations et dans toute l’Amérique du Nord
! Que Dieu bénisse les Premières Nations !
Jeune, Anna Schäffer, de
Mindelstetten, voulait entrer dans une congrégation missionnaire. Née dans
d’humbles conditions, elle chercha comme domestique à gagner la dot nécessaire
pour pouvoir entrer au couvent. Dans cet emploi, elle eut un accident grave
avec des brulures inguérissables aux pieds, qui la cloueront au lit pour le
reste de ses jours. C’est ainsi que la chambre de malade se transforma en
cellule conventuelle, et la souffrance en service missionnaire. Tout d’abord
elle se révolta contre son destin, mais ensuite, elle comprit que sa situation
était comme un appel plein d’amour du Crucifié à le suivre. Fortifiée par la
communion quotidienne elle devint un intercesseur infatigable par la prière, et
un miroir de l’amour de Dieu pour les nombreuses personnes en recherche de
conseil. Que son apostolat de la prière et de la souffrance, de l’offrande et
de l’expiation soit pour les croyants de sa terre un exemple lumineux ! Puisse
son intercession fortifier l’apostolat chrétien hospitalier dans son agir plein
de bénédictions !
Chers frères et sœurs !
Ces nouveaux Saints, divers par leur origine, leur langue, leur nation et leur
condition sociale, sont unis les uns aux autres et avec l’ensemble du Peuple de
Dieu dans le mystère de salut du Christ, le Rédempteur. Avec eux, nous aussi
réunis ici avec les Pères synodaux venus de toutes les parties du monde, avec
les paroles du Psalmiste, proclamons au Seigneur que « notre secours et
bouclier, c’est lui », et invoquons-le : « Sur nous soit ton amour, Seigneur,
comme notre espoir est en toi » (Ps 32, 20 ; 22). Que le témoignage des
nouveaux Saints, de leur vie généreusement offerte par amour du Christ, parle
aujourd’hui à toute l’Église, et que leur intercession la consolide et la
soutienne dans sa mission d’annoncer l’Évangile au monde entier.
© Copyright 2012 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Relic
of St..Damien De Veuster (left) and the mortal remains of St. Mary Ann Cope
(right) in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, Honolulu, Hawaii.
MARIANNE COPE DE MOLOKAI
(1838-1918)
Née le 23 janvier 1838 à
Heppenheim, Hessen-Darmstadt (Allemagne) dans une famille d'agriculteurs, ses
parents émigrèrent alors qu'elle était enfant aux Etats-Unis et s'établirent à
Utica (Etat de New York). Dès l'âge de 15 ans elle souhaita entrer au couvent,
mais elle dut s'occuper de ses plus jeunes frères car ses parents étaient
gravement malades. Elle dut donc repousser son projet de quelques années.
En 1860, une branche des
Soeurs de Saint François de Philadelphie s'établit à Utica et à Syracuse, près
de New York et, à l'âge de 24 ans elle entra dans cet ordre et prononça ses
voeux.
L'apostolat de
cette Congrégation se consacrait avant tout à l'éducation des enfants des
immigrés allemands; elle fut donc chargée d'ouvrir et de diriger de nouvelles écoles.
Plus tard sa communauté fonda les premiers des cinquante hôpitaux généraux des
Etats-Unis qui connurent une grande renommée, offrant leur assistance à tous
les malades sans aucune distinction. Mère Cope s'occupa en particulier des
alcooliques et des filles mères, car elle souhaitait accomplir son service
parmi les plus pauvres d'entre les pauvres.
En 1877, elle fut élue
provinciale de sa Congrégation, ainsi qu'en 1881.
En 1883, elle fut la
seule a accepter de se rendre aux Iles Hawaï pour assister les lépreux, alors
que cinquante autres communautés contactées avaient refusé. Son oeuvre en
faveur des malades et des sans-abri dans les Iles Hawaï fut très importante, si
bien qu'en 1884 le gouvernement lui demanda de créer le premier hôpital général
sur l'île de Maui.
En 1889, après la mort du
Père Damien de Veuster, grand apôtre des lépreux, elle accepta de se charger du
foyer pour les garçons en plus de son travail auprès des femmes et des petites
filles. Elle vécut pendant trente ans dans un lieu isolé de l'île Molokai,
exilée volontaire avec ses patients. Grâce à elle le gouvernement promulgua des
lois pour protéger les enfants, et les malades de la lèpre retrouvèrent leur
dignité et la joie de vivre.
Les historiens de son
temps parlent d'elle comme d'une "religieuse exemplaire, au coeur
extraordinaire". Elle ne cherchait qu'à accomplir la volonté de Dieu, ne
souhaitant aucunement obtenir des reconnaissances; sa devise était:
"Seulement pour Dieu".
Elle mourut le 9 août
1818 après une longue vie au service des malades de la lèpre.
SOURCE : http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20050514_molokai_fr.html
Sainte Marianne Cope de Molokai
« Religieuse exemplaire, au cœur extraordinaire »
Marianne Cope (Barbara
Koob) de Molokai naquit le 23 Janvier 1838 à Heppenheim, Hessen-Darmstadt
(Allemagne) dans une famille d'agriculteurs, ses parents émigrèrent alors
qu'elle était enfant aux États-Unis et s'établirent à Utica (État de New York).
Dès l'âge de 15 ans elle souhaita entrer au Couvent, mais elle dut s'occuper de
ses plus jeunes frères car ses parents étaient gravement malades. Elle dut donc
repousser son projet de quelques années.
En 1860, une branche des Sœurs de Saint François de Philadelphie s'établit à
Utica et à Syracuse, près de New York et, à l'âge de 24 ans elle entra dans cet
ordre et prononça ses vœux.
L'apostolat de cette Congrégation se consacrait avant tout à l'éducation des enfants des immigrés allemands ; elle fut donc chargée d'ouvrir et de diriger de nouvelles écoles.
Plus tard sa Communauté fonda les premiers des cinquante hôpitaux généraux des États-Unis qui connurent une grande renommée, offrant leur assistance à tous les malades sans aucune distinction.
Mère Cope s'occupa en particulier des alcooliques et des filles mères, car elle
souhaitait accomplir son service parmi les plus pauvres d'entre les pauvres.
En 1877, elle fut élue provinciale de sa Congrégation, ainsi qu'en 1881.
En 1883, elle fut la seule à accepter de se rendre aux Iles Hawaï pour assister les lépreux, alors que cinquante autres Communautés contactées avaient refusé.
Son œuvre en faveur des malades et des sans-abri dans les Iles Hawaï fut très
importante, si bien qu'en 1884 le gouvernement lui demanda de créer le premier
hôpital général sur l'île de Maui.
En 1889, après la mort du Père Damien de Veuster (Canonisé le 11 Octobre 2009),
grand apôtre des lépreux, elle accepta de se charger du foyer pour les garçons
en plus de son travail auprès des femmes et des petites filles.
Elle vécut pendant trente ans dans un lieu isolé de l'île Molokai, exilée
volontaire avec ses patients.
Grâce à elle le gouvernement promulgua des lois pour protéger les enfants, et les malades de la lèpre retrouvèrent leur dignité et la joie de vivre.
Les historiens de son temps parlent d'elle comme d'une « Religieuse
exemplaire, au cœur extraordinaire ».
Elle ne cherchait qu'à accomplir la volonté de Dieu, ne souhaitant aucunement obtenir des reconnaissances ; sa devise était : « Seulement pour Dieu ».
Elle mourut le 9 Août 1918 après une longue vie au service des malades de la
lèpre.
Marianne Cope de Molokai a été Béatifiée le 14 Mai 2005, à Rome, par le
Cardinal José Saraiva Martins (>>> Homélie), Préfet de la Congrégation pour
la cause des Saints, qui représentait le Pape Benoît XVI.
Elle a été Canonisée le 21 Octobre 2012 par le Pape Benoît XVI.
Mother
Marianne Cope statue dedicated January 23, 2010, in Honolulu
Mother
Marianne Cope statue dedicated January 23, 2010, in Honolulu
SAINTE MARIANNE COPE
(1838-1918)
Vierge, professe Sœur de St Francis,
Missionnaire malades de la lèpre
Barbara Koob (officiellement "Cope") est née le 23 Janvier 1838 à SE Hesse, Allemagne de l'Ouest.
Elle était l'un des 10 enfants nés de Peter Koob, un agriculteur, et Barbara Witzenbacher Koob.
L'année après la naissance de Barbara, la famille a déménagé aux États-Unis.
La famille Koob a trouvé une maison à Utica, dans l'État de New York, où ils
sont devenus membres de la paroisse St Joseph et où les enfants ont assisté à
l'école de la paroisse.
Sœurs de Saint François
Bien que Barbara se sentait appelée à la Vie Religieuse à un âge précoce, sa vocation a été retardée pendant neuf ans en raison d'obligations familiales.
Comme l'aîné des enfants à la maison, elle est allée travailler dans une usine
après avoir terminé huitième année afin de soutenir sa famille lorsque son père
est tombé malade.
Enfin, à l'été de 1862, à 24 ans, Barbara entré les Sœurs de Saint François à
Syracuse, État de New York, le 19 Novembre 1862, elle a reçu l'habit religieux
et le nom "Sr Marianne", et l'année suivante, elle a fait sa
profession Religieuse et a commencé œuvré comme enseignant et directeur dans
plusieurs écoles primaires dans l'État de New York.
Elle a rejoint l'Ordre à Syracuse avec l'intention de l'enseignement, mais sa
vie est vite devenu une série de nominations administratives.
Dieu avait d'autres plans
En tant que membre des conseils d'administration de sa Communauté Religieuse dans les années 1860, elle a participé à la création de deux des premiers hôpitaux de la région centre de New York.
En 1870, elle a commencé un nouveau ministère comme infirmière-administrateur à Saint-Joseph à Syracuse, État de New York, où elle a servi comme administrateur de la tête pour six ans.
Pendant ce temps, elle a mis ses dons de compétences de l'intelligence et de
personnes à la bonne utilisation en tant que facilitateur, démontrant l'énergie
d'une femme motivée par Dieu seul.
Bien que Mère Marianne a souvent été critiqué pour avoir accepté pour
traitement des patients "de paria», comme les alcooliques, elle est
devenue bien connu et aimé dans la zone centrale de New York pour sa
gentillesse, sagesse et praticité terre-à-terre.
En 1883, Mère Marianne, maintenant la Mère Provinciale à Syracuse, a reçu une
lettre d'un Prêtre Catholique demander de l'aide dans la gestion des hôpitaux
et des écoles dans les îles hawaïennes, et surtout de travailler avec les
patients atteints de la lèpre.
La lettre a touché le cœur de Mère Marianne et elle a répondu avec enthousiasme: «J'ai faim pour le travail et je souhaite de tout mon cœur d'être une des élues, dont le privilège, il sera à se sacrifier pour le Salut des âmes des pauvres Islanders ....
Je n'ai pas peur d'une maladie, par conséquent, il serait mon plus grand
plaisir même de pourvoir aux «lépreux» «abandonnés.
Une mère aux lépreux
Elle et six autres Sœurs de Saint François est arrivé à Honolulu en Novembre 1883. Avec Mère Marianne en tant que superviseur, leur tâche principale était de gérer l'Hôpital Direction Kaka'ako sur Oahu, qui a servi de station de réception pour les patients atteints de la maladie de Hansen recueillies auprès de toutes les îles.
Les Sœurs rapidement mis au travail de nettoyage de l'hôpital et tendant à ses
200 patients. En 1885, ils avaient apporté des améliorations majeures aux
conditions et le traitement des patients vivants.
En Novembre de cette année, ils ont fondé aussi le Kapi'olani Accueil dans l'enceinte de l'hôpital, mis en place pour s'occuper des filles en bonne santé de patients atteints de la maladie de Hansen à Kaka'ako et Kalawao.
La décision inhabituelle d'ouvrir une maison pour les enfants en bonne santé
sur les lieux de l'hôpital de la lèpre a été prise parce que les Sœurs des
soins aux personnes si étroitement liée aux personnes atteintes de la maladie
redoutée.
Bl. Damien et Mère Marianne
Mère Marianne a rencontré le Père Damien de Veuster (Béni aujourd'hui Damien est connu comme l’"apôtre des lépreux») pour la première fois en Janvier 1884, quand il était en bonne santé apparente.
Deux ans plus tard, en 1886, après avoir été diagnostiqué avec la maladie de Hansen,
Mère Marianne seul a donné l'hospitalité au Prêtre paria en apprenant que sa
maladie faisait de lui un visiteur indésirable à l'Église et aux chefs de
gouvernement à Honolulu.
En 1887, quand un nouveau gouvernement a pris en charge à Hawaï, ses responsables
ont décidé de fermer l'hôpital Oahu et de la station de réception et de
renforcer l'ancienne politique d'aliénation.
La question sans réponse: Qui serait le soin des malades, qui encore une fois
sera envoyé à un règlement pour les exilés sur la péninsule Kalaupapa sur l'île
de Molokai?
En 1888, Mère Marianne a de nouveau répondu à l'appel à l'aide et a déclaré:
«Nous ferons une joie d'accepter le travail ...".
Elle est arrivée à Kalaupapa plusieurs mois avant la mort du Père Damien avec
Sr Leopoldina Burns et Sr Vincentia McCormick, et était capable de consoler le
Prêtre malade en lui assurant qu'elle saurait fournir des soins pour les
patients à la Maison des garçons à Kalawao qu'il avait fondé.
L'optimisme, la sérénité, la confiance en Dieu
Ensemble, les trois Sœurs s’occupèrent du foyer d’accueil pour 103 filles et
d’une école pour les garçons.
La charge de travail était extrême et la charge semblait parfois écrasante.
Dans les moments de désespoir, Sr Leopoldina traduit: «Combien de temps, Seigneur, dois-je voir que ceux qui sont malades et couvert de lèpre?".
Exemple précieux de Mère Marianne de son intarissable optimisme, la sérénité et
la confiance en Dieu a inspiré l'espoir dans son entourage et a apaisé la
crainte des Sœurs d'attraper la lèpre.
Elle a enseigné à ses
Sœurs que leur premier devoir était de «rendre la vie plus agréable et
confortable que possible pour ceux de nos semblables que Dieu a choisi de
frapper avec cette terrible maladie ...".
Mère Marianne n'est jamais retourné à Syracuse.
Elle est morte à Hawaii, le 9 Août 1918 de causes naturelles et a été enterré
sur le terrain du foyer d'accueil.
