Kapiolani Home, Kakaako

125 fascinating facts about the Sisters of St. Francis

By Cheryl Tamura | Special to the Herald

Since their arrival in Hawaii in 1883, the Sisters of St. Francis have left a lasting impression. Here are examples of their accomplishments and contributions — 125 in commemoration of each year here — and why they are hailed as “women of vision, women of risk.”

HEALTH CARE

• 1 The sisters’ first Hawaii mission was caring for the patients at the Government Branch Hospital at Kakaako
• 2 At Queen Kapiolani’s request, the sisters ran Malulani Hospital, Maui’s first general hospital, now called Maui Memorial Medical Center.
• 3 Mother Marianne Cope promised that none of her sisters would ever contract Hansen’s disease and none ever has.
• 4 Mother Marianne and the sisters provided nursing at Hilo Hospital from 1915 to 1919.
• 5 The sisters opened the 50-bed St. Francis Hospital in Honolulu in 1927. Sister M. Flaviana Engel was its first administrator.
• 6 In 1954, St. Francis offered Hawaii’s only hospital ambulance service.
• 7 At one time, St. Francis was the only Oahu hospital to accept Hansen’s disease patients from Kalaupapa.
• 8 St. Francis brought renal dialysis to Hawaii in 1965 and it became the largest hospital-based program in the islands.
• 9 With the first kidney transplant, St. Francis pioneered organ transplantation in Hawaii in 1969 Bone marrow, heart, liver and pancreas transplants followed.
• 10 In 1974, St. Francis was one of three U.S. hospitals in a pilot cancer rehabilitation services (CARES) program with the National Cancer Institute.
• 11 St. Francis started a bone marrow donor registry now affiliated with the National Donor Marrow Program.
• 12 St. Francis Medical Center-West in Ewa opened in 1990 to serve growing West Oahu.
• 13 St. Francis Healthcare System, incorporated in 1984, today has five subsidiaries.
• 14 In 2008, the sisters introduced Stay Healthy at Home, an innovative range of services that allows seniors to live independently at home.

OUTREACH

• 15 In 1885, Mother Marianne opened Kapiolani Home on Oahu for healthy daughters of Hansen’s disease patients.
• 16 Mother Marianne founded Bishop Home in Kalaupapa for women and girls with Hansen’s disease.
• 17 When Father Damien died in 1889, Mother Marianne began administering his Boys Home at Kalawao, Molokai. She rebuilt it and it was renamed Baldwin Home.
• 18 St. Francis Hospital opened a school of nursing in 1929
• 19 In 1959, the St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing was accredited by the National Nurses Association.
• 20 With the Community Church of Honolulu, the sisters opened the Child Development Center for emotionally disturbed preschool-age children.
• 21 St. Francis Hospital started Health Screening for Senior Citizens, which became the model for state and private screening services.
• 22 St. Francis established Hawaii’s first home health care program beginning with two nurses, later adding therapists, health aides, social workers and dietitians.
• 23 St. Francis opened the Northern Koolau Community Health Education Program to address the high incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease in rural Oahu.
• 24 St. Francis’ Women’s Alcoholic Treatment Center of Hawaii was the state’s first to address this special need.
• 25 Celebrating its 30th anniversary, St. Francis Hospice is Hawaii’s first and largest hospice program.
• 26 Lifeline, a personal emergency response service for frail elderly, was introduced to Hawaii in 1983.
• 27 Sister Beatrice Tom, now chief administrator of Our Lady of Kea‘au, ran Covenant House group homes in New York City for runaway and troubled youth.
• 28 Sister Beatrice Tom also served as assistant administrator at Stella Maris Retreat Center in Skaneateles, N.Y.
• 29 Sister Vergilia Jim, formerly of Hawaii, conducts a peace center north of New York City and has developed a peace curriculum used in some Hawaii schools and throughout the country.

• 30 Sister Alicia Damien Lau is an operator of nursing homes and care homes on Oahu, including Oahu Care Facility and Pearl City Nursing Home.
• 31 The St. Francis Parish Nurse/Community Outreach Program began in 1993 to bring health services to parishes and their surrounding communities.
• 32 Our Lady of Kea‘au, a subsidiary of St. Francis Healthcare System, is a retreat center in Waianae that also provides outreach to the homeless.
• 33 Sister Francis Therese Souza offers health care and a Franciscan presence to residents at Kalaupapa.

