Eighty-six-year-old Sister Dorothy Santos spent the past four months laying tile, colored glass and smooth black stones to create a more then life-size mosaic of Mother Marianne Cope. Mother Marianne of Moloka‘i led the first contingent of nuns to Kalaupapa,
Eighty-six-year-old Sister Dorothy Santos spent the past four months laying tile, colored glass and smooth black stones to create a more then life-size mosaic of Mother Marianne Cope. Mother Marianne of Moloka‘i led the first contingent of nuns to Kalaupapa, Moloka‘i, in 1888.
Artists at the Sisters of Sacred Hearts Covenant in Honolulu were commissioned to make the colorful mosaic of Mother Marianne for the Immaculate Conception Parish in Lihu‘e.
The portrait stands to the left of the altar awaiting its frame.
“Once it’s framed,” said Sister Therese Chow, “Marianne will hang across from Damien in the center of the church.”
In 2005 Santos laid the tile and stone for the mosaic of Father Damien. Joseph Chang was the artist who rendered that portrait. In September of 2007 Karen Lucus and Sister Dorothy teamed up to create this latest work. Both Lucus and Chang are Honolulu artists.
“Karen also did the sculpture of the Hawaiian woman in front of Chiefess (Kamakahelei Middle School),” Chow said.
“Blessed Marianne was declared blessed by the church in 2005,” she said. “This year we’re celebrating 125 years of the sisters being here so for that celebration we decided to have a mosaic made just like the one of Damien.”
Chow also said the impending anniversary put a pretty tight timeline on the completion of Mother Marianne’s mosaic. Where Santos had a year to create Damien, she had less than half the time to complete Mother Marianne’s.
In a press release Santos is quoted as saying: “The expression on her face shows love and concern and I fell in love with that picture.”
Mother Marianne left St. Francis of Syracuse, New York, after receiving a letter from Father Damien. Of the 50 religious communities in the United States that were asked for assistance by Damien, only Mother Marianne’s order of sisters agreed to come to Hawai‘i to help.
She is quoted in church literature as saying, “I am not afraid of any disease; hence, it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned lepers.”
She and her sister-nurses arrived in Hawai‘i in 1883 and dedicated themselves to the care of 200 lepers in the Kaka‘ako Branch Hospital on O‘ahu.
Little did she know when she made her journey from New York that she would never return to her Franciscan Motherhouse. She became Father Damien’s successor after his death in 1889.
“She promised the sisters in Syracuse she’d return, but she died in Hawai‘i,” said Chow. “She lived in the islands for 38 years.”
While at Kalaupapa, Mother Marianne predicted that no Franciscan Sister would contract leprosy. When she died in 1918, the Sisters of St. Francis continued their work with victims of Hansen’s Disease and not one ever became afflicted with the disease.
Mother Marianne is on the short list for sainthood. “But it can still take a very long time,” said Chow. “We have to wait for another miracle before she becomes a saint.”
Mother Marianne’s first miracle was when a girl was healed by a prayer to Mother Marianne. “A miracle-cure must be sanctioned by a physician and then it goes to the theologians,” said Chow.
“What this means is asking for help through the intercession of Mother Marianne, but the real miracle happens with God.”
Chow explained how a miracle works: “We ask a person to intercede for us.” In this case it was Mother Marianne, to whom a family prayed for intercession — intercession is a prayer to God on behalf of another person. To be considered for sainthood Chow said there has to be at least two miracles.
“After the first miracle the person becomes blessed,” Chow said.
“To become blessed they had to exhume the body,” said Chow who was present for this process. “They have to make sure everything is right and legal and documented by the church and the forensic team before it goes to Rome.”
All over the islands there are special events going on in celebration of Mother Marianne’s life.
“All of the places she’s been, there’s some sort of celebration,” said Chow.
The Immaculate Conception Parish raised $2,000 to commission the mosaic.
Last Sunday the parish held a blessing at 9:30 mass.
To learn more about Mother Marianne Cope, visit the Immaculate Conception’s small shop for literature and books on the story of her life. Shop hours are from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
