Congregation’s bishops unanimously recommend Mother Marianne be called ‘venerable’

By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Every Jan. 23, at the motherhouse of the third Franciscan Order of Syracuse, N.Y., the sisters celebrate the birthday of Mother Marianne Cope with a big cake and ice cream.

Born 166 years ago, the renowned missionary to Kalaupapa has been in heaven six years longer than the 80 she spent on earth.

This year, the Franciscan Sisters have something more than a birthday to celebrate. On Jan. 13, the 20 cardinals and bishops of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted unanimously to recommend that the pope declare her “venerable.”

A venerable decree officially affirms that Mother Marianne “lived a life of heroic virtue” and positions her two steps away from canonization.

The cardinals and bishops’ vote concludes, on a positive note, an extensive 25-year-old examination into the candidate’s life and virtue -- “the most difficult step to fulfill successfully in the canonization process,” according to Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, the Franciscan communities director of Mother Marianne’s cause.

The bishops’ vote followed equally unanimous decisions by the Vatican congregation’s committee of historians and committee of theologians.

Mother Marianne will be called “venerable” until the pope signs a decree, which Sister Mary Laurence expects to happen some time this year.

The Franciscan Sisters are elated. “No more inquiries! No more discussions!” Sister Mary Lawrence wrote in a bulletin announcing the vote.

Sister William Marie Eleniki, regional administrator of the Franciscan Sisters in Hawaii, said the bishop’s vote, after years of waiting, was like “seeing a dream come true.”

“It’s very uplifting for us,” she said, primarily because of the dozens of Hawaii sisters who owe their vocation to Mother Marianne’s example and inspiration.

“We all come from her,” said Sister William Marie, an island-born sister of Hawaiian ancestry.

She said that one fifth of the communities 300 sisters -- about 60 -- are island born. In addition, “sisters from Hawaii have held significant positions in our community,” she said.

There are still two more significant steps before Mother Marianne will be called Saint Marianne -- beatification and canonization itself. Both require a “miracle” -- usually an unexplainable medical healing -- attributed to the candidate’s intercession and also subject to rigorous examination by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

One such medical healing -- the case of a New YorkState girl who about 10 years ago inexplicably and completely recovered from multiple organ failure after prayers were said on her behalf to Mother Marianne -- has been examined and documented by a diocesan tribunal.

The results are already in the hands of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Sister Mary Laurence said.

Once the pope proclaims Mother Marianne venerable, the Vatican congregation can begin its own two-part scrutiny of the cure. First, doctors will examine its scientific veracity. Then theologians will critique its spiritual component.

“We have confidence that we have an excellent case,” Sister Mary Laurence said about the alleged miracle.

Mother Marianne arrived in Hawaii in November 1883 with six other Franciscan Sisters in response to a call for nursing care for Honolulu’s leprosy patients at KakaakoBranchHospital. She was 45.

She worked in Honolulu and on Maui, where she established MalulaniHospital, arriving in Kalaupapa, Molokai, on Nov. 14, 1888, to care for the women patients in Bishop Home. It was five months before the death of Father Damien.

Mother Marianne soon became the settlement’s guiding force.

She died on Aug. 9, 1918, at age 80 and is buried in Kalaupapa.

In 1980, Honolulu Bishop John J. Scanlan established a commission to write the historical report for the cause of Mother Marianne. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints accepted the report in 1983.

The conclusion by congregation’s theologians on their unanimous Oct. 24, 2003, vote in favor of declaring Mother Marianne venerable, stated that, “The life of Mother Marianne of Molokai represents an extraordinary journey of faith in service to God, the church and the whole human family.”

The report quoted the relator of the cause, Jesuit Father Peter Gumpel, who wrote that “in the midst of all kinds of most serious difficulties, [Mother Marianne] was able to render her most outstanding apostolic service to the poorest of the poor.”

The congregation’s historians earlier wrote that, “To an extent which is striking, the specific integrity and heroism of the Servant of God emerge from the documentation of her life and work.”

In addition to island vocations, Mother Marianne’s legacy in Hawaii includes two major Oahu hospitals, two hospices and a middle and high school.