From Germany to New York to Hawaii, St. Marianne Cope traveled across the world to joyfully care for and show the poor and marginalized the undying love of Christ when others abandoned them.

Born Barbara Koob in western Germany in 1838, Barbara’s family emigrated to the United States the following year. As the eldest in a large family, she helped care for her family until the age of 24, when she entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, NY, and received the new name Marianne Cope.

While she began religious life as a teacher and principal of elementary schools, God had other plans for the future saint and led her to help establish the first two Catholic hospitals in central New York. She served as head administrator for one and ensured the hospitals accepted “outcast” patients for treatment, serving the lowest of society with her signature kindness.

In 1883, the Hawaiian government reached out to religious communities in the U.S. and Canada, searching for someone to run the Kaka’ako Receiving Station where those suspected of having leprosy were housed. Thirty-five sisters volunteered, and the now Mother Marianne and six others left for the islands.

The sisters began serving exiled Hawaiians on Oahu, and soon they opened a home to care for the healthy children of exiled patients. While Father Damien of Molokai oversaw the boys’ home, Mother Marianne managed the girls’ home and also managed the island’s first general hospital. In 1888, she and the sisters moved to Kalaupapa to care for those exiled to the island of Molokai with Hansen’s disease. There, Marianne cared for Father Damien in his final months. She was known for changing daily life for the exiled, brightening otherwise dreary lives with bright scarves and dresses for the women.

As Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, said of Marianne at her beatification in 2005: “She spoke the language of truth and love to the world.” Marianne was canonized in 2012 by Pope Benedict. The Sisters of St. Francis still serve the people of Hawaii today.

St. Marianne Cope, pray for us!