EDUCATION

• 34 The sisters took charge of St. Anthony School for Girls, the first English-speaking school on Maui.
• 35 After leaving St. Anthony School, four Sisters of St. Francis ran Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina, which had been operated by Sacred Hearts Fathers.
• 36 The sisters opened St. Joseph School for girls in Hilo in 1900. When the Marianists, who ran a parallel boys school, withdrew in 1951, the sisters assumed leadership of both schools.
• 37 In 1924, St. Francis Convent School (now Saint Francis School) was opened to provide high school diplomas for young women entering the convent. The first graduates in 1933 were Antoinette Almeida, Miriam Ferry, Philomena Ferry and Eymard Holmes.
• 38 In 1934, the first class of lay women graduated from Saint Francis School in preparation for entrance into St. Francis Hospital’s nursing school.
• 39 In 2006, after 82 years as an all-girls high school, Saint Francis School established an elementary school and began admitting boys.
• 40 Saint Francis School had a campus on Kauai from 1997 to 2001.
• 41. Our Lady of Good Counsel in Pearl City was opened by the sisters in 1964
• 42. Sister Margaret Antone Milho became the first Franciscan superior/principal of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, Ewa Beach, in 1976
• 43 The sisters operated Our Lady of Sorrows School in Wahiawa from 1985 to 1991.
• 44 Sister William Marie Eleniki became principal of St. Michael School in 1992, which added a preschool in 1997
• 45 Saint Francis School is the only Hawaii school to offer four years of high school study in sign language.
• 46 The sisters head the religious education program at Immaculate Conception Church on Kauai.
• 47 The sisters also teach at St. Theresa School in Honolulu and Chaminade University.
• 48 The poor and needy are serviced through the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Hawaii.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS, ACCOLADES, AWARDS

• 49 Two years after arriving in Hawaii, Mother Marianne received the prestigious Kapiolani Medal of Honor for her work at Kakaako and for establishing Kapiolani Home.
• 50 Captain Henry Berger, Royal Hawaiian Band bandmaster, wrote “The Mother Marianne Hymn” as a tribute, and later “An Ode to St. Anne” in honor of her patron saint.
• 51. Famed author Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a poetic tribute to Mother Marianne during his visit to the Kalaupapa settlement.
• 52. In 1917, Governor C.J. McCarthy honored Mother Marianne Cope as a “Silent Worker.”
• 53 Mother Marianne Cope is one of the recognized “Women Who Changed Hawaii.”
• 54 A commemorative window of Mother Marianne was installed in the now-decommissioned Star of the Sea Church in Kalapana on the Island of Hawaii.
• 55 Mother Marianne Cope is inducted in the Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca, N.Y.
• 56 Created in 1994, a bronze bust of Sister Maureen Keleher graces the lobby of the former St. Francis Medical Center in tribute to her health care leadership in Hawaii.
• 57 Sister Mary Victor Lum Hoy received the Outstanding Teacher Award from Sacred Hearts School Parent Teacher Guild from 1972 to 1987
• 58 Sister Maureen Keleher was nationally recognized in 1980 for her advances in meeting the needs of the handicapped and the excellence of the hospital’s renal program.
• 59 “Pilgrimage and Exile: Mother Marianne of Molokai” (University of Hawaii Press, 1991) was written by Sister Mary Laurence Hanley and O.A. Bushnell.
• 60 “Mother Marianne of Molokai: Heroic Woman of Hawaii” (Editions du Signe, 1999) was written by Mary Cabrini Durkin.
• 61. Saint Francis School has claimed first place state titles in cross country, softball, tennis, track and field, volleyball, art presentations, forensic league and Japanese language competitions.
• 62. In 2002, the sisters commissioned artist Peggy Chun, then in the early stages of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, to create the first painted portrait of Mother Marianne, a watercolor.
• 63 In 2003, Saint Francis School received the coveted six-year “triple crown” accreditation: WASC, WCEA and HAIS.
• 64 To comply with regulations for canonization, the sisters exhumed Mother Marianne’s remains in January 2005 and transported them to Syracuse.
• 65 Mother Marianne was beatified in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on May 14, 2005, and given the title “Blessed.” She awaits canonization.
• 66 Sister Beatrice Tom received the Agnes Cope Community & Cultural Award as part of the inaugural Brown & Bakken Award World Health Awards in 2005
• 67 Sister Beatrice Tom also was the recipient of Pacific Business News’ Kupuna of the Year Award in 2006
• 68 In 2006, Sister Alicia Damien Lau was among the U.H. School of Nursing’s “Fabulous 50 Honored Nurses.”
• 69 Sister Miriam Dionise Cabacungan received the Professional with Heart Award in 2007 from the Home Care & Hospice Division of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.
• 70 Saint Francis School was named one of Hawaii Business’ Best Places to Work in 2008
• 71. A mosaic of Mother Marianne by Sacred Hearts Sister Dorothy Santos and artist Karen Lucas graces the interior of Immaculate Conception Church on Kauai.
• 72. Plans are underway to erect a life-sized statue of Mother Marianne near Point Panic in Kakaako.