Mother Marianne Cope (23 January 1838 – 9 August 1918), was a Franciscan nun of the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Born in Heppenheim (Germany) and entered religious life in Syracuse, New York, she worked, lived and died for the lepers on the island of Moloka‘i in Hawai‘i.
Also
known as
Barbara Cope
Barbara Koob
Maria Anna Barbara Cope
Mother Marianne
Sister Marianne
23 January on
some calendars
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
9 August 1918 at
Kalaupapa, Maui County, Hawaii of
a heart
attack
most relics are
being housed and conserved at the Saint Marianne Cope Shrine and
Museum in Syracuse, New
York, having been transferred there in 2005 as
part of the canonization investigation
there are display relics at
each of the five provinces of the Sisters of Saint Francis
there are two
display relics held
in Rome, Italy,
one given to Pope John
Paul II at the time of the beatification of Saint Marianne,
and one given to Pope Benedict
XVI at the time of her canonization
there is a display relic in
possession of the bishop of
the diocese of Syracuse
there are two
display relics in
possession of the diocese of Honolulu, Hawaii,
one of them enshrined in
the Cathedral Basilica of
Our Lady of Peace, Honolulu on 31 July 2014
there is a display relic in
the parish of Saint Joseph and Saint Patrick in
Utica, New
York, the home parish of Saint Marianne
there is a display relic in
the Church of
the Assumption in Syracuse where Saint Marianne
took her vows, lived and worked
19 April 2004 by Pope John
Paul II (decree of heroic
virtues)
14 May 2005 by Pope Benedict
XVI
beatification recognition
celebrated by Cardinal Saraiva
Martins at Saint
Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, Rome, Italy
21 October 2012 by Pope Benedict
XVI
Additional
Information
other
sites in english
Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace
Hawaii Catholic Herald Saint Marianne’s Nigerian
Connection
Hawaii Catholic Herald: 100th Anniversary of Her Death
images
audio
The
Quiet Flame, by Eva K Betz (Librivox audiobook)
video
fonti
in italiano
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
Readings
I now turn to Marianne
Cope, born in eighteen thirty-eight in Heppenheim, Germany. Only one year old
when taken to the United States, in eighteen sixty-two she entered the Third
Order Regular of Saint Francis at Syracuse, New York. Later, as Superior
General of her congregation, Mother Marianne willingly embraced a call to care
for the lepers of Hawaii after many others had refused. She personally went,
with six of her fellow sisters, to manage a hospital on Oahu, later founding
Malulani Hospital on Maui and opening a home for girls whose parents were
lepers. Five years after that she accepted the invitation to open a home for
women and girls on the island of Molokai itself, bravely going there herself
and effectively ending her contact with the outside world. There she looked
after Father Damien, already famous for his heroic work among the lepers,
nursed him as he died and took over his work among male lepers. At a time when
little could be done for those suffering from this terrible disease, 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 of the spirit of her beloved Saint Francis. – Pope Benedict
XVI‘s canonization homily
for Saint Marianne
To the Reverend Sister
Marianne, Matron of the Bishop Home, Kalaupapa.
To see the infinite pity
of this place,
The mangled limb, the devastated face,
The innocent sufferers smiling at the rod,
A fool were tempted to deny his God.
He sees, and shrinks; but if he look again,
Lo, beauty springing from the breasts of pain!
He marks the sisters on the painful shores,
And even a fool is silent and adores.
– Robert Louis Stevenson
When Mother Marianne made
her famous statement that she was hungry for the work, it was not because she
needed more to do. It was because she knew that her own deep hunger pangs for
the true bread of life would be better satisfied if she met the Eucharistic
Lord in those she fed, in those she clothed, in those she nursed, and in those
least of the least whom she set free from a prison of self-pity, no matter how
justified it might be. – Bishop Larry Silva
MLA
Citation
“Saint Marianne
Cope“. CatholicSaints.Info. 30 June 2023. Web. 23 January 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-marianne-cope/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-marianne-cope/
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St. Marianne Cope
Barbara Cope was born on
23 January 1838 in SE Hessen, West Germany. She was one of 10 children born to
Peter Cope, a farmer, and Barbara Witzenbacher Cope. The year after Barbara’s
birth, the family moved to the United States. The Cope family found a home
in Utica, in the State of New York, where they became members of St Joseph’s
Parish and where the children attended the parish school.
Although Barbara felt
called to Religious life at an early age, her vocation was delayed for nine
years because of family obligations. As the oldest child at home, she went to
work in a factory after completing eighth grade in order to support her family
when her father became ill.
Finally, in the summer of
1862 at age 24, Barbara entered the Sisters of St Francis in Syracuse, N.Y. On
19 November 1862 she received the religious habit and the name “Sr Marianne”,
and the following year she made her religious profession and began serving as a
teacher and principal in several elementary schools in New York State. She
joined the Order in Syracuse with the intention of teaching, but her life soon
became a series of administrative appointments.
As a member of the
governing boards of her Religious Community in the 1860s, she participated in
the establishment of two of the first hospitals in the central New York
area. In 1870, she began a new ministry as a nurse-administrator at St
Joseph’s in Syracuse, N.Y., where she served as head administrator for six
years. During this time she put her gifts of intelligence and people skills to
good use as a facilitator, demonstrating the energy of a woman motivated by God
alone.
Although Mother Marianne
was often criticized for accepting for treatment “outcast” patients such as
alcoholics, she became well-known and loved in the central New York area for
her kindness, wisdom and down-to-earth practicality.
In 1883, Mother Marianne,
now the Provincial Mother in Syracuse, received a letter from a Catholic priest
asking for help in managing hospitals and schools in the Hawaiian Islands, and
mainly to work with leprosy patients. The letter touched Mother Marianne’s
heart and she enthusiastically responded: “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’”.
She and six other Sisters
of St Francis arrived in Honolulu in November 1883. With Mother Marianne as
supervisor, their main task was to manage the Kaka’ako Branch Hospital on Oahu,
which served as a receiving station for patients with Hansen’s disease gathered
from all over the islands.
The Sisters quickly set
to work cleaning the hospital and tending to its 200 patients. By 1885, they
had made major improvements to the living conditions and treatment of the
patients.
In November of that year,
they also founded the Kapi’olani Home inside the hospital compound, established
to care for the healthy daughters of Hansen’s disease patients at Kaka’ako and
Kalawao. The unusual decision to open a home for healthy children on leprosy
hospital premises was made because only the Sisters would care for those so
closely related to people with the dreaded disease.
Mother Marianne met Fr
Damien de Veuster (today Blessed Damien is known as the “Apostle to Lepers”)
for the first time in January 1884, when he was in apparent good health. Two
years later, in 1886, after he had been diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, Mother
Marianne alone gave hospitality to the outcast priest upon hearing that his
illness made him an unwelcome visitor to Church and Government leaders in
Honolulu.
In 1887, when a new
Government took charge in Hawaii, its officials decided to close the Oahu
Hospital and receiving station and to reinforce the former alienation policy.
The unanswered question: Who would care for the sick, who once again would be
sent to a settlement for exiles on the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the island of
Molokai?
In 1888, Mother Marianne
again responded to the plea for help and said: “We will cheerfully accept the
work…”. She arrived in Kalaupapa several months before Fr Damien’s death together
with Sr Leopoldina Burns and Sr Vincentia McCormick, and was able to console
the ailing priest by assuring him that she would provide care for the patients
at the Boys’ Home at Kalawao that he had founded.
Together the three
Sisters ran the Bishop Home for 103 Girls and the Home for Boys. The workload
was extreme and the burden at times seemed overwhelming. In moments of despair,
Sr Leopoldina reflected: “How long, O Lord, must I see only those who are sick
and covered with leprosy?”.
Mother Marianne’s invaluable
example of never-failing optimism, serenity and trust in God inspired hope in
those around her and allayed the Sisters’ fear of catching leprosy. She taught
her Sisters that their primary duty was “to make life as pleasant and as
comfortable as possible for those of our fellow creatures whom God has chosen
to afflict with this terrible disease…”.
Mother Marianne never
returned to Syracuse. She died in Hawaii on 9 August 1918 of natural causes and
was buried on the grounds of Bishop Home.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/st-marianne-cope/
HOMILY OF CARD. JOSÉ
SARAIVA MARTINS
Eminent Cardinals,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood,
Distinguished Authorities,
Dear Pilgrims,
The new-born Church
prepared for the first Christian Pentecost by following an itinerary of faith
in the Risen Lord. It is he, in fact, who gives his Spirit to the people of the
New Covenant.
After Jesus' Ascension to
heaven, the community of disciples was gathered in the Upper Room prior to
being "baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1: 5), and this event
caused them to have an intense experience of fraternity and prayer:
"Together they devoted themselves to constant prayer... with Mary, the
mother of Jesus (cf. Acts 1: 14).
Tonight, we too find
ourselves truly gathered together in the Upper Room. We feel the maternal
presence of Mary and the closeness of the Apostle Peter, over whose tomb this
Basilica arises.
We are now a liturgical
assembly that proclaims the same faith in the Risen Christ; that feeds on the
same Eucharistic Bread; that raises to heaven with persistent faithfulness the
same intercession: "Come, Holy Spirit, send us from heaven a ray of your
light. Come, Father of the poor; come, Giver of gifts; come, Light of hearts (Sequence).
I therefore greet the
many who have left their cities and homes, and those who, travelling across
oceans and continents, are here in order to share with us the grace of
Pentecost and the joy of the Beatification of Mother Ascensión of the Heart of
Jesus and of Mother Marianne Cope.
A cordial greeting to the
Dominican Missionary Sisters of the Rosary and to the Sisters of the Third
Order of St Francis of Syracuse, and to the many pilgrims coming from the
birthplaces and apostolates of the new Blesseds.
Dear brothers and
sisters, the Word of God that was just proclaimed helps us to recall the great
mystery of Pentecost, which signalled the solemn beginning of the Church's
mission in the world.
The Gospel passage ends with the cry of Jesus: "The one who is thirsty,
come to me and drink".
People of every time and
culture are thirsty for life, truth, peace and happiness. They are thirsty for
eternity; they are thirsty for God. Jesus can extinguish this thirst. He said
to the Samaritan woman: "But whoever drinks the water I give him will
never be thirsty" (Jn 4: 14). The water of Jesus is the Holy Spirit, the
Creator and Consoler Spirit, who transforms the person's heart, emptying it of
darkness and filling it with divine life, wisdom, love, good will and joy, thus
realizing the prophecy of Ezekiel: "I will put my spirit within you and
make you live by my statutes" (Ez 36: 27).
The Holy Spirit's
presence in the Church and in individual hearts is a permanent
"inhabitation", dynamic and creative. The one who has drunk the Water
of Jesus will have within himself "rivers of living water" (Jn 7:
38), "a fountain of water that leaps up to provide eternal life" (cf.
Jn 4: 14).
The Holy Spirit changes
the life of the one who welcomes him, renews the face of the earth and
transforms all of creation which - as St Paul affirms in the Second Reading -
"groans and is in agony even until now" (Rom 8: 22), in anticipation
of returning to being the garden of God and of man.
The Holy Spirit is the
inner teacher and, at the same time, the hardy wind that blows the sails of the
barque of Peter to lead it to the shore. Duc in altum! This is the
exhortation that the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II presented to the Church of
the third millennium (cf. Apostolic Letter Novo
Millennio Ineunte, n. 58).
The Apostles experienced
the Holy Spirit and became witnesses of Christ who died and rose, missionaries
for the ways of the world. The same experience is repeated in all those who,
accepting Christ, open themselves up to God and to humanity; it is above all
repeated in the saints, those who are anonymous as well as those who are raised
to the honours of the altar. The saints are the masterpieces of the Spirit, who
carves out the face of Christ and transplants the charity of God in their
hearts.
Our two Blesseds have
opened wide their lives to God's Spirit and have been led by him in their
service to the Church, the poor, the sick and the young.
Bl.
Ascensión of the Heart of Jesus is one of the great missionaries of
the last century. From her youth, she viewed life as a gift for the Lord and
for her neighbour, and she wanted to marry no one except God, to whom she
consecrated herself as a Dominican Missionary Sister at the monastery of St
Rose in Huesca, Spain. She lived unreservedly the dynamism of charity which the
Holy Spirit generates in those who are open to him in their hearts.
The first part of her
apostolate consisted of being a teacher in the school connected to the
monastery. Testimonials recall her as an excellent educator, amiable and
strong, understanding and exacting.
But the Lord had
different plans in store for her. At age 45, he called her to become a
missionary in Peru. With youthful enthusiasm and total trust in Providence, she
left her Country and dedicated herself to the evangelization of the world,
beginning on the American Continent. Her work was so generous, vast and
efficacious that it left a profound mark on the missionary history of the
Church.
She collaborated with the
Dominican Bishop, Ramon Zubieta, in founding the Dominican Missionary Sisters
of the Rosary, of which she was the first Superior General. Her missionary life
was rich in sacrifices, hardships and apostolic fruits. She made many apostolic
trips to Peru, to Europe, and she even went to China. She had the temperament
of an intrepid and tireless fighter, together with a maternal tenderness that
was capable of conquering hearts. Driven by charity for Christ, she showed to
all the charisms of spiritual motherhood. Sustained by a living faith and by a
fervent devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to Our Lady of the Rosary,
she dedicated herself to the salvation of souls, even to the sacrifice of her
very self. And she frequently urged her Daughters to do the same, saying that
souls are not saved without sacrificing themselves. She inspired an ever more
pure and intense charity, and for this, she offered herself as a victim to the
Merciful Love of God.
The life of Bl.
Marianne Cope is a wonderful work of divine grace. She demonstrated
the beauty of the life of a true Franciscan. The encounter of Mother Marianne
with those suffering from leprosy took place when she was far along on her
journey to Christ. For 20 years she had been a member of the Congregation of
the Sisters of the Third Order of St Francis of Syracuse in New York. She was
already a woman of vast experience and was spiritually mature. But suddenly God
called her to a more radical giving, to a more difficult missionary service.
Bl. Marianne, who was
Provincial Superior at the time, heard the voice of Christ in the invitation of
the Bishop of Honolulu. He was looking for Sisters to assist those suffering
from leprosy on the Island of Molokai. Like Isaiah, she did not hesitate to
answer: "Here I am. Send me!" (Is 6: 8). She left everything, and
abandoned herself completely to the will of God, to the call of the Church and
to the demands of her new brothers and sisters. She put her own health and life
at risk.
For 35 years she lived,
to the full, the command to love God and neighbour. She willingly worked with
Bl. Damian de Veuster, who was at the end of his extraordinary apostolate. Bl.
