By Sister William Marie Eleniki, OSF | Special to the Herald

Mention “Catholic nun” to people and you may get a range of responses. Some may have an image of a strict disciplinarian from grade school, while others may see a reserved angel dressed in a flowing habit. Not many would see religious sisters as pioneers doing whatever it takes to fill unmet needs in our society, even to the point of putting their own lives on the line. Yet, it is this spirit of risk taking that has characterized the Sisters of St. Francis and their ministry in Hawaii over the past 125 years.

It started in 1883 when leprosy was ravishing the island kingdom of Hawaii. King David Kalakaua and church officials sent pleas throughout the United States and Canada for help. No one came to the rescue of Hawaii’s people. More than 50 religious orders had already refused by the time a letter made its way to Mother Marianne Cope of the Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order in Syracuse, New York. So moved by the plight of the outcast, she believed it was God’s will to answer the call.

Mother Marianne responded, “I am hungry for the work…I am not afraid of any disease, hence, it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned …”

These sisters were willing to sacrifice their lives to come to Hawaii and care for the suffering people who were stricken with the devastating affliction. Mother Marianne departed Syracuse with six sisters, chosen from among the 35 who volunteered, first by train to San Francisco, then by ship to Hawaii. They arrived in Honolulu Harbor aboard the Mariposa on Nov. 8, 1883, which marks the Sisters’ rich legacy of caring and daring for the sake of Hawaii’s people — a legacy that touches the lives of island residents even today.

Soon after their arrival, the sisters were assigned to the Government Branch Hospital, a receiving station in Kakaako for leprosy patients. The overcrowding, vermin infested mattresses, blood-stained walls and rotting flesh horrified them, but they did what was needed, cleaning up the place and putting bandages on the patients’ sores. In 1885, Kapiolani Home was opened for healthy daughters of patients with leprosy who had no place to live, one of the first institutions of its kind. In two short years, much progress had been accomplished in bringing hope and dignity back into the lives of leprosy patients that Mother Marianne was awarded the medal of the Royal Order of Kapiolani.

Kalaupapa

Their tenacity and fearlessness prepared them for the next major assignment in 1888, to Kalaupapa, Molokai, where more than a thousand people with Hansen’s disease were exiled. The steep cliffs and rough ocean created a natural prison that allowed no one to leave Kalaupapa and few visitors.

At Kalaupapa, Mother Marianne and two sisters took charge of Bishop Home for women and girls. They restored dignity and beauty to their lives, sewing dresses in the latest fashions for them and planting flower gardens and fruit trees. In the seemingly God-forsaken colony, they brought hope that God had not forsaken them.

When Father Damien de Veuster died from Hansen’s disease in 1889, Mother Marianne succeeded him in running the home for boys at Kalawao and built Baldwin Home for boys in 1893. Mother Marianne never returned to Syracuse and spent the last 30 years of her life at Kalaupapa. She died in 1918. Our sisters never contracted the disease due to Mother Marianne’s stringent hand washing and sanitary procedures, and, to this day, continue to minister to patients there.

One wonders how our Sisters were able to do so much for so many people. Mother Marianne shared God’s love for people who suffer, whispering, “My God and my all!”

Following in the footsteps of Mother Marianne, our sisters have always responded to the needs in the community. It is the Franciscan way of “itinerancy” — going where the needs are and moving on as new needs arise. In 1884, when Maui needed a general hospital, our sisters responded by opening Malulani Hospital, followed by Hilo County Memorial Hospital in 1915, and St. Francis Hospital in 1927 to care for the needy sick, which over the years would pioneer services including kidney dialysis; kidney, bone marrow, heart, liver and pancreas transplants; a center for emotionally disturbed children; an alcoholic treatment center for women; and more. St. Francis Medical Center-West was opened in 1990 to meet the needs of the people in leeward Oahu.

Today

Home care, hospice care for the terminally ill and other programs geared to seniors still continue through St. Francis Healthcare System, and Our Lady of Kea‘au was established to provide outreach services to the homeless in Waianae. Franciscan Adult Day Center, formally known as the Sister Maureen Intergenerational Learning Environment, was opened in 1996 to improve the quality of life of frail elders and also to provide respite to family caregivers

Over the years, our sisters have administered, operated or taught at more than a dozen schools throughout the islands, educating while guiding thousands of Hawaii’s youth to love and serve God, beginning with the first English speaking school on Maui, St. Anthony School for Girls, in 1884. In 1900, our Franciscan Sisters opened St. Joseph School in Hilo, which today is the only Catholic school on the Island of Hawaii. Saint Francis School on Oahu was begun in 1924, first as a convent school to prepare young women for religious life to continue the work with Hansen’s disease patients, and soon after began accepting lay women who needed a diploma to enter nursing school. It then developed into a girls’ high school and is now becoming a co-ed school with kindergarten. At one time, it also had a campus on Kauai.

Other schools where our Sisters of St. Francis still have a presence today are Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St. Michael and St. Theresa on Oahu. In the past, they have also ministered as educators at Sacred Hearts School and St. Theresa on Maui; and Our Lady of Good Counsel School and Parish, Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of the Mount on Oahu.

For our sisters today and those who have come before us, it has been a privilege to follow the Lord’s work and minister to the health, education and social needs of the people of our aloha state.

The Sisters of St. Francis have begun a yearlong anniversary celebration of activities on Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Molokai and the Island of Hawaii that culminates Nov. 8 with an reenactment of the Sisters’ arrival complete with a royal welcome and a horse-drawn carriage through downtown Honolulu to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace for the closing liturgy. The public is invited to join us in celebration.

And we pray that the Sisters of St. Francis will continue to serve Hawaii for the next 125 years.