KALAUPAPA, Moloka'i — With tears, prayers and song, the residents of this isolated community yesterday bid a bittersweet aloha to Mother Marianne Cope, the former Kalaupapa nun who's on the fast track to sainthood.
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| Kalaupapa resident Edwin Lelepali kisses the casket holding the remains of Mother Marianne Cope following a Mass of Aloha at St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa, before her body is sent to O'ahu. Behind Edwin are Kuulei Bell and patient Lucy Kaona.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
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"As far as we're concerned, she's already a saint," said a tearful Ku'ulei Bell, a Kalaupapa patient since 1950. "She dedicated herself to our lives when no one wanted to care for us."
Bell was among the 50 or so patients, church officials and others who gave Cope's remains a warm sendoff under sunny skies at Kalaupapa Airport yesterday.
The group, with help from choir members from four O'ahu parishes, sang "Aloha 'Oe" and "Makalapua," said to be one of Cope's favorite songs, as a lei-draped metal container with the nun's remains — marked "Handle With Extreme Care" — was lifted into the belly of a prop plane bound for Honolulu.
The container was going to Borthwick Mortuary, where it was to be soldered shut, placed into a wooden casket and transported to St. Francis in Manoa for ceremonial activities on O'ahu next week and for travel to Syracuse, N.Y., home of Cope's order, the Sisters of St. Francis.
A volunteer forensic team from O'ahu carried out the exhumation of Cope's remains in a move officials said was a necessary step on the path to sainthood.
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| Sister Frances Theresa waits in the bed of the pickup truck that carries the remains of Mother Marianne Cope outside the St. Francis Church before the truck left for the Kalaupapa airport.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
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Cope spent the last 30 years of her life caring for the needs of the leprosy patients who were exiled to the Moloka'i peninsula. She died in 1918, and a white monument marks her grave site.
Last month, the Vatican accepted a miracle attributed to Cope's intercession, clearing the way for beatification. The church must accept another miracle before she can be named a saint.
Father Joseph Grimaldi, the judicial vicar of the Diocese of Honolulu, said that because of the brittle condition of the nun's bones, the forensic team was able to recover less than a third of her body, including the skull, arm, leg and pelvic bones, lower jaw and some fragments.
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| Sisters of St. Francis, from left, Marie Jose Romano, Frances Cabrini, Alicia Damien Lau and Francine Gries carry the remains of Mother Marianne into church after a procession from their convent at Bishop Home where her remains have been kept since being exhumed.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
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Grimaldi said Cope may have suffered from osteoporosis, a disease that weakens the bones and which left many fragments, too tiny to unearth. It's good news for those uneasy about the process, Grimaldi said, because part of Mother Marianne remains at Kalaupapa.
The team also unearthed numerous "second-class" relics. Those include 132 coffin nails, two small crosses and lots of pins she used to fasten her habit.
Sister Grace Anne Dillenschneider, one of three nuns who flew to Kalaupapa from New York to witness the exhumation, said she felt many emotions as she watched the forensic team work: sadness, joy, reverence and ultimately peace. "This is the right time to do this," she said, "because soon Mother Marianne will be honored by the church and her whole life will be known throughout the world.
| Ceremony
A vigil for Mother Marianne Cope will be 3-5 p.m. Monday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, 1184 Bishop St. A Mass will be celebrated by Father Tom Gross at 5 p.m.
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"Kalaupapa will always be a sacred place for me. It is holy ground. It's made sacred by the many people who suffered here and by the triumph of the human spirit. Even though she will be taken to Syracuse, most of her remains will stay here as part of the earth she walked on. This truly is most sacred ground," she said.
The day started with a morning procession that carried Cope's remains to St. Francis Church. The metal box was placed in the bed of a white Ford pickup truck adorned with ti leaves and hala and maile lei laid out in the shape of an "M."
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| Sisters Theresa Chow, Francine Gries and Frances Cabrini join residents and others at the Kalaupapa airport to sing "Aloha 'Oe" as the remains of Mother Marianne Cope leave for Oçahu.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
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The week's final Mass of Aloha concluded with patients coming forward to kiss the box.
After a luncheon, the container was driven 1› miles to the airport in a procession of 14 vehicles, passing by hundreds of burial markers, a reminder of Cope's legacy of sacrifice to the patients.
Patient Paul Harada said he was both sad, for losing the nun's physical presence, and glad, for the journey she was about to take.
"Her work isn't done," agreed his wife, Winifred Harada. "She's going to help a lot of people."
Olivia Breitha, 86, a patient since 1937, said she was fighting back tears all week. "I'm so glad they didn't get all of her."
Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.
