Spots are still available on a tour group from Honolulu to the May 15 beatification of Franciscan Mother Marianne Cope of Syracuse in Rome. Of the 10 people who will be beatified by Pope John Paul II on that day, Mother Marianne is the only American.

As of March 21, Seawind Tours and Travel had about 10 openings on its May 10-17 tour. The trip, which includes a visit to the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Coliseum and a side trip to Assisi, costs $2,946. The price includes five buffet breakfasts, two dinners, hotels in first class or best available hotels in twin-bedded rooms with private bath or shower and admission charges to group sightseeing events.

A second tour from Hawaii, from May 11 to May 20, will leave from Kauai. Arranged by Franciscan Sister Florence Remata, it is already filled with 18 Franciscans associates, friends and relatives of the Franciscan Sisters. They will be staying at a pensione about a 15-minute walk from St. Peter’s Square and will also visit Assisi.

The largest tour is leaving from Syracuse, the Mother Marianne’s home diocese and the location of the motherhouse of the Sister of St. Francis.

Franciscan Sister Angelle Ching is arranging a group of about 90 members of her congregation plus associates, employees and friends. Forty will leave from NewarkAirport and the rest from JohnF.KennedyAirport in New York.

The Syracuse group will stay at Summit Romana, a former convent in Rome. Sister Angelle said that the event will be a pilgrimage, not a tour, with a retreat-like atmosphere.

“This is a true pilgrimage,” she said. “There will be a Mass or a prayer service at every place.”

The pilgrimage will include at least one day in Assisi where the group will visit San Damiano, where Saint Clare served, and Portiuncula, the small little chapel in a huge basilica where Francis did most of this praying.

The Diocese of Syracuse is sending another group, which will include the Bishop of Syracuse James Moynihan.

Not going to the beatification are any diocesan officials from the Diocese of Honolulu or patients from Kalaupapa.

According to Sister Angelle, the young woman who was cured of multiple organ failure, the miracle which led the way to Mother Marianne’s beatification, will be there with two members of her family and her best friend. One, possibly two, of the doctors involved in her case will also attend.

About 17 Franciscan Sisters from Honolulu will travel with the Syracuse group.

Three Hawaii sisters had been among those been picked by a lottery arranged by the sisters to determine who would go.

According to the regional administrator Sister William Marie Eleniki, the other 14 sisters had put their names in the lottery but were not chosen. The Hawaii community decided they should go anyway.

“We had a community gathering last Saturday and after the meeting, we sat down and asked who wanted to go,” she said. “We decided that we need to go. We need to be represented. We are important all the way out there. Anyone who put her name is in is going.”

She said the trip will be financed by “energy, prayers and the [Hawaii] region.”

“We thought about fund raising, but there is not enough time,” Sister William Marie said. “Hopefully, Mother Marianne will take care of us and provide for us.”

Forty-six Sisters of St. Francis serve in Hawaii. Sister William Marie said that more would be attending the event if it weren’t for previous commitments in the school and hospitals where they work.

“Everyone is getting excited and they are pleased with going,” she said. “I was pleased with how many were willing to go.”

For more information on the Seawind Tours and Travel Tour or to make a reservation, contact either Randy King or Alan Tamai at 949-4144 or toll free for neighbor islands at 1-800-424-3324.