Islanders on trek explore holy woman’s beginnings

UTICA, N.Y. » Meli Wata­nuki stood before stained-glass images of soon-to-be Saint Marianne Cope at a soup kitchen named in Cope’s honor on Sunday and began weeping at the thought of what Cope had done for Hansen’s disease patients like her a continent and an ocean away.

Living in Kalaupapa, where leprosy patients had been exiled for generations because of their then-incurable and disfiguring illness, Wata­nuki had long heard the stories of humanity and healing in Kalaupapa that made Cope worthy of canonization by Pope Benedict XVI next week in Rome.

But to retrace Cope’s footsteps in Syracuse — and to see stained-glass images of Cope as a girl in Utica and later as an adult tending to the ill on Molokai — brought Wata­nuki to tears.

"I’m not sad," Wata­nuki said, wiping her eyes. "She come and work hard for us. God’s spirit showed her to come to Hawaii, come to Kalaupapa to take care of leprosy, and she no care about herself. How strong of her."

Nine Hansen’s disease patients and 95 others made the long pilgrimage from Hono­lulu to New York and spent their second and final long day in New York on Sunday honoring Cope in the churches where she learned the lessons of Christianity that brought her to Kalaupapa in 1888.

Catholic churches across Utica and Syracuse proudly boast signs and posters about Cope — such as "We have a saint!" — claiming Cope as one of their own.

But the visit by the nine leprosy patients — out of 11 still living in the remote Kalaupapa peninsula — finally connected the circle of Cope’s life from New York to Molokai back to New York.

Linda Sebald of Hono­lulu grew up on New York’s Long Island, learning of the sacrifices and lessons of Cope and her predecessor in Kalaupapa, Hawaii’s first saint, Father Damien. When Sebald moved to Hawaii and met island Catholics, she was stunned to hear "that they didn’t think anybody outside of Hawaii had heard about them," Sebald said.

So Sebald had to return from Hawaii to New York last weekend to honor the nun who had done so much for the people of Utica, Syracuse, Oahu, Maui and Kalaupapa — and to touch the mahogany reliquary containing the majority of Cope’s remains that lie inside the chapel of St. Anthony’s convent in Utica, which Cope once ran as Mother Superior.

When they arrived at the convent on Sunday, the Hansen’s disease patients were surprised to be interviewed, photographed and videotaped by local reporters, including a photographer and reporter representing The .

But they were thrilled to reunite with four nuns now living in St. Anthony who had spent years in Kalaupapa, including Sister Mary Christopher Dixon, 82, who lived in Kalaupapa for 19 years as a nurse tending to the Hansen’s disease patients, beginning in 1958.

Dixon saw patient Clarence "Boogie" Kahi­li­hiwa walk into the convent’s sitting room on Sunday and shouted to the 72-year-old Kahi­li­hiwa, "Boogie! You’re all grown up."

As Kahilihiwa and Dixon caught up on a couch, fellow Hansen’s disease patient John Arruda stood nearby, rubbing his hand over the original desk that Cope had used in Kalaupapa. "I didn’t expect all of this," he said.

Catholic churches in central New York have built shrines and statues in Cope’s honor and in 2008 named the Mother Marianne Cope Westside Soup Kitchen in Utica after her.

But the Hansen’s disease patients were surprised to realize how much Catholics in Utica honor Cope’s work in Kalaupapa.

Along with the stained-glass window of Cope as a young catechism student in Utica that Wata­nuki touched, another stands nearby portraying Cope as a nun in full habit tending to a leprosy patient on Molokai.

St. Anthony’s convent also bears dozens of reminders of Cope’s work in Hawaii.

Photos and maps of Kalaupapa line the walls of the convent, along with a mosaic of Cope with Hansen’s disease patients.

One of two museums dedicated to Cope inside the convent includes a cross made of tree roots found in her original grave in Kalaupapa, along with sewing tools presented to Cope by Queen Kapiolani.

Two kahili (royal standards) — each made of 10,000 feathers — stand permanently on either side of Cope’s mahogany reliquary inside the convent’s chapel.

And on Sunday, many of the 80 nuns who live in the convent wore kukui nut lei and sang along to Hawaiian songs during a special Mass in the convent’s chapel.

"Her work in Hawaii was inspiring," said Darlene Yamrose, who runs the convent’s office, museum and gift shop, which includes several items devoted to Cope’s time in Hawaii, such as images of Cope with a Hawaii flag as a backdrop.

The pilgrims from Hawaii bought nearly $1,000 worth of Cope merchandise from the gift shop, including custom-made men’s and women’s Tori Richard aloha shirts bearing Cope’s image. That set a record for single-day sales for the gift shop, Yamrose said.

As the patients and their fellow Hawaii travelers wrapped up their final night in New York and prepared to fly to Rome today, they had a meal at Del­mon­ico’s steakhouse in Utica that ended with Wata­nuki giving every restaurant staff member a kukui nut lei and a kiss on the cheek.

Before they boarded their buses to leave, the Hawaii visitors suddenly stood and took over the restaurant.

As surprised customers and lei-wearing staff watched, the folks from Hawaii held hands and sang "Hawaii Aloha."