New American Saints

Mother Marianne becomes an American saint

Health pioneer opened NY hospitals, cared for Hansen's disease patients in Hawaii

Author: By Jen Christensen CNN

Published On: Oct 20 2012 01:40:53 PM EDT Updated On: Oct 20 2012 02:54:33 PM EDT

(CNN) -
An American health care pioneer will receive the Roman Catholic Church's highest honor this weekend.

On Sunday, Mother Marianne Cope -- along with another North American, Kateri Tekakwitha -- will become a saint, a designation so difficult to achieve that only 10 other Americans have been canonized before her.

Saint Marianne Cope, as she will soon be known, may be best remembered for her work with patients suffering from Hansen's disease -- or lepers, as they were called at the time.

In Hawaii in the late 1800s, people were so afraid of the disease that even those with simple, unrelated rashes were often banished to the remote island of Molokai. They remained at this leper colony for the rest of their lives, far away from family and friends. Their children became orphans.

An island priest who was worried about this health crisis wrote to nearly 50 different religious congregations asking for help. But the work was perceived as so dangerous that only Mother Marianne responded. Before she made her long journey to the remote islands, though, she radically changed medical practices on the mainland...

http://www.clickondetroit.com/lifes...0442/17069538/-/item/0/-/iw74ouz/-/index.html

October 21, 2012 at 6:52 am

Pope names 7 new saints, seeks to revive faith

By Nicole Winfield
Associated Press

Vatican City — Pope Benedict XVI added seven more saints onto the roster of Catholic role models on Sunday, saying their example would strengthen the church it tries to rekindle the faith in places where it's lagging. Two of them were Americans: Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint from the U.S. and Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th century Franciscan nun who cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii.

Native Americans in beaded and feathered headdresses and leather-fringed tunics sang songs to Kateri as the sun rose over St. Peter's Square ahead of the Mass. Also taking part was Sharon Smith, whose cure from complications from pancreatitis was deemed a "miracle" by the Vatican, paving the way for Mother Marianne to be canonized.

In his homily, Benedict praised each of the seven new saints as examples for the entire church, calling Cope a "shining" example for Catholics and Kateri an inspiration to indigenous faithful across North America.

"With heroic courage they spent their lives in total consecration to the Lord and in the generous service of their brethren," he said...

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121021/LIFESTYLE04/210210321#ixzz29wciOZC3