The big dark-coated horse clip-clopped up Fort Street pulling a shiny red carriage decorated with royal Hawaiian insignia, driven by a beefy man in a broad-rimmed hat. In the carriage’s open cab sat three nuns in full black habit, their faces barely visible under their large tent-like veils. Ahead of them, leading the way to the 19th century cathedral, was a procession of 60 men and women from Hawaiian royal societies in formal dress, headed by a trumpet shell blower and a trio of chanters. Four other nuns were on foot.

It was a scene from 125 years ago, though in fact it took place last Saturday, Nov. 8. It was a reenactment of the arrival to Hawaii from Syracuse, N.Y., of Mother Marianne Cope and her six Franciscan Sister companions on the same date in 1883.

The spectacle capped a year of celebration by Hawaii’s Sisters of St. Francis honoring the beginning of a remarkable and continuing history of healthcare, education and charity. That legacy includes the beatification of Blessed Marianne in Rome in 2005.

Replicating the last leg of Mother Marianne’s first ride through Honolulu from Kakaako harbor, the procession started on the mauka side of King Street. It moved up the Fort Street Mall at a solemn pace, past Ross’ and Payless Shoe Store, McDonald’s and L&L Drive-In, holding up city buses on Hotel Street, while young couples with children, bemused street dwellers and other passers-by watched.

The destination was the first nuns’ original one, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace where a bishop and a thick crowd of well-wishers waited. This time the bishop was Larry Silva who, dressed in full vestments and miter, warmly welcomed the nuns and gave them a blessing. A joyful Mass followed in the packed church, the same as 125 years ago.

Afterward, a luau lunch was served next door in the parish hall as the Royal Hawaiian Band played on the mall.

The arriving sisters were represented by seven young lay women — Heather Marsh Manuel as Mother Marianne, and Bibiana Flazer, Ipo Kahapea, Kristin McAndrews, Bonnie Perry, Noe Perry and Kili Perry — who kept their roles through the Mass.

Meanwhile, about 60 real Sisters of St. Francis, 15 joining from the mainland, filled about 10 pews around the altar. Those from Hawaii could be identified by their thick bright red ribbon leis.

Members of Hawaiian royal societies lead the way down Fort Street Mall.

Later, Marsh Manuel told the Hawaii Catholic Herald that it was an honor to portray Mother Marianne and “humbling” to do it in the presence of “all these women” by whom she had been educated. Marsh Manuel is a 1989 graduate from St. Francis School in Manoa.

Portraying the nun with a quiet and dignified grace, Marsh Manuel said she tried mentally to “step back in time,” imagining what it would have been like for Mother Marianne to have landed in a strange place after spending weeks on a train crossing the country and weeks more on a steamer crossing the ocean.

Bishop Silva, in his homily, praised the courage and sacrifice of Hawaii’s first Franciscans.

Unlike ordinary immigrants, the sisters “did not come to make their own lives better,” he said, “just the opposite.”

They took what many would call a “foolhardy risk” in choosing to improve the lives of Hawaii’s outcasts, the bishop said.

“Why would they do this?” Bishop Silva asked.

“It is the intimate encounter with the risen Christ that motivated these women,” he said, answering his question.

It is an encounter Jesus seeks today, the bishop said, as “he continues to reach down and embrace us with his friendship and love so that we can embrace the whole world.”

Attending the Mass was the grandniece of Mother Marianne, Beatrice Fisher, and three other more distant relations, all from the mainland.

In remarks toward the end of the liturgy, Sister William Marie Eleniki, the Hawaii region minister of the Sisters of St. Francis, mentioned both Blessed Marianne and Blessed Damien.

“It is good to remember their goodness,” she said.

Of her predecessor, she said, “We are daughters of Mother Marianne, inspired by her life, continuing in her spirit.”

After Mass, she summed up the entire day: “I thought it was awesome.”

The event being commemorated is “historically important,” she said. “There is a need for these sisters to be recognized. These are the heroes.”

After Mother Marianne’s arrival, the sisters worked at Kakaako Branch Hospital in Honolulu, Malulani Hospital in Maui, Kapiolani Home for girls in Honolulu, and also in Kalaupapa, assisting and succeeding Father Damien.

Mother Marianne died in Kalaupapa in 1918, 35 years after her arrival in Honolulu.

The names of Mother Marianne’s original companions were Sister M. Bonaventure Caraher, Sister Crescentia Eilers, Sister Ludovica Gibbons, Sister M. Rosalia McLaughlin, Sister Renata Nash and Sister Mary Antonella Murphy.

Following the first seven sisters, the next 125 years would bring 150 more, plus more than 70 from Hawaii. They have opened schools, hospitals, hospices, elderly care services, parish nurse programs, and a host of other programs for the sick and elderly.

The coordinator of the anniversary event was Sister of St. Francis Marie Jose Romano. Providing chanting and narration was Halau Hula O Maiki led by kumu hula Coline Aiu.