By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

“What better place to start than here,” Sister of St. Francis William Marie Eleniki told the 75 people filling St. Francis Church in Kalaupapa on the morning of Jan. 22. She was speaking of the first celebration of the first feast day of Blessed Mother Marianne Cope.

Sister William Marie, the regional administrator of the Sisters of St. Francis in Hawaii, made her comments at the end of a Mass honoring Blessed Marianne at which Bishop Larry Silva had presided.

Coming to Kalaupapa “is like coming home for the Sisters of St. Francis,” she said.

The isolated Molokai peninsula was where Mother Marianne’s spent the three decades of selfless service that led to her beatification eight months ago. The beatification established Jan. 23 as her feast day. Mother Marianne’s order in Hawaii decided to kick off its observance a day early in the place she labored and was laid to rest.

The celebration began at 9:30 a.m. at Blessed Marianne’s original gravesite, a short distance from the church. The morning was bright and clear. The peninsula had been visited by rain the night before, and the day opened with a booming thunderstorm threatening from the western horizon, but things quickly turned sunny.

“We gather at an empty tomb,” Bishop Silva declared, in reference to the exhumation of the Franciscan sister’s remains and their transport to Syracuse a year ago.

“But we are people of empty tombs,” he said. “Just as the Lord rose from his tomb, she will be raised from her tomb on judgment day.”

A request by the bishop for spontaneous prayer from those circled around the site resulted in a flow of petitions for “religious vocations,” for “young people,” for the “38 patients still here,” for the “Sisters of St. Francis.” Meanwhile, a friendly black cat came out of nowhere to join the service, weaving in and out of the legs of the participants.

Bishop Silva closed the prayer by placing a maile lei at the head of the grave and leading a seven-minute long procession down the street to St. Francis Church as the marchers sang “Makalapua,” a favorite song of Mother Marianne.

While the Mass was that of the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, the liturgy was aimed purposefully at honoring Blessed Marianne. The vestments were white instead of green and the music reflected her life.

In his homily, the bishop related the Gospel account of the Lord “catching” fishermen to be his first apostles to Mother Marianne begin “caught” by Jesus through the example of the Franciscan Sisters.

Joining the order, “her name and her destiny were changed forever and she grew into the woman we know today as Mother Marianne,” the bishop said.

Like the apostles, “she too crossed tumultuous seas hungry for the work (Jesus) would give her,” Bishop Silva said.

“To leave behind all ... can be so heart-wrenching,” he said, “to lovingly touch those others considered untouchable can seem so dangerous.”

“However, when one is caught by the great fisherman, only one thing matters,” he said.

“This blessed woman in still out fishing. Who knows the hearts that will be healed, the cities converted, the diseases cured” by her example and influence, Bishop Silva said.

Equally great things are possible, the bishop said, “when we let ourselves by caught be Jesus.”

The Mass was concelebrated by Sacred Hearts Father Joseph Hendriks, pastor of St. Francis, and Father Khanh Hoang, administrator of St. Jude Church in Kapolei, Oahu.

A number of Kalaupapa residents were present including Paul Harada, Norbert Palea, Olivia Breitha, Bernard Punikaia, Meli and Randall Watanuki, Boogie Kahilihiwa and Richard and Gloria Marks.

The nine-person choir was made up mostly of parishioners from St. John Vianney Parish in Kailua. Led by Calvin Liu, it had the tiny church echoing with four-part harmonies and Gregorian chant. After Communion, the choir introduced a new hymn for Blessed Marianne.

About 20 Sisters of St. Francis flew in for the celebration to join the two who already reside and work there as nurses. Also there was Vince Sava, the forensic anthropologist who led the exhumation team that retrieved the remains of Mother Marianne last January.

After Mass a lunch was served in McVie hall.

Mother Marianne’s beatification on May 14 last year allowed her feast to be placed on the liturgical calendar in the places where she is venerated — Hawaii and her home diocese of Syracuse, N.Y. Jan. 23 was chosen because it is her birthday.

Syracuse is where Blessed Marianne grew up and joined the Franciscan Sisters. She came to Hawaii in 1883 to care for children and adults afflicted with the then-fatal Hansen’s disease.

Never returning to Syracuse, she died in 1918 and was buried in Kalaupapa. As part of the beatification process, her remains were returned to the Syracuse motherhouse where a shrine is planned.

Bishop Silva celebrated her actual feast day, Jan. 23, at a 5:30 p.m. Mass, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.