By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

It will be a special year for the Sisters of St. Francis in Hawaii, so a special calendar has been ordered.

A limited edition commemorative calendar featuring a striking series of photos shot in Kalaupapa on Molokai by prominent island photographer Kim Taylor Reece is being published to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the arrival of Blessed Marianne Cope and the first Franciscan Sisters to Hawaii.

Nov. 8 kicks off a year of anniversary tributes which will end Nov. 8 next year with a reenactment of the sisters’ 1883 arrival. The Reese calendar, featuring the “Kalaupapa Collection,” will be unveiled at the photographer’s downtown studio on Oct. 6. The calendar will not be sold, but will be available by special request to the Sisters of St. Francis.

Here are some of the events being planned to mark the anniversary:

Nov. 8, 2007: opening liturgy, 5:30 p.m., Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace

Jan. 23, 2008: Blessed Marianne feast day liturgy, 7 p.m., Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa

Aug. 9, 2008: musical concert featuring a national act. Details to be confirmed.

Nov. 8, 2008: closing liturgy, noon, Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, to include a reenactment of the sisters’ arrival with a royal welcome and a horse-drawn carriage through downtown Honolulu

On Nov. 8, 1883, Mother Marianne Cope led six companion Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order of Syracuse, N.Y., off the steamship Mariposa onto the Kakaako shore in Honolulu. The nuns, all medical hospital professionals from upstate New York, had responded to a call for help from the Hawaiian government to care for people afflicted by Hansen’s disease or leprosy.

Soon after their arrival, the sisters took charge of the Government Branch Hospital for leprosy patients in Kakaako.

In 1884, in response to a need for a general hospital on Maui, they set up Malulani Hospital, now called Maui Memorial Medical Center.

In 1885, the sisters opened Kapiolani Home in Honolulu for daughters of leprosy patients.

Three years later in 1888, Mother Marianne and a group of sisters went to the Hansen’s disease settlement in Kalaupapa where Father Damien de Veuster was months from death, to take charge of Bishop Home for women and girls.

When Father Damien died in 1889, Mother Marianne succeeded him in running the home for boys at Kalawao. Under her leadership, Baldwin Home for boys was built in 1893. The sisters have provided continuous care for Kalaupapa patients ever since their arrival.

Mother Marianne herself never returned to Syracuse and spent the last 30 years of her life at Kalaupapa, dying in 1918. She was beatified in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome in 2005.

The Sisters of St. Francis, at the request of local authorities, also operated Hilo County Memorial Hospital, now Hilo Medical Center, on the Big Island, from 1915 to 1919.

In 1927, the sisters opened St. Francis Hospital, now Hawaii Medical Center East, in Honolulu. Over the years, the hospital pioneered kidney dialysis, organ transplantation, home care, cancer rehabilitation, hospice care, the bone marrow registry program, and other innovative medical and health care services.

In 1990, they opened a second Oahu hospital, St. Francis Medical Center-West, now Hawaii Medical Center West, for people living in the island’s leeward and central communities.

Their health care ministry continues through St. Francis Healthcare of Hawaii and its five subsidiaries. They also run an adult day program in Manoa and extend their healing ministry to various nursing homes on Oahu.

In the field of education

The Sisters of St. Francis have also served as Catholic school administrators and teachers in Hawaii, beginning on Maui when they took over operations of St. Anthony’s School for Girls in Wailuku in 1884.

In 1900, in Hilo on the Big Island, the Franciscan Sisters opened St. Joseph School for girls, which today provides elementary and high school education for girls and boys.

The sisters opened St. Francis School in Manoa, Oahu, in 1924 and Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina, Maui, in 1928.

Today, the sisters provide administration for Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ewa Beach. Over the years, they have administered and staffed Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Pearl City, Our Lady of Sorrows in Wahiawa, and St. Michael School in Waialua, and have taught at St. Theresa School in Honolulu and Chaminade University of Honolulu.

The sisters have also directed religious education programs at Our Lady of the Mount Parish in Kalihi Valley, St. Theresa in Kihei, Maui, and Immaculate Conception in Lihue, Kauai.

They have also served the poor and needy through Hawaii’s St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Today, they continue to respond where the needs are greatest. With approximately 50 sisters statewide, they remain one of the largest religious communities in Hawaii.

Following the joining together of three New York communities of Franciscan Sisters a few years ago, the Sisters of St. Francis here are now officially called the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities-Hawaii.

The sisters have chosen as their anniversary theme “Women of Vision, Women of Risk – Celebrating 125 Years of Service in Hawaii.”

“Mother Marianne was known as a visionary leader for providing services in health care and education far ahead of her time,” Sister William Marie Eleniki, regional minister of the sisters in Hawaii, said in announcing the anniversary events. “The sisters have continued this legacy throughout the years for the benefit of Hawaii’s people.”

“There is so much to be proud of the sisters’ history in Hawaii,” she said. “We are looking forward to a wonderful celebration year.”