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| ST. MARRIANE COPE |
| 23 January 2023 |
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Marianne Cope, also known as Saint Marianne of Moloka?i, was a German-born American religious sister who was a member of the Sisters of St Francis of Syracuse, New York, and founding leader of its St. Joseph's Hospital in the city, among the first of 50 general hospitals in the country.
Known also for her charitable works, in 1883 she relocated with six other sisters to Hawai?i to care for persons suffering leprosy on the island of Moloka?i and aid in developing the medical infrastructure in Hawai?i. Despite direct contact with the patients over many years, Cope did not contract the disease.
In 2005, Cope was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI.Cope was declared a saint by the same pope on October 21, 2012, along with Kateri Tekakwitha, a 17th-century Native American. Cope is the 11th person in what is now the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church.
Cope was baptized Barbara Koob, later anglicizing her last name to "Cope". She was born on January 23, 1838, in Heppenheim in the Grand Duchy of Hesse to Peter Koob (1787–1862) and Barbara Witzenbacher (1803–1872). The following year her family emigrated to the United States, settling in the industrial city of Utica, New York. They became members of the Parish of St Joseph, where Cope attended parish school. By the time she was in eighth grade, her father had developed a disability. As the oldest child, Cope left school to work in a textile factory to support her family. Cope, her father, and her siblings became naturalized as an American citizens in the 1850s.
Cope received her First Holy Communion and her Confirmation at Historic Old St. Johns Church in Utica, New York.
By the time their father, Peter Cope, died in 1862, the younger children in the family were of age to support themselves, so Barbara pursued her long-felt religious calling. She entered the novitiate of the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York. After a year of formation, Cope received the religious habit of the Franciscan Sisters and the new name Marianne. She became first a teacher and then a principal in newly established schools for the region's German-speaking immigrants. Following the revolutions of 1848, more German Catholic immigrants entered the United States.
By 1870, Cope had become a member of the governing council of her religious congregation. She helped found the first two Catholic hospitals in Central New York, with charters stipulating that medical care was to be provided to all, regardless of race or creed. She was appointed by the Superior General to govern St. Joseph's Hospital, the first public hospital in Syracuse, serving from 1870 to 1877.
As a hospital administrator, Cope became involved with the move of Geneva Medical College of Hobart College from Geneva, New York, to Syracuse, where it became the College of Medicine at Syracuse University. She contracted with the college to accept their students for treating patients in her hospital to further their medical education. Her stipulation in the contract—again unique for the period—was the right of the patients to refuse care by the students. These experiences helped prepare her for the special ministry she next pursued. |
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