Saint Marianne Cope

Marianne Cope, OSF, also known as Marianne of Molokaʻi (born Barbara Koob; January 23, 1838 – August 9, 1918), was a German-born American member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse. She was founding director of St. Joseph's Hospital in the city, among the first general hospitals in the country. In 1883, she led a group of six other sisters to the Kingdom of Hawaii to care for lepers in Molokaʻi and aid in developing the kingdom's medical infrastructure. Despite direct contact with patients over many years, Cope did not contract the disease. In 2005, she was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI. She was canonized in 2012. She was born Barbara Koob (later anglicized to "Cope") on January 23, 1838, in Heppenheim in the Grand Duchy of Hesse to Peter Koob (1787–1862) and his wife 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 Barbara attended parish school. By the time she was in eighth grade, her father had developed a disability. As the oldest child, Barbara left school to work in a textile factory to support her family. The family became naturalized as American citizens in the 1850s. Cope received her First Holy Communion and Confirmation at the historic Old St. Johns Church in Utica, New York. By the time that their father 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.