Marianne loved those suffering from leprosy more than she loved her very self.
She served them, educated them and guided them with wisdom, love and strength.
She saw in them the suffering face of Jesus.
Like the Good Samaritan,
she became their mother. She drew strength from her faith, the Eucharist, her
devotion to our Blessed Mother, and from prayer. She did not seek earthly
honours or approval. She wrote: "I do not expect a high place in heaven. I
will be very grateful to have a little corner where I can love God for all
eternity".
"Rivers of living
water will gush forth from the heart" of the one who believes in Christ.
The signs of his presence are summarized in the Letter to the Galatians: They
are: "love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith,
mildness and chastity" (5: 22).
Our two Blesseds brought
to the world the fruits and signs of the Holy Spirit and spoke the language of
truth and love, which alone is capable of breaking down the barriers of culture
and race and of building the unity of the human family, scattered by pride, the
desire for power, the refusal of God's sovereignty, as was explained to us in
the Biblical account of the Tower of Babel (cf. First Reading).
The Holy Father Benedict
XVI has confirmed, in inaugurating his Petrine ministry, that "it is
not power, but love that redeems us! This is God's sign: he himself is love....
God, who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One,
not by those who crucified him" (L'Osservatore Romano English
edition, 27 April 2005, pp. 6-7).
St Irenaeus, commenting
on Pentecost, offered this reflection: "The Holy Spirit has cancelled
separations, has eliminated falsity and has transformed the assembly of peoples
as first fruits to the Lord.... Indeed, just as flour does not mix into dough
or become bread without water, in the same way, neither are we, a scattered
multitude, able to become the one Church in Christ without the "Water'
that comes down from heaven" (Adversus Haereses, 3, 17).
We therefore place our prayer in the hands of Bl. Ascensión of the Heart of Jesus and Bl. Marianne Cope: "Lord, give us this water" (Jn 4: 15). Amen.
Copyright © Libreria
Editrice Vaticana
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE BENEDICT XVI
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 21 October 2012
The Son of Man came to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (cf. Mk 10:45)
Dear Brother Bishops,
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today the Church listens
again to these words of Jesus, spoken by the Lord during his journey to
Jerusalem, where he was to accomplish the mystery of his passion, death and
resurrection. They are words which enshrine the meaning of Christ’s mission on
earth, marked by his sacrifice, by his total self-giving. On this third Sunday
of October, on which we celebrate World Mission Sunday, the Church listens to
them with special attention and renews her conviction that she should always be
fully dedicated to serve mankind and the Gospel, after the example of the One
who gave himself up even to the sacrifice of his life.
I extend warm greetings
to all of you who fill Saint Peter’s Square, especially the official
delegations and the pilgrims who have come to celebrate the seven new saints. I
greet with affection the Cardinals and Bishops who, during these days, are
taking part in the Synodal
Assembly on the New Evangelization. The coincidence between this
ecclesiastical meeting and World Mission Sunday is a happy one; and the word of
God that we have listened to sheds light on both subjects. It shows how to be
evangelizers, called to bear witness and to proclaim the Christian message,
configuring ourselves to Christ and following his same way of life. This is
true both for the mission ad Gentes and for the new evangelization in
places with ancient Christian roots.
The Son of Man came to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (cf. Mk 10:45)
These words were the
blueprint for living of the seven Blessed men and women that the Church
solemnly enrols this morning in the glorious ranks of the saints. With heroic
courage they spent their lives in total consecration to the Lord and in the
generous service of their brethren. They are sons and daughters of the Church
who chose a life of service following the Lord. Holiness always rises up in the
Church from the well-spring of the mystery of redemption, as foretold by the
prophet Isaiah in the first reading: the Servant of the Lord is the righteous
one who “shall make many to be accounted as righteous; and he shall bear their
iniquities” (Is 53:11); this Servant is Jesus Christ, crucified, risen and
living in glory. Today’s canonization is an eloquent confirmation of this
mysterious saving reality. The tenacious profession of faith of these seven
generous disciples of Christ, their configuration to the Son of Man shines out
brightly today in the whole Church.
Jacques Berthieu, born in
1838 in France, was passionate about Jesus Christ at an early age. During his
parish ministry, he had the burning desire to save souls. Becoming a Jesuit, he
wished to journey through the world for the glory of God. A tireless pastor on
the island of Sainte Marie, then in Madagascar, he struggled against injustice
while bringing succour to the poor and sick. The Malagasies thought of him as a
priest come down from heaven, saying, You are our “father and mother!” He made
himself all things to all men, drawing from prayer and his love of the sacred
heart of Jesus the human and priestly force to face martyrdom in 1896. He died,
saying “I prefer to die rather than renounce my faith”. Dear friends, may the
life of this evangelizer be an encouragement and a model for priests that, like
him, they will be men of God! May his example aid the many Christians of today
persecuted for their faith! In this Year of Faith, may his intercession bring
forth many fruits for Madagascar and the African Continent! May God bless the
Malagasy people!
Pedro Calungsod was born
around the year 1654, in the Visayas region of the Philippines. His love for
Christ inspired him to train as a catechist with the Jesuit missionaries there.
In 1668, along with other young catechists, he accompanied Father Diego Luís de
San Vitores to the Marianas Islands in order to evangelize the Chamorro people.
Life there was hard and the missionaries also faced persecution arising from
envy and slander. Pedro, however, displayed deep faith and charity and
continued to catechize his many converts, giving witness to Christ by a life of
purity and dedication to the Gospel. Uppermost was his desire to win souls for
Christ, and this made him resolute in accepting martyrdom. He died on the April
2nd 1672. Witnesses record that Pedro could have fled for safety but chose
to stay at Father Diego’s side. The priest was able to give Pedro absolution
before he himself was killed. May the example and courageous witness of Pedro
Calungsod inspire the dear people of the Philippines to announce the Kingdom
bravely and to win souls for God!
Giovanni Battista
Piamarta, priest of the Diocese of Brescia, was a great apostle of charity and
of young people. He raised awareness of the need for a cultural and social
presence of Catholicism in the modern world, and so he dedicated himself to the
Christian, moral and professional growth of the younger generations with an
enlightened input of humanity and goodness. Animated by unshakable faith in
divine providence and by a profound spirit of sacrifice, he faced difficulties
and fatigue to breathe life into various apostolic works, including the
Artigianelli Institute, Queriniana Publishers, the Congregation of the Holy
Family of Nazareth for men, and for women the Congregation of the Humble Sister
Servants of the Lord. The secret of his intense and busy life is found in the
long hours he gave to prayer. When he was overburdened with work, he increased
the length of his encounter, heart to heart, with the Lord. He preferred to
pause before the Blessed Sacrament, meditating upon the passion, death and
resurrection of Christ, to gain spiritual fortitude and return to gaining
people’s hearts, especially the young, to bring them back to the sources of
life with fresh pastoral initiatives.
“May your love be upon
us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you” (Ps 32:22). With these words,
the liturgy invites us to make our own this hymn to God, creator and provider,
accepting his plan into our lives. María Carmelo Sallés y Barangueras, a
religious born in Vic in Spain in 1848, did just so. Filled with hope in spite
of many trials, she, on seeing the progress of the Congregation of the
Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching, which she founded in 1892, was
able to sing with the Mother of God, “His mercy is on those who fear him from
generation to generation” (Lk 1:50). Her educational work, entrusted to
the Immaculate Virgin Mary, continues to bear abundant fruit among young people
through the generous dedication of her daughters who, like her, entrust
themselves to God for whom all is possible.
I now turn to Marianne
Cope, born in 1838 in Heppenheim, Germany. Only one year old when taken to the
United States, in 1862 she entered the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis at
Syracuse, New York. Later, as Superior General of her congregation, Mother
Marianne willingly embraced a call to care for the lepers of Hawaii after many
others had refused. She personally went, with six of her fellow sisters, to
manage a hospital on Oahu, later founding Malulani Hospital on Maui and opening
a home for girls whose parents were lepers. Five years after that she accepted
the invitation to open a home for women and girls on the island of Molokai
itself, bravely going there herself and effectively ending her contact with the
outside world. There she looked after Father Damien, already famous for his
heroic work among the lepers, nursed him as he died and took over his work
among male lepers. At a time when little could be done for those suffering from
this terrible disease, 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 of the spirit of her beloved Saint Francis.
Kateri Tekakwitha was
born in today’s New York state in 1656 to a Mohawk father and a Christian
Algonquin mother who gave to her a sense of the living God. She was baptized at
twenty years of age and, to escape persecution, she took refuge in Saint Francis
Xavier Mission near Montreal. There she worked, faithful to the traditions of
her people, although renouncing their religious convictions until her death at
the age of twenty-four. Leading a simple life, Kateri remained faithful to her
love for Jesus, to prayer and to daily Mass. Her greatest wish was to know and
to do what pleased God. She lived a life radiant with faith and purity.
Kateri impresses us by
the action of grace in her life in spite of the absence of external help and by
the courage of her vocation, so unusual in her culture. In her, faith and
culture enrich each other! May her example help us to live where we are, loving
Jesus without denying who we are. Saint Kateri, Protectress of Canada and the
first native American saint, we entrust to you the renewal of the faith in the
first nations and in all of North America! May God bless the first nations!
Anna Schaeffer, from
Mindelstetten, as a young woman wished to enter a missionary order. She came
from a poor background so, in order to earn the dowry needed for acceptance
into the cloister, she worked as a maid. One day she suffered a terrible
accident and received incurable burns on her legs which forced her to be
bed-ridden for the rest of her life. So her sick-bed became her cloister cell
and her suffering a missionary service. She struggled for a time to accept her
fate, but then understood her situation as a loving call from the crucified One
to follow him. Strengthened by daily communion, she became an untiring
intercessor in prayer and a mirror of God’s love for the many who sought her
counsel. May her apostolate of prayer and suffering, of sacrifice and
expiation, be a shining example for believers in her homeland, and may her
intercession strengthen the Christian hospice movement in its beneficial
activity.
Dear brothers and
sisters, these new saints, different in origin, language, nationality and
social condition, are united among themselves and with the whole People of God
in the mystery of salvation of Christ the Redeemer. With them, we too, together
with the Synod Fathers from all parts of the world, proclaim to the Lord in the
words of the psalm that he “is our help and our shield” and we invoke him
saying, “may your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you” (Ps 32:20.22).
May the witness of these new saints, and their lives generously spent for love
of Christ, speak today to the whole Church, and may their intercession
strengthen and sustain her in her mission to proclaim the Gospel to the whole
world.
© Copyright 2012 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Memorial
of Mutter Marianne Cope in the St. Peter-Church in Heppenheim
(Bergstraße), Germany
Gedenktafel
für Mutter Marianne Cope in der Kirche St. Peter in Heppenheim (Bergstraße)
Bl. MARIANNE COPE
(1838-1918)
Virgin, Professed Sister of St Francis,
missionary to leprosy patients
Barbara Koob (now
officially "Cope") was born on 23 January 1838 in SE Hessen, West
Germany. She was one of 10 children born to Peter Koob, a farmer, and Barbara
Witzenbacher Koob. The year after Barbara's birth, the family moved to the
United States.
The Koob family found a
home in Utica, in the State of New York, where they became members of St
Joseph's Parish and where the children attended the parish school.
Sisters of St Francis
Although Barbara felt
called to Religious life at an early age, her vocation was delayed for nine
years because of family obligations. As the oldest child at home, she went to
work in a factory after completing eighth grade in order to support her family
when her father became ill.
Finally, in the summer of
1862 at age 24, Barbara entered the Sisters of St Francis in Syracuse, N.Y. On
19 November 1862 she received the religious habit and the name "Sr
Marianne", and the following year she made her religious profession and
began serving as a teacher and principal in several elementary schools in New
York State.
She joined the Order in
Syracuse with the intention of teaching, but her life soon became a series of
administrative appointments.
God had other plans
As a member of the
governing boards of her Religious Community in the 1860s, she participated in
the establishment of two of the first hospitals in the central New York area.
In 1870, she began a new
ministry as a nurse-administrator at St Joseph's in Syracuse, N.Y., where she
served as head administrator for six years. During this time she put her gifts
of intelligence and people skills to good use as a facilitator, demonstrating
the energy of a woman motivated by God alone.
Although Mother Marianne
was often criticized for accepting for treatment "outcast" patients
such as alcoholics, she became well-known and loved in the central New York
area for her kindness, wisdom and down-to-earth practicality.
In 1883, Mother Marianne,
now the Provincial Mother in Syracuse, received a letter from a Catholic priest
asking for help in managing hospitals and schools in the Hawaiian Islands, and
mainly to work with leprosy patients. The letter touched Mother Marianne's
heart and she enthusiastically responded: "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'".
A mother to the lepers
She and six other Sisters
of St Francis arrived in Honolulu in November 1883. With Mother Marianne as
supervisor, their main task was to manage the Kaka'ako Branch Hospital on Oahu,
which served as a receiving station for patients with Hansen's disease gathered
from all over the islands.
The Sisters quickly set
to work cleaning the hospital and tending to its 200 patients. By 1885, they
had made major improvements to the living conditions and treatment of the
patients.
In November of that year,
they also founded the Kapi'olani Home inside the hospital compound, established
to care for the healthy daughters of Hansen's disease patients at Kaka'ako and
Kalawao. The unusual decision to open a home for healthy children on leprosy
hospital premises was made because only the Sisters would care for those so
closely related to people with the dreaded disease.
Bl. Damien and Mother
Marianne
Mother Marianne met Fr
Damien de Veuster (today Blessed Damien is known as the "Apostle to
Lepers") for the first time in January 1884, when he was in apparent good
health. Two years later, in 1886, after he had been diagnosed with Hansen's
disease, Mother Marianne alone gave hospitality to the outcast priest upon
hearing that his illness made him an unwelcome visitor to Church and Government
leaders in Honolulu.
In 1887, when a new
Government took charge in Hawaii, its officials decided to close the Oahu
Hospital and receiving station and to reinforce the former alienation policy.
The unanswered question: Who would care for the sick, who once again would
be sent to a settlement for exiles on the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the island of
Molokai?
In 1888, Mother Marianne
again responded to the plea for help and said: "We will cheerfully
accept the work...". She arrived in Kalaupapa several months before Fr Damien's
death together with Sr Leopoldina Burns and Sr Vincentia McCormick, and was
able to console the ailing priest by assuring him that she would provide care
for the patients at the Boys' Home at Kalawao that he had founded.
