By Lisa Benoit | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Though not all Catholic, the five-member forensic team that exhumed the remains of Mother Marianne Cope won the hearts of the Franciscan Sisters by their reverence and care.

Except for Vincent Sava, the leader, the team’s members were last minute recruits.

Sava is a parishioner of St. Jude Parish, Makakilo, and volunteered his time because of his personal interest in the project.

The original group handpicked by Sava, a forensic archeologist with the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command Central Identification Laboratory in Honolulu, was unexpectedly deployed to Southeast Asia to help identify victims of the recent tsunami.

But the nature of Sava’s work had accustomed him to sudden changes in plans, and he didn’t panic.

With a few short weeks to regroup, Sava sent an e-mail call out to Hawaii’s archeological community.

Amy Buffum, an archaeologist with Garcia and Associates, responded. A University of Hawaii graduate specializing in physical anthropology and psychology, she has 10 years of Hawaiian archeology experience. Though not a Catholic, Buffum admires Mother Marianne and her work.

“You don’t have to be Catholic to understand that she is a wonderful woman,” she said.

Sava also gathered three associates from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command — Roger Antrim, Alec Christensen and Sardiaa Plaud.

Christensen, a forensic anthropologist at the Accounting Command for two years, “thought it would be an interesting experience.”

“I liked the opportunity to both come here and to see this special place that I had heard about but never seen and to be part of this special event,” he said.

Plaud, an evidence manager and a graduate of Chaminade University of Honolulu, has been in Hawaii since 1997.

Antrim, a life support investigator, has been here since 2001.

Franciscan Sister Davilyn Ah Chick, who worked with the group as an unofficial assistant, had high praise for Sava and his team.

“He got people who worked well for the cause and shared their expertise far beyond words could say,” she said.

The dig

Sava had gone to Kalaupapa with an assistant in November to study the site. Using subsurface probing, they were surprised to find that Mother Marianne was buried two feet deeper than they thought.

On Jan. 21, two days before the formal start of the exhumation, Sava and Antrim arrived to do some preliminary digging.

“At first we started with small trowels and shovels,” Sava said. “We were trying to find the outline of the grave shaft, which we never found because the surface layers had been worked and reworked over the years,” he said.

The second day, they turned to shovels and picks to make the work go faster. They sifted the exhumed dirt through screens set up nearby.

“We divided the artifacts into two groups,” he said. “One was grave fill — debris and objects that find their way into dirt wherever you go, like broken glass and shells.”

“The other artifact group was actually grave contents that we could attribute to Mother Marianne in her coffin or immediately around her coffin. These were artifacts we knew were involved in the burial and the interment.”

By Monday, the team came to the remains of Mother Marianne.

“Sister said that Mother Marianne is full of surprises,” Sava said. “Where we expected her head to be, her feet were.”

The monument at Mother Marianne’s grave, a nearly life-sized statue of the crucified Jesus embracing St. Francis of Assisi, was erected several years after her death. For some reason it was mounted at her feet. Some speculated that she was buried to be facing east and toward her convent and the monument the patients gave her in her honor.

Sava ’s original plan was to expose the entire skeleton and photograph it, but position and condition of the bones didn’t allow it.

“We found that they were very fragile,” he said. “They were crumbling, which we thought was due to osteoporosis.”

The findings

The identification of the body would be “circumstantial,” not “positive” which involves DNA or dental records.

“From a forensic standpoint, in identifying Mother Marianne, I think the rosary items were most important. The crucifixes, the metal and the loops — those are very prominently displayed in her photographs,” Sava said. “When we point out the similarities, between the artifacts and the photographs, that is very good circumstantial evidence.”

The team found two crucifixes, a medal and various bits of rosary hardware. Another important artifact was the cross found at her head.

“Sister Mary Laurence (Hanley) documents in her book that that cross was on the coffin lid,” he said. “It had two little holes in it for tacks, so we assuming it was mounted on the outside of the lid.”

“We could see by the position of the artifacts, especially the nails, that we had an undisturbed burial,” he said. “Had we the time, we could have documented the position of these items, but the overall impression is that everything is where it should be. There was nothing to indicate a disturbed grave since her interment.”

Sava also found the water-worn stones that are a Hawaiian offering to the dead, and buttons and safety pins used in her clothing during burial.

Fulfilling work

Except for Sava, the team members had never heard of Mother Marianne before signing up.

“It’s an opportunity to be involved in an historical event,” Sava said. “As anthropologists, we tend to like to participate with the remains of historical people. Unfortunately, it is very rare event. And when you can become part of it, it is very professionally fulfilling. And as a Catholic, it is personally fulfilling as well.”

In addition to participating in “a part of history,” Plaud said the “favorite part” of the experience was meeting the Franciscan Sisters.

“They were the highlight of the trip,” she said. “Seeing their excitement and how much she meant to them.”

Buffum agreed. “Just the way they treated us over here — these people have been incredible,” she said. “I really didn’t expect that.”

Buffum’s mother, a Catholic nurse in her home state of New Hampshire, had told her that she would have “some sort of an epiphany.”

“I said that I don’t think so, but this is pretty close to one. They really took us and graced us,” Buffum said.

Christensen said that, as a forensic anthropologist, his job is to return people to their families.

“Normally, when we recover and identify individuals, we don’t get to meet the families,” he said. “Here, I have met members of her family,” both biological and religious, “and that has been great experience.”

Antrim liked “the quietness of the place” and didn’t want to leave. “Everybody knows everyone and everyone is friendly, even if you didn’t know them,” he said.

Sister Davilyn said that it was “very humbling” to work along side this team.

“I experienced the reverence that they have for someone who died,” she said. “God blessed us with all of these wonderful people. They assisted us in promoting her cause. That was planned by God.”