Hubbry Logo
search
logo
2043602

Marianne Cope

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Marianne Cope

Marianne Cope, OSF (also known as Marianne of Molokaʻi; January 23, 1838 – August 9, 1918) was a German-born American Religious Sister who was a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse, New York, and founding director of its St. Joseph's Hospital in the city, among the first of 50 general hospitals in the country. In 1883 she led a group of six other Sisters to the Kingdom of Hawaii to care for persons suffering leprosy on the island of Molokaʻi and aid in developing the medical infrastructure in Hawaiʻi. Despite direct contact with the patients over many years, Cope did not contract the disease.

In 2005, Marianne was beatified by decision of Pope Benedict XVI. She was canonized (declared a saint) by the same pope on October 21, 2012, along with Kateri Tekakwitha, a 17th-century Native American. Cope was the 11th Catholic active in what is now the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church.

She was born Barbara Koob (later anglicized to "Cope") on January 23, 1838, in Heppenheim in the Grand Duchy of Hesse to Peter Koob (1787–1862) and his wife Barbara Witzenbacher (1803–1872). The following year her family emigrated to the United States, settling in the industrial city of Utica, New York. They became members of the Parish of St Joseph, where Barbara attended parish school. By the time she was in eighth grade, her father had developed a disability. As the oldest child, Barbara left school to work in a textile factory to support her family. The family became naturalized as American citizens in the 1850s.

Cope received her First Holy Communion and Confirmation at the historic Old St. Johns Church in Utica, New York.

By the time that their father died in 1862, the younger children in the family were of age to support themselves, so Barbara pursued her long-felt religious calling. She entered the novitiate of the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York. After a year of formation, Cope received the religious habit of the Franciscan Sisters and the new name Marianne. She became first a teacher and then a principal in newly established schools for the region's German-speaking immigrants. Following the revolutions of 1848, more German Catholic immigrants entered the United States.

By 1870, Cope had become a member of the governing council of her religious congregation. She helped found the first two Catholic hospitals in Central New York, with charters stipulating that medical care was to be provided to all, regardless of race or creed. She was appointed by the Superior General to govern St. Joseph's Hospital, the first public hospital in Syracuse, serving from 1870 to 1877.

As a hospital administrator, Cope became involved with the move of Geneva Medical College of Hobart College from Geneva, New York, to Syracuse, where it became the College of Medicine at Syracuse University. She contracted with the college to accept their students for treating patients in her hospital to further their medical education. Her stipulation in the contract—again unique for the period—was the right of the patients to refuse care by the students. These experiences helped prepare her for the special ministry she next pursued.

In 1883, Mother Marianne Cope, by then Superior General of the congregation, received a plea for help from King Kalākaua of Hawaii to care for leprosy sufferers. More than 50 religious congregations had already declined his request for Sisters to do this because leprosy was considered to be highly contagious. She responded enthusiastically to the letter:

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.