Optimism, serenity, trust
in God
Together the three
Sisters ran the Bishop Home for 103 Girls and the Home for Boys. The workload
was extreme and the burden at times seemed overwhelming. In moments of despair,
Sr Leopoldina reflected: "How long, O Lord, must I see only those who
are sick and covered with leprosy?".
Mother Marianne's
invaluable example of never-failing optimism, serenity and trust in God
inspired hope in those around her and allayed the Sisters' fear of catching
leprosy. She taught her Sisters that their primary duty was "to make life
as pleasant and as comfortable as possible for those of our fellow creatures
whom God has chosen to afflict with this terrible disease...".
Mother Marianne never
returned to Syracuse. She died in Hawaii on 9 August 1918 of natural causes and
was buried on the grounds of Bishop Home.
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20050514_molokai_en.html
The
St. Marianne relic, a piece of the saint’s coffin, on display in a reliquary
made by Oahu craftsman Manny Mattos at St. Francis Convent in Manoa, Oahu.
The Sister who cared for
lepers after a request from a king
St Marianne Cope (January
23) insisted on the highest standards of hygiene and on patients' rights
Marianne Cope (1838-1918)
was canonised in 2012 in recognition of her work with lepers in Hawaii.
Originally Barbara Koob,
she was born on January 23 into a farmer’s large family at Happenheim, Hesse,
now in Germany. The next year, 1839, her father emigrated to America. The
family settled at Utica in the state of New York, where five more Koob children
swiftly appeared.
Barbara, educated at the
local parish school in Utica, early felt a religious vocation.
Her father, however,
became an invalid, so for some years she had to work in a factory to help keep
the wolf from the door.
A month after Peter Koob
died in 1862, with her younger siblings now able to fend for themselves, she
entered a Franciscan convent in Syracuse, assuming Marianne as her name in
religion.
After taking her vows she
began teaching in schools for immigrant (mainly German) children. Her
intelligence, strength of character and drive meant that she was soon involved
in other activities, notably directing the opening of two Catholic hospitals, St
Elizabeth’s, Utica (1866), and St Joseph’s, Syracuse (1869).
In charge of
administration at St Joseph’s, Sister Marianne insisted on the highest
standards of hygiene, and stood up for patients’ rights, regardless of race,
religion or moral failing.
By 1883 she was superior
general of her convent. But when Marianne Cope received a letter from King
Kalakaua in Hawaii, asking for help in caring for lepers, she did not hesitate.
“I am hungry for the work,” she wrote back. “I am not afraid of any disease.”
When the ship carrying
Mother Marianne and six other nuns arrived in Honolulu, the bells rang out. At
first she managed a hospital on the island of O’ahu, where lepers were sent for
assessment. Then in 1884 she established a hospital on another island, Maui.
Soon, though, she was
summoned back to O’ahu, to deal with a government-appointed administrator who
had been maltreating the lepers. If the man was not sacked immediately, she
declared, she would return to Syracuse. This threat carried the day, and Mother
Marianne took over the hospital in O’ahu.
Thanks to her vision the
treatment of lepers began to improve, so that few were now sent to the
settlement on the island of Molokai as hopeless cases.
In 1887, however, a new
government closed the hospital on O’ahu, and ordained that lepers would now be
sent to the Kalaupapa peninsula on Molokai. Mother Marianne readily acceded to
requests that she should take charge and spent the rest of her life in the
work.
As well as ministering to
the sick, she organised facilities and education for the healthy children of
lepers. Apparently immune to the disease herself, she remained dynamic to the
end, if latterly confined to a wheelchair.
Father
Damien on funeral bier
with Mother Marianne Cope and Sister Leopoldina
Burns by his side on Monday April 15, 1889, the day of his death.
Presumably photographed by Dr. Sydney B. Swift.
Catholic
Heroes . . . St. Marianne Cope
January 19, 2016
By CAROLE BRESLIN
In the hills outside of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is a leper settlement, Sungai Buloh, located in a lush valley. It is an excellent model for proper urban planning. Lovely gardens, sewers, and wells, churches and other places of worship virtually eliminate the need to leave the village.
With a cure having been found for leprosy, the patient population there has diminished, but their industry in growing some of the most beautiful plants in the country brings people from miles around to purchase them.
Conditions were not like that in the 19th century when lepers were exiled to Molokai, Hawaii, where Marianne Cope eventually went to minister to them.
When Sr. Marianne was born, her father, Peter Koob, and her mother, Barbara Witzenbacher Koob, named her Barbara. She was one of ten children.
The farmer and his wife lived in West Germany about 50 miles south of Frankfurt. Shortly after Barbara’s birth on January 23, 1838, the family moved from Germany to Utica, N.Y.
The Industrial Revolution was in full swing, enabling Peter to find work in a factory. The children settled into the school at St. Joseph’s Parish. From an early age Barbara yearned to enter religious life, but God’s plan called for delay.
When Barbara had just completed eighth grade, her father became incapacitated, so she had to work in the local textile mill to support the family. Not long after this, her father received his United States citizenship which also included his wife and children.
Her father lingered for a few more years and finally died in the summer of 1862. With her father gone and her siblings old enough to support her mother, Barbara’s dream of entering the religious life could now be realized.
She left for Syracuse, N.Y., about 55 miles west of Utica where she entered the Sisters of St. Francis. On November 19, 1862 she received the habit and took the name Sr. Marianne. As a sister she taught and served as a principal at several elementary schools in the state of New York.
Although she joined with the goal of teaching, her administrative skills brought her appointments to positions of great responsibility. She soon became a member of her order’s governing board. Thus she played a major role in the establishment of two hospitals in the central part of New York state.
This experience then led to her beginning a new ministry in 1870. Sr. Marianne became a nurse administrator at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse. Then she served six more years as head administrator.
Having thus demonstrated her administrative skills, she now proved her talent for working with people. Motivated by God alone — possessed of zeal for serving Him through serving her neighbors — she developed a positive work environment known for both its efficiency and compassion.
In these hospitals, Sr. Marianne accepted all persons: rich or poor, those with “respectable” illnesses as well as those suffering from addictions. Her acceptance of the indigents brought her much criticism, but she stood firm in serving them, proving her sincerity and kindness.
News of her compassion, efficiency, and industriousness quickly spread across the country. In 1883 she received a letter from a distant land — Hawaii. A priest wrote, begging her to help him manage the hospitals and schools in Hawaii, and, most important, to help serve the victims of leprosy. Over 50 other orders had been contacted, but they all declined his appeal for help.
Who would want to serve people who were dying of a contagious disease? Only a person in love with Christ would do it. Sr. Marianne, seeking only to do the will of God, joyfully accepted the opportunity to serve the most wretched people in Hawaii.
The letter touched her compassionate heart. She immediately replied to the priest that she and six of her sisters would leave as soon as possible for the tropical islands of Hawaii. She wrote, “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 delight even to minister to the abandoned lepers’.”
Marianne and her sisters arrived in Hawaii on November 8, 1883. Their first chore in Hawaii was to manage the Kaka’ako Branch Hospital in Oahu, the receiving station for the victims of leprosy, who were exiled from the other Hawaiian islands. From there the most severe cases were moved to the nearby island of Molokai for resettlement at Kalawao, on the eastern side of Molokai’s Kalaupapa Peninsula.
In just two years, the sisters had the hospital running smoothly with the patients receiving much more humane treatment. This success in turn led to her being requisitioned by the government to set up the first general hospital on Maui. After a brief while, however, she returned to Oahu when she learned the lepers were being mistreated.
In 1885, the king awarded Mother Marianne the Cross of a Companion of the Royal Order of Kapiolani for her heroic and outstanding work in the hospitals.
Another saint, Fr. Damien de Veuster, had begun serving the leprosy victims on Molokai in 1873, years before Marianne and her sisters arrived there. Marianne met him for the first time in January 1884, when Damien still appeared to be in good health.
Mother Marianne accepted him as both friend and patient, when his leprosy was diagnosed in 1886. Sadly, he was an unwelcome visitor to the civil and church leaders in Honolulu, who wanted him isolated on Molokai.
Then, when a new Hawaiian government took over in 1887, it closed the Oahu hospital and began a severe enforcement of isolation policy for lepers. Hawaii’s isolation law had been approved in 1865.
Once again the victims of this dreaded disease were abandoned and once again Mother Marianne and her sisters joyfully embraced the opportunity to care for these marginalized citizens of Hawaii.
Mother Marianne, Sr. Leopoldina Burns, and Sr. Vincentia McCormick met with Fr. Damian, consoling him in his last hours by pledging to care for the lepers of Molokai. They promised to continue working in the Boys’ Home at Kalawao that he had founded.
They also undertook the running of the Bishop Home for girls. The work was unending, and at times the sisters became overwhelmed with exhaustion, both physically and emotionally; but Mother Marianne provided them an excellent model of cheerfulness and hope.
She told them that her most important goal was “to make life as pleasant and as comfortable as possible for those of our fellow creatures whom God has chosen to afflict with this terrible disease.” Nevertheless, she did call for help and received it in 1895 when four Brothers of the Sacred Heart arrived to take over the Boys’ Home. The sisters then focused on the home for the girls.
Mother Marianne continued to serve the lepers until her death August 9, 1918. Despite her long and close work with victims of leprosy, she never contracted the disease. Marianne was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21, 2012. Her feast is celebrated on January 23.
Dear St. Marianne, help us to see the eternal consequences of our actions. Let
us not dread any temporal diseases, but rather fear the spiritual decay that
comes with ignoring the suffering among us. Intercede for us to serve those in
need as selflessly as you did. Amen.
+ + +
(Carole Breslin
home-schooled her four daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan
Catholic Home Educators for eight years. For over ten years, she was national
coordinator for the Marian Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
SOURCE : https://thewandererpress.com/saints/catholic-heroes-st-marianne-cope/
Mother
Marianne Cope, in her wheelchair, gathers with her fellow Franciscan Sisters
and patients of Bishop Home in Kalaupapa for a photo taken on Aug. 1, 1918,
less than two weeks before her death. (HCH file photo)
MARIANNE COPE |
1838-1918: 100th anniversary of her death
07/25/2018 by Hawaii Catholic Herald
The Molokai saint’s death
a century ago was met with an outpouring of acclaim for her selfless devotion
to the Hawaiian people
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
The death of St. Marianne
of Molokai on Aug. 9 100 years ago was met with outpourings of sorrow and
acclaim for her selfless devotion to the Hawaiian people.
The “heroine” nun went to
her heavenly reward peacefully in her convent bed in Kalaupapa, as her fellow
Franciscan sisters prayed quietly around her. She was 80 and a Sister of St.
Francis for 56 years. She had served Hawaii’s suffering Hansen’s disease
patients for 35 years.
In reporting her death
the next day, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin described Mother Marianne as “one of
the best known and best loved Catholic Sisters in the islands.”
The Aug. 11, 1918,
Honolulu Advertiser wrote, “Throughout the Islands, the memory of Mother
Marianne is revered, particularly among the Hawaiians in whose cause she was
shown such martyr-like devotion. Those who have met the sweet delicate little
woman, whose face was almost spirituelle, have always been impressed with her
intellectual qualities, for she was a woman of splendid accomplishments, and
had fine executive ability. She impressed everyone as a real ‘mother’ to those
who stood so sorely in need of ‘mothering.’”
The Advertiser quoted
Mrs. J.F. Bowler, a leading Catholic laywoman at the time, who said Mother
Marianne “risked her own life … faced everything with unflinching courage and
smiled sweetly throughout it all. … She was a heroine in her life; she is a
martyr in death.”
In the Aug. 18
Post-Standard newspaper of Syracuse, N.Y., the city from which St. Marianne had
come, Fred D. Dutcher predicted: “When the role of the saints is called, Mother
Marianne will be there to answer, ‘Here.’” Her name “will live as that of a
woman whose noble self-sacrifice ranks with the death-defying devotion of the
martyrs of old.”
Mother Marianne died of
natural causes, of old age, weakened by the rigors of her work.
Her final decline
Her biography,
“Pilgrimage and Exile,” by Franciscan Sister Mary Laurence Hanley and historian
O.A. Bushnell, describes the decline of her final years.
“Her body, so overworked
for God’s sake, so generously offered to Lady Poverty’s rule, so relentlessly
chastened at humility’s orders, broke at last. Her heart and kidneys began to
fail more than three years before she died. Like St. Francis, — who neglected
his body with even fiercer distain — she, too, suffered from dropsy.”
Dropsy is an old term for
edema, the swelling of the body’s tissues from the accumulation of excess
water.
At this point, Mother
Marianne needed a wheelchair.
Mother Marianne, not one
to pose for pictures, agreed to have her photo taken by Sister Albina Sluder,
on Aug. 1, 1918, eight days before she died.
“Pilgrimage and Exile”
describes the photographs taken that day.
“They are studies in
deterioration, causes for sorrow. Time has laid grievous marks upon Mother
Marianne and upon all the sisters. Mother, bent and broken, sits sagging in a
corner of the wheel chair. Her face is bloated, with huge pouches under the
eyes and jowls hanging heavy upon the white collar of her habit. The hands are
mottled, gnarled, misshapen. Age and illness have disfigured her, as if she too
had caught the leprosy. In this saddening ruin can be found no trace of the beauty
that once distinguished her.”
“In these portraits of
feeble mortality,” the biography ponders, “we can suspect, lies the meaning
behind Mother Marianne’s willingness to sit for Sister Albina’s recording
camera. ‘Look upon me and learn,’ she is saying. ‘This, too, is God’s will.’”
Days after the photo was
taken, knowing the end was soon, Franciscan Sisters from Maui and Honolulu came
to Kalaupapa to be by Mother Marianne’s side.
Ready for breakfast
Saint Marianne’s final
day started with the sisters getting up at their usual 4 a.m. But at 4:30
Mother Marianne asked all the sisters to gather. Father Andre Maxime was called
to administer the last rites.
Later, after the sisters
had returned from morning Mass, they were surprised to find Mother Marianne
dressed, in her wheelchair, ready for breakfast.
She also came to lunch,
and to dinner, but could not eat those meals, and as Sister Leopoldina Burns
wrote in her journal, “seemed too weak to talk.”
After dinner she asked to
be taken out to the veranda, a favorite place of hers, “just for a little
while.”
“When we reached the
veranda,” Sister Leopoldina recalled, “with an effort she raised her hand as if
in blessing and then it dropped heavily in her lap.”
A little girl passing by
saw Mother Marianne and began to cry. The nun tried to wave, but her hand
“dropped helplessly in her lap.”
