"No! No!" said the petite choir director. "It's light, like a bird. Not Big Bird!"

Between the exhortations and the exultations, these 27 Roman Catholics laughed and talked about their upcoming trip to Rome, where in a beatification ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica next Saturday, Mother Marianne Cope will be officially deemed "Blessed" Marianne.

In 1883, the nun came from her home convent in New York to Hawai'i to minister to its sick, including the leprosy patients at Kalaupapa. She is being considered for sainthood, but is still a step away from canonization.

The nuns and lay people practicing Wednesday make up about half of the Hawai'i contingent taking the long journey. Eighteen nuns and an estimated 50 other people from Hawai'i, including doctors from the Catholic healthcare system St. Francis, will be attending, and as last-minute arrangements are under way, the excitement has become palpable. Some are leaving today. The nuns will leave Monday, and the largest group departs Tuesday.

At the beatification ceremony, members of Hawai'i's delegation will sing "How Great Thou Art," in Hawaiian and English, and "Makalapua" in Hawaiian.

The choir group buzzed with talk about the beatification Wednesday night. All held out hope they would get an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, the new leader of the world's 1 billion Catholics.

Yesterday, word came that the pope will have a private audience with the group at 11:30 a.m. on May 16.

Much to talk about

Marianne Cope

Others chatted about the news that the date was just a day before the originally scheduled beatification. The death of Pope John Paul II and the selection of the new pontiff had thrown plans into flux.

The original date, May 15, conflicted with Benedict XVI's plans to ordain priests for the Diocese of Rome, a process also put off by John Paul II's death. But after the Vatican was informed that the Hawai'i and Syracuse, N.Y., nuns from Mother Marianne's religious order would not be able to cancel their trip, the beatification was quickly rescheduled to accommodate the nuns, including those traveling half a world away, from Hawai'i.

After choir practice ended, several gathered to talk about what they'd bring — including chocolate-covered macadamia nuts as omiyage for people they'll meet there, pistachios and li-hing mango that they might want to munch on during the trip.

Several are bringing precious cargo that others have entrusted to their care, such as a condolence book schoolchildren at Our Lady of Good Counsel had filled for Pope John Paul II.

'Once in a lifetime'

Bosch believes Mother Marianne is partly responsible for making the trip possible, and for all the acts of providence along the way. "I truly believe in saints now," she said.

Like Bosch, St. Francis doctors Celina and Reuben Guerrero and Charlotte Leong are taking their first trip to Rome.

While Leong has been to Europe, she's never visited the Eternal City.

"I feel special," the Kailua resident said. "Once in a lifetime, we get to see a new pope."

For Sister Alicia Damien Lau of O'ahu, who has worked closely with victims of Hansen's disease in Kalaupapa, all is as it was meant to be — thanks, she believes, to Mother Marianne.

Lau is serene in how events have unfolded.

"Mother Marianne couldn't have picked a more perfect day (for beatification)," said the nun from the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, Mother Marianne's order: "It's my birthday. (She laughed.) ... Mother said, 'Yes, it's my time, and I want my sisters there.' "

Lau helped arrange it so a patient from Kalaupapa, Winnie Harada, will be going along, urging her to join the nuns in their pilgrimage with the firm belief that "Mother Marianne wants you to go."

"It's my first trip to Rome, and I plan to take it all in," Lau said. "And to be following the way of St. Francis ... that's our holy ground."

Reach Mary Kaye Ritz at mritz@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8035.