It was an evening of pleasant unexpected combinations. Sisters of St. Francis, one in full habit, milling shoulder to shoulder through a small trendy downtown art gallery. Photos of Blessed Damien’s Kalaupapa church on walls displaying hula dancers. Famous art photographer Kim Taylor Reese taking snapshots with a silver credit card-sized digital camera.

The Oct. 4 event was the debut, at the Kim Taylor Reece Gallery in downtown Honolulu, of the 2008 commemorative calendar celebrating the 125th anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of St. Francis to Hawaii.

HCH photos Kim Taylor Reese, in hat, talks with Dr. Paul DeMare, a relative of Blessed Marianne Cope, Oct. 4, in the photographer’s gallery. Left, Sister William Marie Eleniki.

The calendar fuses Reese’s artistic eye with the beauty of Kalaupapa, where the Sisters of St. Francis have served the world-famous settlement for Hansen’s disease patients from 1888 to the present.

The 8 ½-by-11 inch calendar, illustrated with photos taken by Reese while on a half day visit to Kalaupapa earlier this year, is being distributed free to about 10,000 friends of the sisters.

More than half of the photos are reproduced in Reese’s signature sepia-toned black and white. They are a mixture of scenic shots and views of the peninsula’s two Catholic churches and Blessed Marianne Cope’s gravesite.

The photographer’s stock and trade, the female hula figure covered by thick lei strands captured in mid-dance, inhabits some scenes either as the center of focus or as a shadowy ghost. Five photos are in full color, a departure from Reese’s normal monochromatic work.

In kicking off the 125 anniversary celebration, Sister William Marie Eleniki, the regional minister of the Sisters of St. Francis in Hawaii, told the 70-or-so people gathered that the “spiritual journey into the past” makes the “present more meaningful.”

Mother Marianne Cope came to Hawaii on Nov. 8, 1883, to care for patients with Hansen’s disease and their children. Her single-minded commitment blossomed in the islands into a rich legacy of health care and education.

The sisters will celebrate an opening anniversary liturgy, 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 8 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.

A special Mass at 7 p.m. on Jan. 23 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa will commemorate Blessed Marianne’s feast day.

The closing anniversary liturgy, noon, Nov. 8, 2008, at the cathedral, will include a reenactment of the sisters’ arrival with a royal welcome and a horse-drawn carriage through downtown Honolulu.

Reprints and postcards of the calendar photos — called the Kalaupapa Collection — are being sold at Reese’s gallery. The profits go to the ministries of the Sisters of St. Francis.