She then asked to be
taken to her room where her sisters were waiting for her.
Sister Leopoldina
describes the rest. “About 10 o’clock, knowing Mother was about to leave us we
were all kneeling in her room. Mother looked so peaceful, her full red lips
turned purple, her eyes and mouth were closed, and they never opened again, not
a muscle in her face moved and her breathing so easy one could scarcely know
she was living only for the slight movement of her hand when we would stop
praying.”
Then, a little after 11
p.m., with “a slight movement of her shoulders … she was gone.”
The next day, Mother
Marianne’s body was placed in a “beautifully varnished” coffin made ahead of
time by “Charlie,” the settlement’s coffin-maker. It was carried in procession
to the nearby St. Francis Church for services before being brought back to the Bishop
Home property to be laid to rest at 4 p.m. while patients and residents
gathered around her grave praying and singing.
Silver voices
On Sept. 9, 1918, a month
after her death, Sacred Hearts Bishop Libert Boeynaems celebrated a solemn
requiem Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.
At the Mass, the Honolulu
Advertiser reported “a great throng of worshippers confined not only to Catholics,
but many of other faiths, for Mother Marianne numbered her friends throughout
Hawaii by hundreds.”
Singing at the Mass was a
choir of children from Kapiolani Home, a Honolulu residence for the children of
Hansen’s disease patients that Mother Marianne had founded. Their “silvery
voices rose bell-like in beautiful chants,” the Star-Bulletin said.
The newspaper also noted
“that the ‘kamaainas’ especially mourn the loss of this nun was shown by the
presence of Governor McCarthy, ex-Governor Pinkham, W.R. Castle, Capt. A.L.C.
Atkinson and many other prominent Honoluluans.”
St. Marianne was the only
Franciscan Sister to be buried in Kalaupapa. Her gravesite sits in the shade of
several large trees. Soon after her death, Kalaupapa residents erected a
monument for her, a nearly life-size sculpture of the crucified Christ reaching
down to embrace St. Francis of Assisi.
St. Marianne Cope was
born Barbara Koob on Jan. 23, 1838, in Hessen, West Germany. A year after she
was born, the family immigrated to Utica, N.Y., where the surname Koob became
Cope. Barbara became a U.S. citizen when her father was naturalized.
She joined the Sisters of
St. Francis in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1862 taking the religious name Marianne.
As a young sister, she
was a teacher and principal in several New York schools. Later, as a member of
the Franciscan Sisters’ governing board, she helped establish two of central
New York’s first hospitals: St. Elizabeth’s in Utica in 1866 and St. Joseph’s
in Syracuse in 1869.
She was the superior of
her order when, in 1883, she answered a request from the Hawaiian government
for religious nursing sisters to care for leprosy patients. “I am not afraid of
any disease,” she said, volunteering for the mission. She and six sister
companions arrived in Hawaii on Nov. 8, 1883.
On Oahu, Mother Marianne
was given full control of the Kakaako Branch Hospital for leprosy patients. In
1884, she opened Malulani Hospital, Maui’s first general hospital. In November
1885, she established Kapiolani Home for the female children of leprosy
patients.
Two years after she
arrived in the Islands, Mother Marianne was honored by King Kalakaua with the
medal of the Royal Order of Kapiolani for her acts of benevolence.
Move to Kalaupapa
In 1887, the government
closed the Kakaako hospital, sending leprosy patients directly to Kalaupapa.
Mother Marianne extended her mission to that Molokai settlement knowing it
jeopardized her chance of ever returning to Syracuse.
“We will cheerfully
accept the work,” she said.
Arriving at Kalaupapa
with two youthful assistants several months before Damien’s death, Mother
Marianne assured the ailing priest that she would care for his patients at the
settlement’s boys’ home.
She eventually settled
into caring for Kalaupapa’s women and girls at Bishop Home, a collection of
cottage residences surrounding the sister’s convent.
Mother Marianne’s
treatment of patients was far ahead of its time. She encouraged their education
and social growth, irrespective of the fact that they were all dying of a fatal
disease.
The author Robert Louis
Stevenson, in a visit to Kalaupapa in 1889, praised Mother Marianne and her
sisters in verse, describing their presence as “beauty springing from the
breast of pain.”
Pope John Paul II
declared Mother Marianne “venerable” in 2004. Pope Benedict XVI beatified her
on May 14, 2005, with Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins presiding over the ceremony
in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica.
Pope Benedict XVI
canonized Blessed Marianne in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 21,
2012.
St. Marianne’s remains
had been exhumed in 2005, a requirement for canonization. They were taken to be
enshrined at the Franciscan motherhouse in Syracuse where she got her start in
religious life, and where the hub of her religious order — now called the Sisters
of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities — operates.
When the motherhouse
closed in 2014, her remains, a collection of bones sealed in a 48-by-20-by-12
inch metal box, were returned to Hawaii and are now kept in the Cathedral
Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.
Her final destination
will be a reliquary chapel she will share with a relic of St. Damien of
Molokai, to be built as an addition to the cathedral as part of the church’s
ongoing renovation.
Mass for the centenary of
the death of St. Marianne Cope
Celebrant: Bishop Larry
Silva
6 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 9
The Almeida Center
Saint Francis School
2707 Pamoa Road, Honolulu
Refreshments to follow
If you plan to stay for
refreshments, kindly RSVP by July 31 to Sister William Marie Eleniki, 382-2600
Sponsors: Sisters of St.
Francis of the Neumann Communities
SOURCE : https://hawaiicatholicherald.com/2018/07/25/marianne-cope-1838-1918-100th-anniversary-of-her-death/
Grave
of St Marianne Cope at Kalaupapa
St. Marianne Cope
Feast
day: Jan 23
St. Marianne Cope was
born in western Germany in 1838. She entered religious life in Syracuse, N.Y.
in 1862. She served as a teacher and principal in several schools in the state
and established two of the first hospitals in the central New York area: St.
Elizabeth Hospital in Utica and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse.
In 1883, Mother
Marianne’s community was the only one of fifty to respond positively to an
emissary from Hawaii who requested Catholic sisters to provide health care on
the Hawaiian Islands, especially to those with leprosy.
Over the next five years,
St. Marianne set up a system of long-term education and care for her patients.
She ministered to
patients at Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai. Her time of service overlapped
with the last years of St. Damien of Molokai, a priest who served victims of
Hansen’s disease and himself died of leprosy.
St. Marianne promised her
sisters that none of them would ever contract the disease. To this day, no
sister has. Her care earned her the affectionate title “beloved mother of the
outcasts.”
She died in 1918 and was
beatified on May 14, 2005 and canonized on October 21, 2012, both by Pope
Benedict XVI.
"At a time when
little could be done for those suffering from this terrible disease, Marianne
Cope showed the highest love, courage and enthusiasm," Pope Benedict XVI
said in his homily during the Mass for her canonization. "She is a shining
and energetic example of the best of the tradition of Catholic nursing sisters
and of the spirit of her beloved Saint Francis."
SOURCE : https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-marianne-cope-727
The original gravesite of St. Marianne of Molokai at Bishop Home in Kalaupapa is marked by a statue of St. Francis embraced by the crucified Jesus. (HCH file photo)
St. Marianne Cope
Feastday: January 23
Patron: of lepers, outcasts, those with HIV/AIDS, the Hawaii
Birth: January 23, 1838
Death: August 9, 1918
Beatified: May 14, 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI
Canonized: October 21, 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI
Saint Marianne Cope,
O.S.F. is also known as Saint Marianne of Moloka'i. She was born in Germany on
January 23, 1838 and spent much of her life working in Hawai'i working with
lepers on the island of Moloka'i.
She was beatified in 2005
and declared a saint by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
Cope was born on January
23, 1838 in Heppenheim, in what was then the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Today, that
region is part of Germany. She was baptized Maria Anna Barbara Koob, which was
later changed to Cope.
Just a year after her
birth, her family emigrated to the United States, settling in Utica. New York.
Cope attended a parish school until she reached the eighth grade. By that time,
her father had become an invalid and she went to work in a factory to support
the family.
Her father died in 1862,
and this along with her siblings maturity, permitted her to leave the factory
to pursue a religious life. She became a novitiate of the Sisters of the Third
Order Regular of Saint Francis based in Syracuse, New York. She took the name Marianne
when she completed her formation.
German-speaking
immigrants settled in large numbers in her area of New York state, so she
became a teacher and later a principal at a school for immigrant children.
Cope also helped direct
the opening of the first two Catholic hospitals in central New York. She
arranged for students from the Geneva Medical College in New York to work at
the hospital, but also stipulated that patients should be able to refuse
treatment by them. It was one of the first times in history that the right of a
patient to refuse treatment was recognized.
By 1883, Cope had become
the Superior General of her congregation. It was at this time she received a
plea for help from leprosy sufferers in Hawaii. King Kalakaua himself sent the
letter asking for aid in treating patients who were isolated on the island of
Moloka'i. The King had already been declined by more than 50 other religious
institutes.
Mother Marianne, as she
was then known, left Syracuse with six sisters to attend to the sick, and
arrived on November 8,1883.
Once arrived, Mother
Marianne managed a hospital on the island of O'ahu, where victims of leprosy
were sent for triage. The most severe patients were sent to the island of
Moloka'i.
The next year, Mother
Marianne helped establish the Malulani hospital on the island of Maui.
Her tenure at Malulani
hospital did not last as she was soon called back to O'ahu to deal with claims
of abuse from the government-appointed administrator there. Upon arrival and
following an initial investigation, Mother Marianne demanded that he resign or
she would leave. The government dismissed the administrator and gave her full
management of the hospital there.
Although Mother Marianne
was getting older, he workload only seemed to increase. Soon, she was
responsible for orphans of women who had contracted the disease as well as
clergy who had contracted the disease while working with lepers.
Eventually, Mother
Marianne's work became a burden on her frail body and she was confined to a
wheelchair. Despite this limitation, she continued to work tirelessly. Many
noticed that despite all her years of work she never contracted leprosy
herself, which many regarded as a miracle in itself.
Mother Marianne passed
away on August 9, 1918 and was buried at Bishop Home.
In the years following
her death, several miracles were reported in her name. In 1993, a woman was
miraculously cured after multiple organ failure following prayers to Mother
Marianne. The woman's subsequent recovery was certified by the Church and Mother
Marianne was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on May 14, 2005.
After her beatification,
Mother Marianne's remains were moved to Syracuse, New York and placed in a
shrine.
On December 6, 2011, an
additional miracle was credited to her and approved by Benedict.
On October 21, 2012, she
was officially canonized by Benedict.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=7727
St. Marianne’s Nigerian
connection
07/25/2018 by Hawaii Catholic Herald
Visiting African
archbishop hopes a relic of the Molokai saint will inspire healing in his
violence-stricken country
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
For the first time, a
relic of St. Marianne has been given to a diocese outside of the U.S.
That diocese is Kaduna,
in north-central Nigeria, and its leader hopes that sharing the story of Mother
Marianne will be a positive symbol in his war-torn country. The north and
central regions of Nigeria in particular have experienced a rise in violence in
recent years.
“On a daily basis,
hundreds of people are being killed,” said Kaduna’s Archbishop Matthew Man-Oso
Ndagoso in a July 19 interview with the Hawaii Catholic Herald. “Communities
are being wiped out.”
Fighting has primarily
been between farmers and nomadic herdsmen over land use. Lake Chad and grazing
lands have shrunk with rising temperatures. Majority Muslim herdsmen compete
with primarily Christian farmers for space.
Recent violence resulted
in the killing of 19 people, including two priests, at St. Ignatius Catholic
Church in Ayar Mbalom, Benue state, on April 24. Fifty houses in the village
were also burned.
“Human life has become
like chicken life,” the archbishop said. “We want the international community
to know this is happening.”
“We are pleading on
behalf of all Nigerians that are being killed today.”
Archbishop Ndagoso and
his fellow Nigerian bishops have called on President Muhammadu Buhari, a former
military leader and Muslim who was elected president in 2015, to do more to
stop the violence or resign.
“His duty is to make sure
that he secures our country, to make every Nigerian, regardless of your
religion, regardless of your tribe, feel secure.
“Right now there is
division,” the archbishop said. “Where there is division you need to bring healing.”
St. Marianne’s relic
Archbishop Ndagoso
visited Hawaii July 12-19. His trip included a July 14 stop with Honolulu’s
Bishop Larry Silva to the Kalaupapa peninsula on Molokai.
There Bishop Silva gave
Archbishop Ndagoso a tour of the Hansen’s disease settlement. The archbishop
also celebrated Mass to honor past and present Kalaupapa residents and the
service of Sts. Damien and Marianne of Molokai.
During the pilgrimage,
Sister of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities Alicia Damien Lau presented
the archbishop with a piece of St. Marianne’s coffin, a second-class relic, on
behalf of the Sisters of St. Francis.
On July 15, Archbishop
Ndagoso took the relic to Sacred Heart Church in Pahoa on the Big Island to
celebrate Mass and meet families displaced by the Kilauea eruption.
St. Marianne’s coffin
fragment relic was held in a reliquary made of native Hawaiian woods by
craftsman Manny Mattos, a parishioner of Resurrection of the Lord Parish in
Waipio, Oahu.
“She’s a model of
leadership that we can hold up,” said Archbishop Ndagoso of why he wanted to
take the relic back to Nigeria.
He pointed out of her
willingness, as the superior of the Syracuse Franciscan sisters, to come to
Hawaii herself along with a group of sisters when called to help with nursing needs
in the island. “She didn’t just ask others to go, she actually led them.”
Having Marianne’s relic
will be a great example of that servant leadership, the archbishop said.
“Marianne and Damien,
what they did in Molokai was to heal people, to bring them fullness of life, to
give them their dignity.”
Two Hawaii visits
Archbishop Ndagoso came
to Hawaii for the first time last year at the invitation of his friend and
Hawaii resident Darlene Namahoe. Namahoe met the future archbishop in the late
1990s in Rome, when both were living in the city and attending Mass at Chiesa di
San Patrizio.
Manny Mattos was his
guide during his four-day visit in 2017, which included a stop at the Cathedral
Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. There Archbishop Ndagoso prayed in
front of the relics of St. Damien and St. Marianne.
Mattos recalled the
effect the cathedral visit had on the archbishop. “As soon as he walked out of
the church, he said, ‘Manny, is there any way I can take a relic of Mother
Marianne back to Nigeria?’”
Mattos spoke with Sister
Alicia Damien, who worked on acquiring the coffin fragment for Archbishop
Ndagoso.
