Sister Margaret Antone Milho still savors the memory of looking upon the face of Mother Marianne Cope in the first moments after her skeletal remains were unearthed seven years ago at Kalaupapa.

"It was just beautiful. I can see it today as I tell you the story," Milho, a counselor at Saint Francis School in Manoa, said in an interview Monday.

Milho is one of four sisters from the Catholic school, dedicated to Cope’s memory in 1931, who will leave Friday on a tour that will culminate in the declaration of Cope’s sainthood Oct. 21 in Rome.

"I can’t wait," Milho said. "All of us here wouldn’t be here without Mother Marianne. She was the first Franciscan to come to Hawaii. We all know she’s been a saint (even before the official recognition). This is just a declaration of what is."

Milho said she has been eagerly anticipating the canonization ceremony since she was able to witness the exhumation of Mother Marianne’s remains in 2005, and traveled to Rome for Cope’s beatification later that year.

Milho said she overcame an ingrained fear of leprosy to attend the exhumation — the myth that the disease was highly contagious and "all the stories you hear when you’re little that Kalaupapa was a scary place to go" — "because the love was so strong it overpowered everything else."

Cope’s body was exhumed in 2005 after being buried for 87 years at the Kalaupapa Hansen’s disease settlement, where the Franciscan nun provided spiritual and physical nurturing to her exiled patients. The Vatican requires exhumation to verify a sainthood candidate’s identity. Her body was moved to her motherhouse in Syracuse, N.Y., for better public accessibility.

Milho was one of 15 to 20 Hawaii nuns from the order, officially known as the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, who were invited to the exhumation on the grounds of the Bishop Home on Molokai.

Getting a close-up view of Cope’s face when it was uncovered took some maneuvering, said Milho, who said, "I just tiptoed around" people for a spot closest to the grave.

"I wasn’t supposed to be there (so close), but I wanted to see it so much, so I hung onto a tree and leaned over to look into the grave," Milho said with a chuckle. "That’s the only way I would’ve gotten to see her. I’m niele, which means ‘wanting to know’ in Hawaiian. I wanted to see as much of her as I could. Then I was content.

"They took a tiny little brush and they started on her face, dusting off the dirt. She was still in the ground, and little by little, they saw her face. When the air hit it, it (the face) kinda fell in, but I saw it when it was one beautiful face."

Sister Alicia Damien Lau, the main organizer of Cope-related activities for the St. Francis community in Hawaii and the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, was also there and helped the forensic team remove the dirt from the grave site. She is also going to Rome, in charge of nine leprosy patients from Kalaupapa. Besides her key role, Lau’s personal dedication to Cope was further magnified during the exhumation.

"It was just amazing," Lau said of when Cope’s face was revealed. Everyone sort of gasped, she said, "because we were waiting for that moment" after two days of digging that had begun on Jan. 24, 2005.

Before Cope’s remains were finally sealed in plastic bags and a zinc box four days later, seven sisters "were privileged to hold her skull in our hands while we prayed," Lau said. "It was a very awesome — a chilling feeling to know that I held Saint Marianne’s skull. It is a moment in my life that I will never forget; neither would the other sisters."

Milho said she sneaked into an off-limits room in St. Elizabeth’s Convent where the remains were held.

"I wasn’t supposed to, but I was drawn," she said. "Of course again, I was niele. I opened the door and I prayed with her. Just her remains were there. I felt so special. She’s such a beautiful lady with all the good she did."

Like other nuns in attendance, Milho took two handfuls of the sifted dirt that had been brushed off of Cope, hoping trace amounts of her remained in the samples.

Milho put the dirt into about 20 clear small bottles; she has given all but four away to devotees of Cope who asked for one.

"I have one in my bedroom on a stand where I pray" next to a picture of Cope, she said.