What was it that drove the Catholic nun, Mother Marianne Cope of Syracuse, New York? What possessed her to sacrifice her welfare for the most forsaken of humans? Was there indeed a voice inside that spoke to her, a voice few individuals hear or care to respond? There must have been a confidence in another existence, an existence invisible, an existence based on faith and hope. That this intangible “life” was guided not by reality but by the secret beauty of heart and soul. Did Marianne Cope truly think her material world was so transient that her actions were palliative and not curative? The only cure in her strategy was a recovery of broken souls and an earthly demonstration of the love her spirit beliefs instilled. Can this be understood in practical terms? Only in the minute offerings and mercies bestowed: morsels of food, cooling drink, warming garments, soothing waters, tender words. Measures that restored peace and lent comfort to physical sufferings. At the same time, her tender mercies struck deeper, into the interstices of mind and emotion to unravel doubt, worthlessness, despair, and loneliness. That she appeared to be the earthly embodiment of the God about whom she spoke. We are not alone, she preached. None of us. We can seek the nearness of a God who, while invisible, lets those of faith show his presence. Is this scientific medicine? Not in any traditional sense. It is caritas. It is healing in mystery ways. It is immeasurable, weightless, and without formula. Yet it is the thread that links all humankind in bonds of support. It is the visible form of a spirit world that almost every human civilization has envisioned.
Nineteenth-century nursing capabilities of religious orders lent credibility to the effectiveness of what is now considered holistic care – palliative care may be a better expression – for the hopelessly ill. Beyond secular attentiveness to the comfort and cleanliness of sick patients, religious orders, particularly under leadership of spiritually enriched members, delivered a degree of care reaching far beyond basic physical needs. While the likes of Florence Nightingale focused on recovery from ailments through minute attentiveness to cleanliness, ventilation, and bodily comfort, religious orders – and especially those of the Catholic faith – provided a deeper commitment to the mental and emotional disruptions incurred by suffering; those disruptions so easily overlooked by scientific labors to understand and explain anatomic and physiologic changes that disease wrought. This bolstering of beliefs in other worlds and “afterlives” could give the ailing quiet peace and resignation for those disorders of no earthly resolution. Lifting up the psyche in distress – the putative “soul” – while providing comfort to the body was the ultimate manifestation of holistic care. This might be considered the core aim of healing efforts. I will illustrate this through the remarkable efforts of Mother Marianne Cope and her cadre of sisters of Saint Francis (Third Order) in addressing the horrid conditions of those quarantined victims of Hansen’s disease in the Hawaiian Islands.
In her capacity as Superior General of the Third Order of Saint Francis, located in Syracuse in the 1880s, Mother Marianne Cope knew she would never leave the community of Kalaupapa on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai. She had volunteered for her missionary assignment in 1883, first located on the Island of Oahu at the Kakaako “leper” hospital just outside of Honolulu and then to the isolated peninsula of the north side of Molokai called Kalaupapa, then designated as the “leper” colony for patients diagnosed with Hansen’s disease. She had led her sisters on their immersion in selfless care of patients with the feared Hansen’s disease, poorly understood, variably contagious, and horribly disfiguring. Without fanfare but with steady and firm guidance, she was to transform the dirty, run down Kakaako Hospital into a clean, airy dormitory and care facility for patients thought to harbor Hansen’s disease but not yet confirmed or, by virtue of political connections, secluded outside of Honolulu instead of the death sentence to Molokai. Despite a Protestant-leaning Hawaiian society among haoles, she and her sisters earned immense respect and admiration. A description of the sisters that appeared in the Honolulu-based newspaper, Pacific Commercial Advertiser in 1894 remarked:
“These sisters make no parade of religious faith; do not trumpet their self-sacrifice; exhibit no unholy ambition for reward or fame. They discharge a simple obligation, voluntarily assumed. . . . On this little slip of land, jutting out from the precipitous mountains, with the ocean to complete the isolation, may be seen an instance of the rare energy of absolute faith.”
That Catholic nursing had gained respectability in the general public disseminated as far as Hawaii. President of the Hawaii Board of Health in 1883, Walter M. Gibson, appealed to the Catholic bishop of Hawaii, Herman Koeckemann, in January of that year in seeking help for the care of Hansen’s patients at Kakaako and Molokai. He received a favorable response. Mother Marianne embraced the idea of service to the poorest of the poor in health and in spirit and, with permission, agreed to take on Gibson’s task. In January, 1884 she and seven of her sisters arrived on the docks of Honolulu.
Sisters of Saint Francis of the Third Order (Regular), of whom Mother Marianne was a member, centered on vocations of service. They recruited women who had a clear commitment to the religious life. At the same time, they felt a deep motivation to serve the misfortunate and wanted to live according to the “Third Order” of religious communities – outside of the convent in the secular world (“First Order” being monks/priests and friars; “Second Order”, cloistered nuns). The teachings and lifestyle of Saint Francis of Assisi had immense public appeal as a way of simplicity, prayerful reflection, and service. The Third Order of Saint Francis in terms of attracting those who were married or did not want perpetual vows was thought to originate during the second half of the thirteenth century – possibly through the efforts of Saint Francis of Assisi himself – and formalized by Pope Leo X during the 1400s. The offshoot were congregations of sisters, all of whom took solemn vows (poverty, chastity, obedience) as members of the Third Order, Regular. Branches arose throughout Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. Mother houses of various communities of Third Order nuns sprouted up across the northeast, with the mother house in Syracuse, New York founded in 1862. These women focused on works of charity for the sick and destitute according to the charism or spirituality of Saint Francis. These nuns took responsibilities of running schools and staffing hospitals – in service to their communities – in the course of fostering Christian education and ministering to the ill.
There was something almost ethereal about Mother Marianne. She was a tireless worker, organizer, and visionary. Her outward devotion to her God and her profound belief in the goodness of humankind compelled a giving, merciful, and altruistic attitude. The victims of Hansen’s disease under her care, both on Oahu and Molokai received sustenance, physical, and spiritual comfort and protection for an affliction abhorred by many white residents of Hawaii.
She continued her work even in the face of a progressive illness, probably tuberculosis, until her death in 1918 at the age of eighty. Despite her intimate contact with countless victims of Hansen’s disease, she never contracted the ailment. She was buried on the grounds of the “Bishop’s Home” for orphaned girls on Kalaupapa but was eventually moved and interred at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. Not surprising, the Catholic Church canonized her in October, 2012.