PROGRAMS AND BUILDINGS

• 73 When a new wing at St. Francis Hospital was opened in 1959, it was named the Mother Marianne Wing.
• 74 The Mother Jolenta Building in the former St. Francis Medical Center is named after the hospital’s fourth administrator, Mother Jolenta Wilson.
• 75 A Mother Marianne Library is located in Kalaupapa.
• 76 The Sister Maureen Keleher Center, Hawaii’s first freestanding hospice facility, was named after the healthcare pioneer who was an early proponent of care of the terminally ill.
• 77 Saint Francis School’s Almeida Student Center is named after Sister Antoinette Almeida, a member of the first graduating class, for her moral and financial support of the school.
• 78 The Mother Marianne Cope Preschool was opened in 1996 on the St. Francis School campus.
• 79 The Franciscan Adult Day Center, which provides adult day services to the elderly, is formally the Sister Maureen (Keleher) Intergenerational Learning Environment (SMILE).
• 80 Griffin House, which provides temporary accommodations to patients’ families, is named after Sister Aileen Griffin, the CEO of St. Francis Medical Center from 1988 to 1990 who helped establish St. Francis Medical Center-West.
• 81. The renovated chapel at the former St. Francis Medical Center was renamed the Mother Marianne Cope Chapel.
• 82. The Ahuna Dome at Saint Francis School is named for Sister Rose Annette Ahuna, a graduate, former biology teacher, and sports advocate who now serves as the health room supervisor.
• 83 Sister Norise Kaiser has won first prize for her carrot cookies.

SERVICE LEADERSHIP

• 84 Three Hawaii-born Sisters of St. Francis held key leadership positions with the motherhouse in Syracuse, N.Y.: Sister Francis Regis Hadano, Sister Marion Kikukawa (St. Joseph School, Hilo, principal), Sister Agnelle Ching (St. Francis Healthcare System CEO on Oahu).
• 85 Mother Jolenta Wilson and Sister Aileen Griffin had both been stationed in Hawaii before being elected superior general in Syracuse.
• 86 In Hawaii, the Sisters of St. Francis have had 13 heads (called at different times commissary generals, regional superiors, regional administrators and ministers) over the years. Sister William Marie Eleniki is the current minister.
• 87 In 1966, Sister M. Antoinette Almeida became the first island sister to be in charge of the Sisters of St. Francis in Hawaii.
• 88 Sister Maureen Keleher served two four-year terms on the board of directors of the American Nurses Association.
• 89 Sister Beatrice Tom was the first island sister named to oversee St. Francis Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center-West.
• 90 Sister Francis Regis Hadano served the longest time as regional administrator — 15 years.
• 91. While serving as minister for the sisters’ Syracuse Region, Sister Agnelle Ching helped finalize the merger of the sisters from Williamsville (Buffalo), Syracuse, and Hastings-on-Hudson.
• 92. St. Francis Healthcare System is the only Hawaii Business Top 250 company led by a religious sister.

