The beatification of Mother Marianne of Molokai will take place this month in Rome after all.

The ceremony, originally scheduled in February for 10 a.m. on Pentecost Sunday, May 15, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, had been postponed after the election of Pope Benedict XVI. It has been rescheduled for either May 14 or 16, according to the Diocese of Syracuse, home diocese of Mother Marianne Cope and her Sisters of St. Francis order.

As of May 2, the final date or place had not been set. According to a spokesperson for the Diocese of Syracuse, the time and date preferred and requested by the diocese and the Sisters of St. Francis was 5 p.m., May 14.

The original May 15 date, which was to include the beatification of 10 others, had been set during the papacy of Pope John Paul II. It was replaced on Pope Benedict XVI’s liturgical calendar with the 9:30 a.m. ordination of priests for the Diocese of Rome.

The postponement had threatened to derail two months of intense planning on the part of the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse and Hawaii, and the Diocese of Syracuse. More than 300 people from Syracuse and 40 from Hawaii had bought non-refundable tour packages to Rome for the event.

“It is just wonderful,” said Sister of St. Francis Mary Laurence Hanley, director of the cause, by phone from Syracuse on April 30, the day she heard the news. “I am just so grateful.”

The beatification will not be done by the pope as originally planned, but by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. However the pope will greet all the beatification pilgrims, Sister Mary Laurence said. She said that having the cardinal preside over the ceremony restores the practice of the pontificate of Pope Paul VI when the pope presided at canonizations and cardinals at beatifications.

The original May 15 date had not been canceled when Pope John Paul II died on April 2. But neither was it confirmed after the election of the Benedict XVI on April 19.

A previous beatification ceremony was cancelled. Scheduled for April 24, it was for a group of seven Polish, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese priests, religious and lay people. April 24 turned out to be the day of the inaugural Mass for Pope Benedict.

As of last week, the Vatican liturgical celebrations office had listed this group as the “next beatification.”

The Rome diocesan ordinations had been scheduled for April 17, but the death of Pope John Paul and the subsequent papal conclave caused their delay.

The Sisters of St. Francis had continued their preparation for Mother Marianne’s beatification, after Pope John Paul’s death, partially on the advice of an official at the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints who said there was a “high probability, but not a certainty” that Pope Benedict would not change the May 15 date.

Besides making travel arrangements, the sisters have been rehearsing a choir, designing the traditional large tapestry of the beatified to be displayed at the ceremony, preparing written profiles of Mother Marianne in several languages to be printed in the program and having medals designed and produced.

“We are ready,” said Sister Mary Laurence.

However, the other causes for canonization set for that day, apparently not wanting to make plans for an unconfirmed date, were not ready, according to the Franciscan sister.

The others were Charles de Foucauld, the famous French priest who died in 1916 in southern Algeria after living for years as a hermit among the Muslim natives, seven Spanish martyrs killed during the Spanish Civil War, and two other women religious.

Now that a date has been set, there is the possibility that two of the above causes will also be beatified with Mother Marianne, Sister Mary Laurence said.

Sister Mary Laurence attributed the Vatican’s accommodation of Mother beatification to prayer, e-mail messages to the Vatican, and a letter written to Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano by Bishop of Syracuse James M. Moynihan.

The letter, citing “hardships” on the part of beatification pilgrims, many of whom are traveling from Hawaii, asked Vatican officials to “reschedule the beatification in the immediate future.”

“We are hopeful that this request will be granted and are anxiously awaiting their reply,” the letter stated.

According to Sister Mary Laurence, Bishop Moynihan’s concerns were received by Cardinal Sodano, who discussed them with Pope Benedict.

Beatification — receiving the title “blessed” — is the last major step before sainthood.

The Vatican paved the way last year for Mother Marianne’s beatification with a Dec. 20 decree recognizing a miracle attributed to her intercession — the unexplained healing about a decade ago of a New York girl who had experienced multiple organ failure and was expected to die. The girl recovered after prayers sought Mother Marianne’s intercession.

Mother Marianne had reached the stage before beatification, being named “venerable,” only last year on April 19 following an intense study of her life by the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

In anticipation of her beatification, Mother Marianne’s remains were exhumed Jan. 24 from her grave in Kalaupapa on Molokai.

After farewell ceremonies on Molokai and Oahu, her bones arrived in Syracuse a week later and were taken to the Franciscan motherhouse, where they will be enshrined. Mother Marianne left the motherhouse 122 years ago to go to Hawaii to care for the victims of Hansen’s disease.

Once beatified, she will be given a feast day on the church calendar, and public prayer during Mass and other liturgical functions asking for her intercession will be permitted. Canonization requires one more miracle attributed to her after her beatification.