With about 196 million
people, Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa and has the seventh
highest population in the world, according to current United Nations
statistics.
Catholic News Service
contributed to this story.
SOURCE : https://hawaiicatholicherald.com/2018/07/25/st-mariannes-nigerian-connection/
Santa Marianna
(Barbara) Cope Religiosa
Festa: 9 agosto
Heppenheim, Germania, 23
gennaio 1838 - Molokai, Hawaii, 9 agosto 1918
Barbara Cope, emigrata da
bambina negli Stati Uniti, entrò tra le Suore del Terz’Ordine Francescano di
Syracuse col nome di suor Marianna; fu anche superiora generale. Quando il
vescovo di Honolulu, nelle isole Sandwich (oggi Hawaii), chiese l’aiuto delle sue
suore per la cura dei lebbrosi, madre Marianna ne scelse sei e partì con loro
per l’isola-lebbrosario di Molokai. Collaborò con il governo locale alla
fondazione di scuole e ospedali e assistette, lebbroso tra i lebbrosi, padre
Damiano de Veuster, morto nel 1889 e canonizzato nel 2009. Madre Marianna,
invece, morì ottantenne nel 1918. Beatificata il 14 maggio 2005 sotto il
pontificato di papa Benedetto XVI, è stata da lui stesso canonizzata il 21
ottobre 2012: è la prima santa francescana del Nord America e l’undicesima tra
i santi provenienti dagli attuali Stati Uniti d’America. I suoi resti mortali
sono venerati dal 2014 in una cappella nella cattedrale di Nostra Signora della
Pace a Honolulu. La sua memoria liturgica cade il 23 gennaio, giorno della sua
nascita.
Nascita e primi anni
Barbara Koob nacque il 23 gennaio 1838 a Heppenheim in Germania, figlia di Peter Koob e Barbara Witzenbacher, agricoltori. Nel 1840, quando lei aveva due anni, la sua famiglia emigrò negli Stati Uniti, stabilendosi nella città di Utica, nello Stato di New York. Suo padre cambiò il cognome da Koob a Cope, dopo aver ottenuto la cittadinanza americana, il che comportava l’estensione della stessa all’intera famiglia.
Da adolescente, Barbara prese a lavorare in una fabbrica per dare un a mano ai
bisogni della famiglia, cresciuta nel frattempo di altri tre fratelli e con il
padre invalido. Frequentando la Scuola parrocchiale di San Giuseppe a Utica,
poté ricevere la Prima Comunione nel 1848.
Vocazione alla vita consacrata
In quest’ambiente fiorì la sua vocazione allo stato religioso, ma tale
desiderio dovette essere accantonato, perché le condizioni economiche della
famiglia non permettevano il suo allontanamento. Solo a 24 anni poté entrare
nell’Istituto delle Suore del Terz’Ordine Francescano di Syracuse, dove, dopo
il noviziato, emise la professione religiosa con il nome di suor Marianna.
Tra le Suore del Terz’Ordine Francescano di Syracuse
L’apostolato di quelle suore, fra l’altro, consisteva nell’educazione dei figli degli emigrati tedeschi. Suor Marianna, quindi, apprese la lingua originaria dei suoi genitori e fu incaricata di dirigere una nuova scuola specifica.
Per le sue doti intellettuali e per la sua generosa dedizione svolse delicati
incarichi nella sua Congregazione, fra i quali la cura dei poveri da lei
prediletti, nei due ospedali di Santa Isabella a Utica e San Giuseppe a
Syracuse (1869). Fu eletta Madre Provinciale nel 1877 e riconfermata
all’unanimità nel 1881.
Una richiesta dalle Hawaii
Due anni dopo, nel 1883, era Madre generale quando le giunse una richiesta del vescovo di Honolulu, che a sua volta girava alle suore una petizione del re delle isole Sandwich, nell’Oceano Pacifico (le attuali Hawaii, 50° Stato degli USA dal 1959), il quale chiedeva di avere infermiere per i lebbrosi abbandonati del regno.
La situazione era critica e già 50 comunità religiose avevano rifiutato la petizione reale. Un religioso, padre Damiano de Veuster, aveva scelto di vivere in quelle condizioni precarie, ma faceva presente che sarebbero state necessarie delle suore.
I malati, strappati dai familiari e dai loro villaggi, venivano portati
nell’isola di Molokai, dove non esistevano edifici idonei né assistenza
sanitaria. Si sarebbe dovuto costruire un ospedale e soprattutto instaurare una
severa terapia igienica generale, specie per i figli più piccoli dei lebbrosi,
che avevano seguito le madri ed erano bisognosi di educazione.
Tra i lebbrosi di Molokai
Madre Marianna scelse sei suore fra le 25 che si erano offerte e partì con loro per fondare una Missione delle Suore del Terz’Ordine Francescano nelle Sandwich; le accompagnò prima a Honolulu e poi a Molokai. Collaborò quindi con il governo locale a istituire ospedali in varie isole dell’arcipelago.
Padre Damiano, che aveva contratto la lebbra nel 1884, venne assistito dalle
suore come gli altri malati: morì nel 1889 (è stato beatificato nel 1995 e
canonizzato nel 2009). Tutto il lavoro organizzativo passò a madre
Marianna, la quale, anche per le minacce delle altre suore di tornarsene con
lei in America, dovette restare a Molokai per salvare la Missione e dimettersi
dal suo incarico.
Trent’anni a servizio dei malati
Non tornò più in America e restò a servire i lebbrosi per quasi 30 anni. Fondò due case separate per i figli dei lebbrosi, tenuti nella più grande igiene, così che una volta adulti potessero essere inseriti sani nella società.
Madre Marianna di Molokai, come ormai veniva chiamata, conosceva uno per uno i
malati e li chiamava per nome. Li istruiva a coltivare quell’arida terra
facendo spuntare arbusti, fiori e alberi, ma soprattutto ridonando loro la
dignità di esseri umani non più emarginati e inutili. Gli storici la
descrissero come «una religiosa esemplare con un cuore straordinario». Morì a
Molokai il 9 agosto 1918 a 80 anni, di morte naturale.
Il processo di beatificazione
Per la fama della sua santità, che crebbe costantemente dopo la sua morte, il 28 luglio 1983 la Santa Sede dava il nulla osta per l’inizio della causa di beatificazione. L’inchiesta diocesana si è quindi svolta a Honolulu dal 9 agosto 1983 al 26 novembre 1988; è stata convalidata il 14 luglio 1989.
In seguito alla consegna della “Positio super virtutibus” nel 1995, si sono
svolte le riunioni dei consultori storici, il 30 aprile 1996, dei consultori
teologi, il 24 ottobre 2003, e dei cardinali e vescovi membri della
Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi, il 13 gennaio 2004. Tutti hanno fornito in
parere positivo circa l’esercizio delle virtù eroiche da parte di madre
Marianna. Il 19 aprile 2004, quindi, veniva promulgato il decreto con cui è
stata dichiarata Venerabile.
Il primo miracolo e la beatificazione
Una settimana dopo, il 27 aprile 2004, l’allora Prefetto della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi, il cardinal José Saraiva Martins, autorizzava la riesumazione dei resti mortali di madre Marianna, sepolti a Kalaupapa, sull’isola di Molokai. Nel febbraio 2005 ricevettero nuova sistemazione nella cappella della casa madre delle Suore Francescane di Syracuse.
Il primo miracolo riconosciuto di madre Marianna è stata la guarigione
inspiegabile avvenuta nel 2004 di una quattordicenne di Syracuse, Katherine
Dehlia Mahoney, da una complicazione in diversi organi.
Secondo la Comunicazione della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi sulle nuove
procedure nei riti della beatificazione, datata 29 settembre 2005, la
celebrazione con cui è salita agli altari si è svolta nella Basilica di San
Pietro il 14 maggio 2005, presieduta dal cardinal Martins come delegato del
Santo Padre. Nella stessa occasione è stata beatificata anche madre Ascensione
del Cuore di Gesù (Florentina Nicol Goñi).
Il secondo miracolo e la canonizzazione
Il secondo miracolo, approvato il 19 dicembre 2011, è stata la guarigione
avvenuta nel 2005 di Sharon Smith, affetta da una pancreatite che le aveva
causato infezioni in tutto il corpo. Madre Marianna è quindi stata canonizzata
da papa Benedetto XVI in piazza San Pietro a Roma il 21 ottobre 2012,
diventando quindi la prima santa francescana del Nord America e l’undicesima
tra i santi provenienti dagli attuali Stati Uniti d’America.
Il culto di santa Marianna Cope
I resti mortali di santa Marianna Cope, riportati nelle Hawaii a causa della
chiusura della casa di Syracuse, sono venerati dal 31 luglio 2014 in una
cappella nella cattedrale di Nostra Signora della Pace a Honolulu. La sua memoria
liturgica cade il 23 gennaio, giorno della sua nascita.
Autore: Antonio
Borrelli ed Emilia Flocchini
Si chiama Barbara, come sua madre, e nasce nel 1838 in Germania, a Heppenheim. Quando ha due anni la famiglia emigra negli Stati Uniti d’America in cerca di fortuna. La meta del padre Peter Cope, modesto agricoltore, è New York. Dopo di lei nascono altri tre fratellini e le condizioni economiche non migliorano. Barbara, da adolescente, lavora in una fabbrica per dare una mano al padre. Nel frattempo frequenta la sua parrocchia. In questo contesto matura il desiderio di farsi suora e aiutare i poveri. La sua scelta deve, però, essere rimandata perché la sua famiglia ha bisogno delle sue braccia per sbarcare il lunario.
Quando Barbara compie ventiquattro anni riesce a realizzare il suo sogno. Aderisce al Terz’Ordine Francescano cambiando il suo nome in Marianna. Ora è una suora e si dedica all’insegnamento, nelle scuole frequentate dai figli di immigrati tedeschi, e alla cura dei malati poveri, ricoverati negli ospedali di Utica e Syracuse (Stato di New York). Marianna si fa valere per il suo impegno. Viene, così, nominata Madre Provinciale della sua congregazione.
Un giorno arriva una lettera del vescovo di Honolulu che chiede, da parte del re delle isole Hawai (diventate il cinquantesimo Stato degli USA nel 1959), alcune suore per assistere i malati di lebbra, abbandonati da tutti in mezzo all’Oceano Pacifico, sulle isole di Molokai e di Honolulu. Fra le congregazioni religiose nessuno si è offerto volontario. Marianna non si tira indietro e, assieme a cinque consorelle, parte per affrontare la sua nuova missione: stare vicino agli ultimi della Terra. Il suo compito è soprattutto quello di fondare strutture di accoglienza per i bambini che hanno seguito nel loro esilio forzato le mamme lebbrose. Sono bambini sani che necessitano di tanta igiene per non essere contagiati, di educazione e istruzione per crescere bene e diventare adulti pronti ad entrare a far parte del mondo del lavoro e della società. Compito che Marianna Cope assolve in maniera esemplare. Madre Marianna di Molokai, come viene chiamata, però, non dimentica i malati. Li conosce tutti e di ognuno ricorda il nome. Li cura e li assiste con amore, li aiuta a coltivare la terra e nello stesso tempo a riscoprire la propria dignità e a superare il senso di abbandono e di emarginazione. Suor Marianna rimane nell’Arcipelago delle Hawai per oltre trent’anni dove muore nel 1918, nell’isola di Molokai, all’età di 80 anni.
Autore: Mariella Lentini
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92194
Mother
Marianne Cope, Syracuse, 1870
Marianna Cope
(1838-1918)
Beatificazione:
- 14 maggio 2005
- Papa Benedetto
XVI
Canonizzazione:
- 21 ottobre 2012
- Papa Benedetto
XVI
- Piazza San Pietro
Ricorrenza:
- 9 agosto
Religiosa professa della
Congregazione delle Suore del Terz’Ordine di San Francesco di Syracuse, nota
come Mother Marianne of Molokai
Accolse di sua volontà
una chiamata a prendersi cura dei lebbrosi delle Hawaii, dopo che molti altri
avevano rifiutato
Marianna Cope, al secolo Anna
Barbara, nacque a Heppenheim (Germania) il 23 gennaio 1838, visse con la sua
famiglia a Utica (New York, USA).
Nutrita dalla fede,
sviluppò il dono della compassione e di saper rispondere a coloro che si
trovavano nella necessità, sempre nel rispetto degli altri e sacrificando se
stessa.
Nel 1862, entrò presso le
Suore Francescane di Siracusa (oggi Congregazione delle Suore di San Francesco
delle Comunità di Neumann) e assunse il nome di Marianne. Oltre ad impegnarsi
nell'insegnamento, fondò e gestì due ospedali, rispettivamente ad Utica e a
Syracuse.
Nel 1877 fu eletta
superiora generale. Nell'espletamento di questo servizio, accolse con coraggio
l'appello del re delle Isole Sandwich (oggi Hawaii), già rifiutato da diverse
congregazioni, di inviare suore ad occuparsi del suo popolo
sofferente. Inizialmente, M. Marianne pensava semplicemente di aiutare le
sei suore volontarie a sistemarsi nella missione ma, profondamente commossa
dalla situazione critica di coloro che erano stati colpiti dal morbo di Hansen
(allora conosciuto come lebbra), lei scelse di rimanere con loro.
Svolse inizialmente, e
per cinque anni, l'apostolato tra i residenti del "Leper Hospital" a
Honolulu e poi, per ulteriori trent'anni, nella Penisola di
Kalaupapa. Durante il suo esilio, scelto liberamente, M. Marianne offri un
rifugio sicuro e amorevole agli emarginati dalla società. Collaborò nell'opera
di San Damiano De Veuster e ne portò avanti l'apostolato dopo che questi morì,
nel 1889 .
Con profonda
sollecitudine materna, M. Marianne promise alle sue consorelle che nessuna di
loro avrebbe contratto la lebbra per Contagio dai pazienti e, fino ad oggi,
così è stato. M. Marianne morì a Kalaupapa il 9 agosto 1918 e fu sepolta tra le
persone che tanto amò in vita. Nel 2004, le sue spoglie furono trasportate
nella cappella della Casa Madre a Syracuse.
La "Madre degli
emarginati" fu beatificata il 14 maggio 2005.