INDIVIDUALS

• 93 Mother Marianne, first woman missionary to care for Hansen’s disease patients in Hawaii, was seasick for most the trip on the Mariposa from San Francisco to Hawaii in 1883
• 94 The six sisters accompanying Mother Marianne to Hawaii were Sister M. Bonaventure Caraher, Sister M. Crescentia Eilers, Sister Renata Nash, Sister M. Rosalia McLaughlin, Sister M. Ludovica Gibbons and Sister M. Antonella Murphy.
• 95 Of Sister Crescentia, a devoted nurse for 46 years, Mother Marianne wrote, “Someday she may be canonized. If not she will be on the list of uncanonized saints.”
• 96 Sister Francine Gries, the first executive director of the St. Francis Hospice program, helped develope hospice programs in Japan and Korea.
• 97 Sister Elizabeth Gomes, a seventeen year-old Portuguese immigrant, was the first from Hawaii to join the Franciscan Sisters, and accompanied Mother Maryanne Cope on her initial visit to Kalaupapa on September 20, 1888.  Sister Elizabeth served for nearly 41 years at Kalaupapa, ultimately as the assistant manager of the Bishop Home for women and girls.
• 98 Sister M. Albina Sluder, who made her vows in Kalaupapa, took the final photograph of Mother Marianne Cope and recorded her last days.
• 99 Sister Oliver Gibson, while serving as a speech pathologist in Utica, N.Y., working with autistic children, was the inspiration for the movie, “Change of Habit” with Elvis Presley and Mary Tyler Moore. She was an adviser for the film’s production.
• 100 Sister Rose Loraine Matsuzaki became a sister out of curiosity and has no regrets. She says there is so much to do and so many people to help.
• 101. Sister Rose Fatima Leite was a Brownie and Girl Scout Leader for many years.
• 102. Sister Agatha Perreira is the only sister in the community with Korean ethnicity.
• 103 Sister Rita Mary Mulhall and Sister Francis Clare DeGracia were airplane pilots before entering the convent.
• 104 Sister Mary Sylvester Elliot, who lived to be 101 years old, died in1992 as the last remaining link to Mother Marianne.
• 105 Sister Richard Marie Toal once known as “The Fishing Nun” of Kalaupapa, was featured in National Geographic Magazine. Ironically, she doesn’t eat fish.
• 106 Sister Grace Jose Capellas, of St. Francis Healthcare System, frequently performs with the Hawaii Opera Theatre.
• 107 Sister Marie Jose Romano is a sports enthusiast, especially for professional and UH football, Wahine volleyball and golfer Tiger Woods.
• 108 Sister Candida Oroc climbed to the top of Mauna Kea in 1960 It took six hours to go up and four hours to come down.
• 109 St. Francis Healthcare System chaplain Sister Patricia Schofield is a “Sister Mom.” She entered religious life after raising a family.
• 110 Through her ministry, Impromptu Greeting Cards in Syracuse, N.Y., Sister Theresa Laureta from Molokai is the illustrator for the soon to be released Mother Marianne coloring book.
• 111. Sister Grace Michael Souza and Sister Joan Souza are also biological sisters.
• 112. At age 92, Sister Richard Marie Toal is the oldest Sister of St. Francis in Hawaii.
• 113 Sister Mary Victor Lum Hoy, Sister Candida Oroc and Sister Olivia Gibson joined the order through the inspiration of Mother Marianne.
• 114 Sister Helen Agnes Ignacio and Sister Norise Kaiser both managed the Sisters’ Pensione, (convent) near the Vatican in Rome.
• 115 Sister Pat Rapozo runs a gift shop at Our Lady of Kea‘au.
• 116 The sisters in Hawaii have a familial connection to Mother Marianne through Dr. Paul DeMare, a local radiation oncologist who worked at St. Francis Hospital. He is Mother Marianne’s great grandnephew.
• 117 Sister Francis Clare DeGracia, born and raised in Hawaii, has been ministering in Peru for more than 35 years. She began the sisters’ novitiate there.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 118 Mother Marianne’s wards, Rose and Mary Kiyoji, were cared for by Katherine Shires on Oahu. The sisters in turn cared for Katherine Shires in her later years. She lived in a house provided by St. Francis Medical Center until her death in the 1990s.
• 119 The Sisters of St. Francis recorded three albums, one of which has a gold record.
• 120 Grape vines growing at St. Francis Convent in Manoa are from cuttings of the same California mission grape variety that Don Francisco de Paula Marin brought to Hawaii 200 years ago. Honolulu’s Vineyard Boulevard is named after him.
• 121. The sisters have a candy store in Syracuse called “Nun Better.”
• 122. Mother Marianne’s favorite song was “O Makalapua,” written by Queen Liliuokalani.
• 123 The Sisters of St. Francis use the Tau (formed like a cross) symbol, which St. Francis of Assisi said represented the goodness and love of God.
• 124 Twenty-five sisters who graduated from Saint Francis School are missioned in the Hawaii Region.
• 125 In the 1950s, the sisters in Lahaina baked and sold sweetbread to provide supplies for Sacred Hearts School.