The nuns who have been researching the life of Mother Marianne Cope have discovered a woman who was a tough, capable, caring administrator. Just the sort of person who might become a saint, which she will next year.
Pope Benedict XVI announced last week that Blessed Mother Marianne will be canonized.
The women of her order, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Newmann Communities, who worked for this goal found Cope to have been many things: friend, teacher, nurse, gardener, seamstress, disciplinarian, administrator, hospital founder and even part politician.
She did it all while being a woman in late-19th and early-20th centuries, supporters said last week.
But she was first a servant of Christ, they said.
Cope had to be tough to be responsible, but she also was very kind, worked tirelessly and lived modestly, as the order's name saint, Francis, taught, said Sister Rose Annette Ahuna.
Her life remains an inspiration, said the 80-year-old nun, one of two from Cope's order who volunteer in the Hansen's disease settlement in Kalaupapa, Molokai.
"Now that I've been here in Kalaupapa for 2 years, I really appreciate all of her sacrificial service," Ahuna said. "She encouraged everyone. She and Father Damien also understood people regardless of their religion. And no matter what she was doing, she would put it down to help someone.
"We now are so busy and have so many beliefs, we could take that lesson today to help any person in need," Ahuna said.
It was Damien, canonized in 2009, and then Cope, who lived at Kalaupapa for 25 years, who are credited with making order out of Kalaupapa's chaos.
They fought for funding and better patient treatment constantly, then built facilities like homes, churches and hospitals. They also balanced enforcement of rules with providing care for people in desperate need.
Cope became known for demanding money from the monarchy and later the territorial governments, who exiled thousands there. She wasn't "afraid to pursue anything for her people," said Sister Davilyn Ah Chick of Honolulu, a Cope expert.
Cope also had to deal with those who didn't want her in charge because she was a woman, her supporters said.
"But she was very determined," Ah Chick said. "She knew very well the needs."
She didn't stay in her own little convent, Ahuna said. She made daily visits everywhere.
Ah Chick said that Cope didn't just sit at a desk to watch over hundreds of women and girls in the Bishop Home, "but she also took care of their dignity."
She had a school built, taught them to sew and plant flowers and gardens. Cope wanted them to see the beauty in life and to lift their spirits, particularly since the disease eventually disfigures patients, Ahuna and Ah Chick said.
Patients knew this was their entire life now, so Cope tried to give them hope, the nuns said.
Back then everyone was essentially on call all night and took shifts. Still, every day before the sunrise, they'd pray together, then walk to St. Francis Church for Mass, Ahuna said.
Ahuna said that Cope was often a shoulder for women to cry on. There was abuse, authorities took families apart, children were removed and pregnancy was not allowed, she said. There was so much suffering, she said.
Ah Chick said she believes that receiving communion every day helped give Cope all the strength she possessed.
The Kalaupapa settlement is now a National Historic Park that preserves the physical remnants of the Hansen's disease era. The state Department of Health is responsible for the last 13 patients. No longer exiles, they can come and go as they please.
Cope died in Kalaupapa in 1918.
St. Damien's story is more widely known, since he was the trailblazer and died from the same disease as patients he devoted himself to.
Ahuna said it was Damien who persuaded Cope to come to Kalaupapa while he stayed in a Honolulu hospital for treatments. He died about a year later, in 1889.
Cope was born in Germany. Her family emigrated to America.
In New York, Cope founded two hospitals, St. Elizabeth and St. Joseph's, which are still successful today.
Cope answered a call for volunteers in 1883 and spent her first years in the islands in Honolulu. She was 45 when she arrived in Kalaupapa.
She had come to an unknown part of the world to work with a misunderstood disease, Ahuna said.
The disease was dreaded and, at that time, incurable, but Cope was known to laugh off fear.
"She did actually get terribly seasick, though," Ahuna said.
The Vatican and its physicians and theologians believe Cope interceded with two miracles, which cured a girl and a woman of fatal diseases.
The park service recognizes Cope as a historical figure of great importance, said Kalaupapa National Historic Park Superintendent Stephen Prokop.
For the past several years, the government has spent more than a $1 million restoring structures associated with Cope's work, like the Bishop Home, dormitories, a chapel, nuns' living quarters and their walking paths. Prokop said that the sisters have helped a great Cope deal, especially with the Cope library and shrine.
"We've been gearing up for this day for a very long time," Prokop said. "Her story is such an important part of the Kalaupapa story."
Some patients and other volunteers want to attend Cope's canonization in Rome. It depends on people's health and raising money, Ahuna said.
Prokop said that the park service and the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu also will hold a celebration at Kalaupapa.
Then the tiny, nearly inaccessible community will be home to two saints and more pilgrims will likely visit.
Cope, like Damien, was buried there. They both were later exhumed by the church. Ahuna said that several trees Cope planted are still located near her memorial.
Every day now, Ahuna walks the paths Cope did.
"There is a sacredness of the whole place, because there is so much sorrow in its history, but there is so much happiness, too," Ahuna said. "It is such a special place. You can feel a presence here."
The church needs people to aspire to be like Blessed Mother Marianne and St. Damien, the sisters said. But Cope was very humble, they also noted.
"I'm sure she'd be saying, 'What is all this fuss about me for? Oh, forget about it,'" Ah Chick said.
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