SOURCE : https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/marianna-cope.html
SANTA MESSA E BEATIFICAZIONE DELLE SERVE DI DIO ASCENSIÓN NICOL GOÑI E MARIANNE COPE, 14.05.2005
Alle 17 di oggi,
Solennità di Pentecoste, l’Em.mo Card. Saraiva Martins, Prefetto della
Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi, presiede la Celebrazione dell’Eucaristia
all’Altare della Cattedra della Basilica Vaticana e, per incarico di Sua
Santità il Papa Benedetto XVI, dà lettura della Lettera Apostolica con la quale
il Sommo Pontefice ha iscritto nell’albo dei Beati le Serve di Dio: ASCENSIÓN
NICOL GOÑI (1868-1940), vergine, cofondatrice delle Suore Missionarie
Domenicane del Rosario; MARIANNE COPE (1838-1918), vergine, delle Sister of
Saint Francis, Syracuse, NY. U.S.A.
Pubblichiamo di seguito
l’omelia che l’Em.mo Card. José Saraiva Martins pronuncia nel corso del solenne
rito di Beatificazione:
● OMELIA DELL’EM.MO CARD.
JOSÉ SARAIVA MARTINS
Eminenze Reverendissime,
Venerati Confratelli nell’episcopato e nel sacerdozio,
Distinte Autorità,
Cari Pellegrini,
1. La Chiesa nascente si
preparò alla prima Pentecoste cristiana percorrendo un itinerario di fede nel
Signore risorto. È lui, infatti, che dona il suo Spirito al popolo della Nuova
Alleanza.
La comunità dei
discepoli, dopo l’ascensione di Gesù al cielo, si raccolse nel cenacolo in
attesa di essere "battezzata in Spirito Santo" (At 1,5) e si preparò
all’evento facendo una intensa esperienza di comunione fraterna e di preghiera:
"Erano assidui e concordi nella preghiera … con Maria, la madre di
Gesù" (At 1, 14).
Questa sera anche noi ci
troviamo idealmente riuniti nel cenacolo. Sentiamo la presenza materna di Maria
e la vicinanza dell’Apostolo Pietro, sul cui sepolcro sorge questa Basilica.
Ora siamo una assemblea
liturgica che proclama la stessa fede in Cristo risorto; che si nutre dello
stesso Pane eucaristico; che innalza al cielo, con fiduciosa insistenza, la
stessa invocazione: "Vieni, Santo Spirito, / manda a noi dal cielo/ un raggio
della tua luce. / Vieni, padre dei poveri, / vieni, datore dei doni, / vieni,
luce dei cuori" (Sequenza).
Saluto, pertanto, quanti
hanno lasciato le loro città e le loro case e coloro che, attraversando gli
Oceani e i Continenti, sono qui per condividere con noi la grazia della
Pentecoste e la gioia della beatificazione di di Madre Ascensión del Cuore di
Gesù e di Madre Maria Anna Cope.
Un cordiale benvenuto
alle Suore Missionarie Domenicane del Santissimo Rosario e alle Suore del
Terz’Ordine di San Francesco di Syracuse, e ai numerosi pellegrini, provenienti
dai luoghi di nascita e di apostolato delle nuove Beate.
2. Cari fratelli e
sorelle, la parola di Dio, che è stata ora proclamata, ci aiuta a fare memoria
del grande mistero della Pentecoste, che segnò il solenne inizio della missione
della Chiesa nel mondo.
La pericope evangelica ha
fatto giungere fino a noi il grido di Gesù: "Chi ha sete venga a me e
beva". L’uomo di ogni tempo e di ogni cultura ha sete di vita, di verità,
di pace, di felicità. Ha sete di eternità. Ha sete di Dio. Gesù può estinguere
questa sete. Alla samaritana diceva: "Chi beve dell’acqua che io gli
darò, non avrà mai più sete" (Gv 4,14). L’acqua di Gesù è lo Spirito
Santo, Spirito creatore e consolatore, che trasforma il cuore dell’uomo, lo
svuota dalle oscurità e lo riempie di vita divina, di sapienza, di amore, di
buona volontà, di gioia, realizzando così la profezia di Ezechiele: "Porrò
il mio Spirito dentro di voi e vi farò vivere secondo i miei precetti" (Ez
36, 27).
La presenza dello Spirito
Santo nella Chiesa e nelle singole anime è una "inabitazione"
permanente, dinamica, creativa. Chi avrà bevuto l’Acqua di Gesù, avrà nel suo
seno "fiumi di acqua viva" (Gv 7,38), "una sorgente di
acqua che zampilla per la vita eterna" (Gv 4,14).
Lo Spirito Santo cambia
l’esistenza di chi lo ospita, rinnova la faccia della terra e trasforma tutta
la creazione che – come afferma San Paolo nella 2ª lettura della messa – "geme
e soffre fino ad oggi le doglie del parto" (Rm 8, 22), in attesa di
tornare ad essere il giardino di Dio e dell’uomo.
Lo Spirito Santo è il
maestro interiore e, allo stesso tempo, è il vento gagliardo che gonfia le vele
della barca di Pietro per condurla al largo. Duc in altum! È
l’esortazione che il Sommo Pontefice Giovanni Paolo II ha lanciato alla Chiesa
del terzo millennio (cf. Lett. Apost. "Novo Millennio
Ineunte", 58).
Gli Apostoli fecero
l’esperienza dello Spirito Santo e divennero testimoni di Cristo morto e
risorto, missionari per le vie del mondo. La stessa esperienza si ripete in
tutti coloro che, accogliendo Cristo, si aprono a Dio e all’umanità; si ripete
soprattutto nei santi, sia in quelli anonimi sia in quelli che sono stati
elevati agli onori degli altari. I santi sono i capolavori dello Spirito che
scolpisce il volto di Cristo e infonde nel loro cuore la carità di Dio.
Le nostre due Beate hanno
spalancato la loro vita allo Spirito di Dio e si sono lasciate condurre da lui
nel servizio della Chiesa, dei poveri, dei malati, della gioventù.
3. La Beata Ascensión del
Corazón de Jesús es una de las grandes misioneras del siglo pasado. Desde joven
concibió su vida como un don al Señor y al prójimo, y quiso pertenecer en
exclusiva a Dios, consagrándose como monja dominica en el Monasterio de Santa
Rosa de Huesca, en España. Se dejó llevar, sin reservas, por el dinamismo de la
caridad, infundida por el Espíritu Santo en aquellos que le abren de par en par
las puertas de su corazón.
Su primer campo de
apostolado fue la enseñanza en el colegio anexo al Monasterio. Las fuentes
testificales la recuerdan como educadora excelente, amable y fuerte,
comprensiva y exigente.
Pero el Señor tenía otros
proyectos para ella y, a la edad de cuarenta y cinco años, la llamó a ser
misionera en Perú. Con entusiasmo juvenil y confianza total en la Providencia,
dejó su patria y se dedicó a la tarea de evangelizar, extendiendo su afán a
todo el mundo, a partir del continente americano. Su trabajo generoso, amplio y
eficaz dejó una huella profunda en la historia misionera de la Iglesia.
Colaboró con Mons. Ramón Zubieta, Obispo dominico, en la fundación de las
Hermanas Misioneras Dominicas del Santísimo Rosario, Congregación de la que fue
primera Superiora general. Su vida misionera abunda en sacrificio, renuncia y
frutos apostólicos. Sembró generosamente y cosechó en abundancia. Realizó
frecuentes viajes apostólicos a Perú y Europa, e incluso llegó a China. Tuvo el
temple de luchadora intrépida e infatigable, así como una ternura materna capaz
de conquistar los corazones. Enraizada en la caridad de Cristo, ejerció con
todos su carisma de maternidad espiritual. Sostenida por una fe viva y una
devoción ferviente al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y a Nuestra Señora del Rosario,
se entregó para la salvación de las almas, con olvido completo de sí misma.
Exhortaba frecuentemente a sus hijas a comportarse de la misma manera,
afirmando que no se salvan las almas sin nuestro sacrificio personal. Deseó
ardientemente llegar a una caridad cada vez más pura e intensa y, para alcanzar
esta meta, se ofreció como víctima al Amor Misericordioso de Dios.
4. The life of Blessed
Mary Ann Cope is a wonderful work of divine grace. She demonstrated the beauty
of the life of a true Franciscan. The encounter of Mother Mary Ann with those
suffering from leprosy took place when she was far along on her journey to
Christ. For twenty years she had been a member of the Congregation of the
Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis of Syracuse in New York. She was
already a woman of vast experience and was spiritually mature. But suddenly God
called her to a more radical giving, to a more difficult missionary service.
Blessed Mary Anne, who
was Provincial Superior at the time, heard the voice of Christ in the
invitation of the Bishop of Honolulu. He was looking for Sisters to assist
those suffering from leprosy on the Island of Molokai. Like Isaiah, she did not
hesitate to answer: "Here I am. Send me!" (Is. 6:8). She left
everything, and abandoned herself completely to the will of God, to the call of
the Church and to the demands of her new brothers and sisters. She put her own
health and life at risk.
For thirty-five years she
lived, to the full, the command to love God and neighbor. She willingly worked
with Blessed Damian De Veuster, who was at the end of his extraordinary
apostolate. Blessed Mary Anne loved those suffering from leprosy more than she
loved her very self. She served them, educated them, and guided them with
wisdom, love and strength. She saw in them the suffering face of Jesus. Like
the Good Samaritan, she became their mother. She drew strength from her faith,
the Eucharist, her devotion to our Blessed Mother, and from prayer. She did not
seek earthly honors or approval. She wrote: "I do not expect a high place
in heaven. I will be very grateful to have a little corner where I can love God
for all eternity".
5. "Fiumi di acqua
viva sgorgheranno dal seno" di chi crede in Cristo. I segni della sua
presenza sono stati indicati sommariamente dalla Lettera ai Galati. Essi
sono: "amore, gioia, pace, pazienza, benevolenza, bontà, fedeltà,
mitezza, domino di sé" (Gal 5, 22).
Le nostre due Beate hanno
portato nel mondo i frutti e i segni della presenza dello Spirito Santo, hanno
parlato il linguaggio della verità e dell’amore, il solo capace di abbattere le
barriere della cultura e della razza e di ricostruire l’unità della famiglia
umana, dispersa dall’orgoglio, dalla volontà di potenza, dal rifiuto della
sovranità di Dio, così come ci ha fatto intendere il racconto biblico della
Torre di Babele (cf. 1ª lettura).
Il Santo Padre Benedetto
XVI, inaugurando il suo ministero petrino, ha ribadito che "non è il
potere che redime, ma l’amore! Questo è il segno di Dio: Egli stesso è amore…
Il Dio, che è divenuto agnello, ci dice che il mondo viene salvato dal
Crocifisso e non dai crocifissori" (L’Oss. Rom., 25 apr. 2005, p. 5).
Sant’Ireneo, commentando
la Pentecoste, ha proposto questa riflessione: "Lo Spirito Santo ha
annullato le distanze, ha eliminato le stonature e trasformato il consesso dei
popoli in una primizia da offrire al Signore… Infatti, come la farina non si amalgama
in un’unica massa pastosa, né diventa un unico pane senza l’acqua, così neppure
noi, moltitudine disunita, potevamo diventare un’unica Chiesa in Cristo senza
l’ ‘Acqua’ che scende dal cielo" (Contro le eresie, .3,17).
Nelle mani della Beata
Ascensión del Cuore di Gesù e della Beata Maria Anna Cope deponiamo, pertanto,
la nostra preghiera: "Signore, donaci quest’acqua" (Gv 4,
15). Amen
[00581-XX.02] [Testo
originale: Plurilingue]
[B0276-XX.01]
SOURCE : https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2005/05/14/0276/00581.html
Mother
Marianne Cope, Kalaupapa, 1899
OMELIA DEL SANTO PADRE BENEDETTO XVI
Piazza San Pietro
Domenica, 21 ottobre 2012
Il Figlio dell’uomo è venuto per servire e dare la propria vita in riscatto per molti (cfr Mc 10,45).
Venerati Fratelli,
cari fratelli e sorelle!
Oggi la Chiesa ascolta ancora una volta queste parole di Gesù, pronunciate durante il cammino verso Gerusalemme, dove si doveva compiere il suo mistero di passione, morte e risurrezione. Sono parole che contengono il senso della missione di Cristo sulla terra, segnata dalla sua immolazione, dalla sua donazione totale. In questa terza domenica di ottobre, nella quale si celebra la Giornata Missionaria Mondiale, la Chiesa le ascolta con particolare intensità e ravviva la consapevolezza di essere tutta intera in perenne stato di servizio all’uomo e al Vangelo, come Colui che ha offerto se stesso fino al sacrificio della vita.
Rivolgo il mio saluto cordiale a tutti voi, che riempite Piazza San Pietro, in particolare le Delegazioni ufficiali e i pellegrini venuti per festeggiare i sette nuovi Santi. Saluto con affetto i Cardinali e i Vescovi che in questi giorni stanno partecipando all’Assemblea sinodale sulla Nuova Evangelizzazione. E’ felice la coincidenza tra questa Assise e la Giornata Missionaria; e la Parola di Dio che abbiamo ascoltato risulta illuminante per entrambe. Essa mostra lo stile dell’evangelizzatore, chiamato a testimoniare ed annunciare il messaggio cristiano conformandosi a Gesù Cristo, seguendo la sua stessa vita. Questo vale sia per la missione ad gentes, sia per la nuova evangelizzazione nelle regioni di antica cristianità.
Il Figlio dell’uomo è venuto per servire e dare la propria vita in riscatto per molti (cfr Mc 10, 45).
Queste parole hanno costituito il programma di vita dei sette Beati che oggi la Chiesa iscrive solennemente nella gloriosa schiera dei Santi. Con eroico coraggio essi hanno speso la loro esistenza nella totale consacrazione a Dio e nel generoso servizio ai fratelli. Sono figli e figlie della Chiesa, che hanno scelto la vita del servizio seguendo il Signore. La santità nella Chiesa ha sempre la sua sorgente nel mistero della Redenzione, che viene prefigurato dal profeta Isaia nella prima Lettura: il Servo del Signore è il Giusto che «giustificherà molti, egli si addosserà le loro iniquità» (Is 53,11); questo Servo è Gesù Cristo, crocifisso, risorto e vivo nella gloria. L’odierna canonizzazione costituisce un’eloquente conferma di tale misteriosa realtà salvifica. La tenace professione di fede di questi sette generosi discepoli di Cristo, la loro conformazione al Figlio dell’Uomo risplende oggi in tutta la Chiesa.
