St. Marianne Cope

St. Marianne Cope was born Barbara Koob on 23 January 1838 in Heppenheim, Germany, and emigrated with her family to Utica, New York, as an infant. She entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, where she helped establish some of the first Catholic hospitals in the United States and served as a superior known for her administrative skill and insistence on hygienic care.

In 1883 she answered a plea to help the leprosy patients of Hawaii after dozens of others had refused, leading a group of sisters to the islands. She cared for St. Damien of Molokai in his final illness and, after his death, took charge of the settlement at Kalaupapa, where she served the sick for the rest of her life. Remarkably, though she worked among lepers for over thirty years, she never contracted the disease. She died at Molokai on 9 August 1918 and was canonized in 2012, honored as a model of fearless and compassionate service.