Local Roman Catholics expressed excitement after Pope Benedict XVI announced early Saturday that the canonization of Molokai’s Blessed Mother Marianne Cope and six other new saints will take place Oct. 21.

The Rev. Gary Secor, vicar general for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, was joined by local leaders of the Sisters of St. Francis at a news conference Saturday formally announcing the canonization date issued by the Vatican several hours earlier.

Mother Marianne, known as "the beloved mother of the outcasts," came to Hawaii in 1883 with six companion sisters to care for Hansen’s disease patients and their children. She served five years caring for patients at Kakaako Branch Hospital, and spent the remaining 30 years of her life caring for the banished Hansen’s disease patients in Kalaupapa.

"Coming so soon after the 2009 canonization of St. Damien, this is an extraordinary, and even astonishing blessing for the people of Hawaii," Secor said. Secor was speaking on behalf of Bishop Larry Silva, who is on a retreat in California.

"We’re very excited that this is occurring and it’s a wonderful opportunity for us," Secor said, noting that the pope has declared the coming year "the Year of Faith."

"This is a splendid opportunity for us to hold up to the world an icon of faith that can help all of us to renew our understanding of what it means to be a Catholic," he said.

Mother Marianne was the first Sister of St. Francis to come to Hawaii. She did so in response to pleas from King Kalakaua and Queen Kapiolani to the Catholic Church to ease the suffering here. Her first task was to found the Kapiolani Home on Oahu for healthy female children of patients with leprosy, as Hansen’s disease was then called.

She moved to Molokai in November 1888 and founded the C.R. Bishop Home for homeless women and girls with Hansen’s disease in Kalaupapa. Mother Marianne was at St. Damien’s bedside when he died in 1889 and promised him that she would head the Boys Home at Kalawao in addition to her existing duties.

As a result, for a time, the Sisters of St. Francis ran both operations, said Sister Alicia Damien Lau, also of the order and an expert on Marianne.

"Clearly, her concern for those who are in great need — women, children and others — is something that we, as a church, want to continue to foster, and that we are continuing to do in many, many different ways," Secor said. "We see ourselves very much involved with that kind of work. Really, that’s who we are."

He also noted that it is "very unusual" for any diocese to have more than one saint associated with it as Hawaii will have with Damien and Marianne. "We are very blessed," he said.

Mother Marianne was "truly a model of prayer, joy and selflessness of our times," said Franciscan Sister Davilyn Ah Chick, principal of Our Lady Of Perpetual Help School in Ewa Beach. "She was a model for all with her humility doing good works for God alone, and with comfort and presence to the suffering as a sign of God’s love for them."

She was an early champion of human rights for all, calling for the respect and equal treatment of all people, Ah Chick said.

Mother Marianne is one of seven people who will be canonized on Oct. 21. The six others include another American — Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, known as the Lily of the Mohawks — and Blessed Peter Calungsod, a lay Catholic from Cebu, Philippines, who accompanied Jesuit ministers to Guam and was martyred there.