Jacques Berthieu, né en 1838, en France, fut très tôt passionné de Jésus-Christ. Durant son ministère de paroisse, il eut le désir ardent de sauver les âmes. Devenu jésuite, il voulait parcourir le monde pour la gloire de Dieu. Pasteur infatigable dans l’île Sainte Marie puis à Madagascar, il lutta contre l’injustice, tout en soulageant les pauvres et les malades. Les Malgaches le considéraient comme un prêtre venu du ciel, disant : Vous êtes notre ‘père et mère’ ! Il se fit tout à tous, puisant dans la prière et dans l’amour du Cœur de Jésus la force humaine et sacerdotale d’aller jusqu’au martyre en 1896. Il mourut en disant : ‘Je préfère mourir plutôt que renoncer à ma foi’. Chers amis, que la vie de cet évangélisateur soit un encouragement et un modèle pour les prêtres, afin qu’ils soient des hommes de Dieu comme lui ! Que son exemple aide les nombreux chrétiens persécutés aujourd’hui à cause de leur foi ! Puisse en cette Année de la foi, son intercession porter des fruits pour Madagascar et le continent africain ! Que Dieu bénisse le peuple malgache !
[Jacques Berthieu, nato nel 1838, in Francia, fu ben presto conquistato da Gesù Cristo. Durante il suo ministero in parrocchia, ebbe il desiderio ardente di salvare le anime. Diventato gesuita, voleva percorrere il mondo per la gloria di Dio. Pastore infaticabile nell’Isola Santa Maria e poi nel Madagascar, lottò contro l’ingiustizia, mentre recava sollievo ai poveri e ai malati. I Malgasci lo consideravano come un sacerdote venuto dal cielo, dicendo: Lei è il nostro ‘padre e madre’! Si fece tutto a tutti, attingendo nella preghiera e nell’amore del Cuore di Gesù la forza umana e sacerdotale di giungere fino al martirio nel 1896. Morì dicendo: «Preferisco morire piuttosto che rinunciare alla mia fede». Cari amici, la vita di questo evangelizzatore sia un incoraggiamento e un modello per i sacerdoti, affinché siano uomini di Dio come lui! Il suo esempio aiuti i numerosi cristiani oggi perseguitati a causa della fede! Possa la sua intercessione, in questo Anno della fede, portare frutti per il Madagascar e il continente africano! Dio benedica il popolo malgascio!]
Pedro Calungsod was born around the year 1654, in the Visayas region of the Philippines. His love for Christ inspired him to train as a catechist with the Jesuit missionaries there. In 1668, along with other young catechists, he accompanied Father Diego Luis de San Vitores to the Marianas Islands in order to evangelize the Chamorro people. Life there was hard and the missionaries faced persecution arising from envy and slander. Pedro, however, displayed deep faith and charity and continued to catechize his many converts, giving witness to Christ by a life of purity and dedication to the Gospel. Uppermost was his desire to win souls for Christ, and this made him resolute in accepting martyrdom. He died on 2 April 1672. Witnesses record that Pedro could have fled for safety but chose to stay at Father Diego’s side. The priest was able to give Pedro absolution before he himself was killed. May the example and courageous witness of Pedro Calungsod inspire the dear people of the Philippines to announce the Kingdom bravely and to win souls for God!
[Pedro Calungsod nacque intorno al 1654, nella regione di Visayas nelle Filippine. Il suo amore per Cristo lo spinse a prepararsi per diventare catechista con i missionari Gesuiti di quel luogo. Nel 1668, assieme ad altri giovani catechisti, accompagnò il P. Diego Luis de San Vitores alle Isole Marianas per evangelizzare il popolo Chamorro. La vita là era dura e i missionari soffrirono persecuzioni a causa di invidie e calunnie. Pedro, però, dimostrò fede e carità profonde e continuò a catechizzare i molti convertiti, dando testimonianza a Cristo mediante una vita di purezza e di dedizione al Vangelo. Molto intenso era il suo desiderio di guadagnare anime a Cristo, e ciò lo rese risoluto nell’accettare il martirio. Morì il 2 aprile 1672. Testimoni raccontano che Pedro avrebbe potuto mettersi in salvo ma scelse di rimanere al fianco di P. Diego. Il sacerdote ebbe modo di dare l’assoluzione a Pedro prima di essere lui stesso ucciso. Possano l’esempio e la coraggiosa testimonianza di Pedro Calungsod ispirare le care popolazioni delle Filippine ad annunciare il Regno di Dio con forza e guadagnare anime a Dio!]
Giovanni Battista Piamarta, sacerdote della diocesi di Brescia, fu un grande apostolo della carità e della gioventù. Avvertiva l’esigenza di una presenza culturale e sociale del cattolicesimo nel mondo moderno, pertanto si dedicò all’elevazione cristiana, morale e professionale delle nuove generazioni con la sua illuminata carica di umanità e di bontà. Animato da fiducia incrollabile nella Divina Provvidenza e da profondo spirito di sacrificio, affrontò difficoltà e fatiche per dare vita a diverse opere apostoliche, tra le quali: l’Istituto degli Artigianelli, l’Editrice Queriniana, la Congregazione maschile della Santa Famiglia di Nazareth e la Congregazione delle Umili Serve del Signore. Il segreto della sua intensa ed operosa vita sta nelle lunghe ore che egli dedicava alla preghiera. Quando era oberato di lavoro, aumentava il tempo per l’incontro, cuore a cuore, con il Signore. Preferiva le soste davanti al santissimo Sacramento, meditando la passione, morte e risurrezione di Cristo, per attingere forza spirituale e ripartire alla conquista del cuore della gente, specie dei giovani, per ricondurli alle sorgenti della vita con sempre nuove iniziative pastorali.
«Que tu misericordia, Señor, venga sobre nosotros como lo esperamos de ti». Con estas palabras, la liturgia nos invita a hacer nuestro este himno al Dios creador y providente, aceptando su plan en nuestras vidas. Así lo hizo Santa María del Carmelo Sallés y Barangueras, religiosa nacida en Vic, España, en mil ochocientos cuarenta y ocho. Ella, viendo colmada su esperanza, después de muchos avatares, al contemplar el progreso de la Congregación de Religiosas Concepcionistas Misioneras de la Enseñanza, que había fundado en mil ochocientos noventa y dos, pudo cantar junto a la Madre de Dios: «Su misericordia llega a sus fieles de generación en generación». Su obra educativa, confiada a la Virgen Inmaculada, sigue dando abundantes frutos entre la juventud a través de la entrega generosa de sus hijas, que como ella se encomiendan al Dios que todo lo puede.
[«Donaci, Signore, il tuo amore: in te speriamo». Con queste parole, la liturgia ci invita a fare nostro questo inno a Dio creatore e provvidente, accettando il suo progetto nella nostra vita. Così fece santa Maria del Carmelo Sallés y Barangueras, religiosa nata a Vic, in Spagna, nel 1848. Ella, vedendo realizzata la sua speranza, dopo molte vicissitudini, contemplando lo sviluppo della Congregazione delle Religiose Concezioniste Missionarie dell’Insegnamento, che aveva fondato nel 1892, poté cantare insieme con la Madre di Dio: «Di generazione in generazione la sua misericordia si stende su quelli che lo temono». La sua opera educativa, affidata alla Vergine Immacolata, continua a portare frutti abbondanti in mezzo alla gioventù mediante l’impegno generoso delle sue figlie, che come lei si pongono nelle mani del Dio che tutto può.]
I now turn to Marianne Cope, born in 1838 in Heppenheim, Germany. Only one year old when taken to the United States, in 1862 she entered the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis at Syracuse, New York. Later, as Superior General of her congregation, Mother Marianne willingly embraced a call to care for the lepers of Hawaii after many others had refused. She personally went, with six of her fellow sisters, to manage a hospital on Oahu, later founding Malulani Hospital on Maui and opening a home for girls whose parents were lepers. Five years after that she accepted the invitation to open a home for women and girls on the island of Molokai itself, bravely going there herself and effectively ending her contact with the outside world. There she looked after Father Damien, already famous for his heroic work among the lepers, nursed him as he died and took over his work among male lepers. At a time when little could be done for those suffering from this terrible disease, 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 of the spirit of her beloved Saint Francis.
[Rivolgo ora lo sguardo a Marianne Cope, nata nel 1838 ad Heppenheim, in Germania. Quando aveva un anno soltanto fu portata negli Stati Uniti, e nel 1862 entrò nel Terz’Ordine Regolare di san Francesco a Syracuse, New York. In seguito, come Superiora Generale della sua Congregazione, Madre Marianne accolse di sua volontà una chiamata a prendersi cura dei lebbrosi delle Hawaii, dopo che molti altri avevano rifiutato. Si recò là con sei consorelle, per gestire un ospedale a Oahu e successivamente fondare l’ospedale Malulani a Maui ed aprire una casa per ragazze i cui genitori erano lebbrosi. Dopo cinque anni, accettò l’invito ad aprire una casa per donne e ragazze nella stessa isola di Molokai, coraggiosamente andandovi lei stessa ed in pratica terminando il proprio contatto con il mondo esterno. Là si prese cura di padre Damiano, già famoso per la sua eroica attività fra i lebbrosi, curandolo sino alla morte e prendendone il posto fra i lebbrosi maschi. Quando ancora si poteva fare poco per quanti soffrivano di questa terribile malattia, Marianne Cope dimostrò l’amore, il coraggio e l’entusiasmo più alti. Ella è un luminoso e forte esempio della migliore tradizione cattolica nell’accudire alle sorelle e dello spirito del suo amato san Francesco.]
Kateri Tekakwitha was born in today’s New York state in 1656 to a Mohawk father and a Christian Algonquin mother who gave to her a sense of the living God. She was baptized at twenty years of age and, to escape persecution, she took refuge in Saint Francis Xavier Mission near Montreal. There she worked, faithful to the traditions of her people, although renouncing their religious convictions until her death at the age of twenty-four. Leading a simple life, Kateri remained faithful to her love for Jesus, to prayer and to daily Mass. Her greatest wish was to know and to do what pleased God.
[Kateri Tekakwitha nacque nell’odierno stato di New York nel 1656 da padre Mohawk e da madre cristiana algonchina, che le trasmise il senso del Dio vivente. Fu battezzata all’età di vent’anni e, per fuggire dalle persecuzioni, si rifugiò nella missione di san Francesco Saverio vicino a Montreal. Là lavorò, fedele alle tradizioni del suo popolo - anche se rinunciò alle convinzioni religiose della sua gente - sino alla morte all’età di 24 anni. Vivendo un’esistenza semplice, Kateri rimase fedele al suo amore per Gesù, alla preghiera e alla Messa quotidiana. Il suo più grande desiderio era conoscere Dio e fare ciò che a Lui piace.]
Kateri nous impressionne par l’action de la grâce dans sa vie en l’absence de soutiens extérieurs, et par son courage dans sa vocation si particulière dans sa culture. En elle, foi et culture s’enrichissent mutuellement ! Que son exemple nous aide à vivre là où nous sommes, sans renier qui nous sommes, en aimant Jésus ! Sainte Kateri, protectrice du Canada et première sainte amérindienne, nous te confions le renouveau de la foi dans les premières nations et dans toute l’Amérique du Nord ! Que Dieu bénisse les premières nations !
[Kateri ci impressiona per l’azione della grazia nella sua vita in assenza di sostegni esterni, e per il coraggio nella vocazione tanto particolare nella sua cultura. In lei, fede e cultura si arricchiscono a vicenda! Il suo esempio ci aiuti a vivere là dove siamo, senza rinnegare ciò che siamo, amando Gesù! Santa Kateri, patrona del Canada e prima santa amerinda, noi ti affidiamo il rinnovamento della fede nelle prime nazioni e in tutta l’America del Nord! Dio benedica le prime nazioni!]
Anna Schäffer aus Mindelstetten wollte als Jugendliche in einen Missionsorden eintreten. Da sie aus einfachen Verhältnissen stammte, versuchte sie die nötige Aussteuer für die Aufnahme ins Kloster als Dienstmagd zu verdienen. In dieser Stellung erlitt sie einen schweren Unfall mit unheilbaren Verbrennungen an den Beinen, der sie für ihr ganzes weiteres Leben ans Bett fesselte. So wurde ihr das Krankenlager zur Klosterzelle und das Leiden zum Missionsdienst. Sie haderte zunächst mit ihrem Schicksal, verstand ihre Situation dann aber als einen liebevollen Ruf des Gekreuzigten in seine Nachfolge. Gestärkt durch die tägliche Kommunion wurde sie zu einer unermüdlichen Fürsprecherin im Gebet und zu einem Spiegel der Liebe Gottes für viele Ratsuchende. Ihr Apostolat des Betens und des Leidens, des Opferns und des Sühnens sei den Gläubigen in ihrer Heimat ein leuchtendes Vorbild, ihre Fürbitte stärke die christliche Hospizbewegung in ihrem segensreichen Wirken.
[Anna Schäffer di Mindelstetten, da giovane, voleva entrare a far parte di un Ordine religioso missionario. Essendo di modesta provenienza, cercò di guadagnare come domestica la dote necessaria per essere accolta in convento. In questo lavoro ebbe un grave incidente con ustioni inguaribili alle gambe, che la costrinsero al letto per tutta la vita. Così, il letto di dolore diventò per lei cella conventuale e la sofferenza costituì il suo servizio missionario. Inizialmente si lamentava della propria sorte, ma poi giunse a interpretare la sua situazione come una chiamata amorevole del Crocifisso a seguirLo. Confortata dalla Comunione quotidiana, ella diventò un’instancabile strumento di intercessione nella preghiera e un riflesso dell’amore di Dio per molte persone che cercavano il suo consiglio. Possa il suo apostolato di preghiera e di sofferenza, di sacrificio e di espiazione costituire un esempio luminoso per i fedeli nella sua Patria, e la sua intercessione rafforzi il movimento cristiano di hospice [centri di cure palliative per malati terminali] nel loro benefico servizio.]
Cari fratelli e sorelle! Questi nuovi Santi, diversi per origine, lingua, nazione e condizione sociale, sono uniti con l’intero Popolo di Dio nel mistero di salvezza di Cristo, il Redentore. Insieme a loro, anche noi qui riuniti con i Padri sinodali venuti da ogni parte del mondo, con le parole del Salmo proclamiamo al Signore che «egli è nostro aiuto e nostro scudo», e lo invochiamo: «Su di noi sia il tuo amore, Signore, come da te noi speriamo» (Sal 32,20-22). Possa la testimonianza dei nuovi Santi, della loro vita generosamente offerta per amore di Cristo, parlare oggi a tutta la Chiesa, e la loro intercessione possa rafforzarla e sostenerla nella sua missione di annunciare il Vangelo al mondo intero.
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Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
