[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 151 (Thursday, November 29, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H6511-H6512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATING THE CANONIZATION OF SAINT MARIANNE OF MOLOKAI

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Hawaii (Ms. Hirono) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a resolution 
commemorating the remarkable life of service of Mother Marianne Cope of 
Molokai, and her canonization as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church 
on October 21, 2012. She joins Saint Damien of Molokai among the 12 
American saints.
  I am joined in introducing this resolution by Congresswoman Ann Marie 
Buerkle, who represents Syracuse, New York, where Mother Marianne's 
Order of the Sisters of Saint Francis is based; by Congressman Richard 
Hanna, who represents Utica, New York, where Mother Marianne grew up; 
and by Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, who represents Hawaii's First 
Congressional District. I am proud to represent Hawaii's Second 
Congressional District, which includes the island of Molokai.
  It may seem surprising that one-sixth of America's saints are 
connected to the tiny Kalaupapa Peninsula on the Hawaiian island of 
Molokai. The story of Kalaupapa is heartbreaking.
  We have all heard of how isolated native populations are especially 
susceptible to new diseases. Once Westerners and other peoples came to 
Hawaii, diseases like smallpox and measles caused high mortality. It 
was no different with leprosy. Native Hawaiians made up the majority of 
those afflicted with this disease.
  To stem the spread of leprosy, the Kingdom of Hawaii decided in 1866 
to forcibly relocate persons found to have the disease to the Kalaupapa 
Peninsula. Those with the disease were outcasts in every sense of the 
word. Kalaupapa was chosen because it is surrounded by the ocean and 
some of the tallest sea cliffs in the world, effectively cutting off 
escape.

                              {time}  1040

  Mothers, fathers, and children who contracted the disease were taken 
from their families and brought to Kalaupapa, where living conditions 
were terrible and medical care almost nonexistent. Father Damien, who 
ultimately contracted and died from the disease, is recognized 
throughout the world for all he did to improve conditions for the 
outcasts of Kalaupapa. Mother Marianne carried on and expanded on his 
work. This resolution honors Mother Marianne for her legacy of 
compassionate care and recognizes her example of what it truly means to 
dedicate one's life in service to others. One does not need to be 
Catholic to be humbled and inspired by the life of someone who devoted 
herself so selflessly to those whom almost everyone else shunned and 
rejected.
  Mother Marianne, born Barbara Koob, immigrated to this country from 
Germany as a young girl. She and her family settled in Utica, New York. 
At the age of 24, she entered the religious life as a Catholic nun and 
commenced a life dedicated to children, education, and the sick. Mother 
Marianne later focused her efforts on health care and was influential 
in establishing St. Elizabeth Hospital in Utica. She was also

[[Page H6512]]

the founder and administrator of St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse, the 
city's first hospital.
  In 1883, Mother Marianne received a letter that would change her 
life. It was from Father Leonor Fouesnel, a missionary in Hawaii, who 
was desperately searching for volunteers to take charge of the 
hospitals that served people with Hansen's disease. More than 50 
religious congregations had already declined, but Mother Marianne was 
different. She eagerly accepted the mission. She wrote back to Father 
Leonor:

       I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be 
     one of the chosen ones. I am not afraid of any disease.

  Mother Marianne left for Hawaii, along with six sisters from 
Syracuse, in 1883, where she began a 30-year mission caring for those 
diagnosed with Hansen's disease. Mother Marianne accepted a government 
plea to start a new home for women and girls with Hansen's disease at 
the Kalaupapa settlement. Mother Marianne arrived in Kalaupapa just 
months before Father Damien's death. She oversaw the expansion of 
health services and programs to provide education and tend to the 
spiritual needs of the patients.
  Mother Marianne lived until the age of 80. On August 9, 1918, she 
died in Kalaupapa. She was deeply mourned and is still revered. I have 
visited her grave site, where I left ho-okupu, a traditional Hawaiian 
offering. I was deeply moved by the devotion of this woman from New 
York who left all that was familiar to live on an isolated peninsula 
5,000 miles from home. Kalaupapa became her home and its people her 
family.
  Mother Marianne recognized the rights and inherent dignity of all 
people. She dedicated her life to caring for those who needed it the 
most. People of all faiths can admire her spirit of aloha--encompassing 
love, compassion, mercy, and grace--and malama--to care for others.

                          ____________________