Note: To observe the Jubilee Year of Mercy (which runs through November 20), for several weeks I am featuring women who exemplify one of the corporal or spiritual works of mercy. Today: Visit the sick.
The Basics: Born January 23, 1838, in Germany; died August 9, 1918, in the United States; canonized October 21, 2013, by Benedict XVI; feast day, January 23. Woman religious; nurse; hospital administrator.
The Story: Marianne (born Barbara Koob) likely would have been a success at anything she put her mind to. Fortunately for those suffering from Hansen’s disease (leprosy) in the Hawaiian islands in the late 19th and 
early 20th century, her vocation was advocacy for people many would have rather ignored.
Marianne was born in Germany, one of ten children in a family that moved to the United States when she was very young. She completed schooling through the eighth grade, then worked in a factory for several years to help her family financially after her father became ill. She followed the Lord’s call and entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, New York, in 1862 and initially served as a teacher and principal. But her passion was in healthcare. Marianne helped open two of central New York’s first Catholic hospitals, including transforming a saloon into a medical facility. She and the other sisters helped anyone who needed their assistance, regardless of faith, gender, race, or socioeconomic status.
Marianne rose into administration, but then in 1883 received a request that would change her life and vocation: she was invited to come to the Hawaiian islands to provide care to those suffering from Hansen’s. She spent the next thirty-five years in the islands, managing medical services on several islands for the patients and their healthy children. Marianne’s patients included St. Damien of Molokai in the final months of his life.
Despite constant exposure to the disease for decades, Marianne died of natural causes. She was initially buried in Hawaii, but has been reinterred in Syracuse.
Marianne’s Wisdom: “The charity of the good knows no creed and is confined to no one place.”
What We Can Learn from Marianne: We are all children of God, regardless of physical or mental or emotional ailments. Is there something you can do to show your love to someone whose affliction you find frightening or odious?
To Learn More About Marianne: Take a look at the site for the St. Marianne Cope Shrine and Museum in Syracuse, New York.
To Learn More About Other Women Saints and Blesseds: Come back next week, or consider buying my books, Blessed Are You: Finding Inspiration from Our Sisters in Faith or Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration.
