Ali’i / Chiefs / Governance | Page 42

January 8, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ni‘ihau Lei Pūpū

Privately-owned by the Robinsons, with strict limited access, Ni‘ihau is the island that is least known and visited, and as such has the most intrigue (and thus referred to as the Forbidden Isle.)

In 1863, King Kamehameha IV put Ni‘ihau up for sale. A purchase price of $10,000 was agreed to with buyers James and Francis Sinclair. But Kamehameha IV died on November 30 before the closing, so Royal Patent No. 2944 shows his brother, Kamehameha V, completed the transaction in 1864. Ownership was subsequently passed down through the family.

The 70-square-mile island (about half the size of Lāna‘i and twice as large as Kaho‘olawe) is the smallest inhabited island in Hawai‘i with 84 residents (mostly Native Hawaiian) and 35 houses (DBEDT & Census.)

The island lacks basic municipal infrastructure. There are no paved roads (walking, horseback or bicycle are the only transportation options on Ni‘ihau.) No water and wastewater systems. No stores. No restaurants. No doctors. No police. No fire department. (Ni‘ihau Cultural Heritage Foundation)

“‘Ni‘ihau shells’ means seashells harvested from the island of Ni‘ihau, its waters, or its beaches. [N]o person shall offer, display, expose for sale, or solicit for sale any product or jewelry item fabricated, processed, or manufactured with seashells …”

“… that is described, labeled, or identified using the term ‘Ni‘ihau’ or ‘Niihau’, either alone or in conjunction with other words, or in a trade or brand name …”

“… unless: (1) One hundred per cent of all shells in the product or jewelry item are Ni‘ihau shells; and (2) The product or jewelry item is fabricated, processed, or manufactured entirely within this State.” (Hawai‘i Revised Statutes, §486-118.5)

Pu‘uwai village, on the western (leeward) side of the island, is the population center of Ni‘ihau. On this side of the island are the main beaches where Ni‘ihau shells are collected that make the famous and collectible Ni‘ihau lei pūpū.

The origin of the Ni‘ihau shell lei is lost in antiquity, but it is clear that at the time of Captain James Cook first contact in 1778, shell lei were in existence.

A Ni‘ihau shell lei is in the British Museum and was most likely collected by Cook during one of his several visits to the island of Ni‘ihau.

Although ‘shell ornaments’ described by early visitors were primarily made of seashells, some were also made of land shells which were once common throughout the Islands. In the mid-1800s, hula dancers were described as wearing necklaces of shells as well as flower garlands and feather ornamentation.

There are three different shells primarily used to make Ni‘ihau shell lei: kahelelani, momi and laiki. The color of the shells range from bright pink to pale yellow, and can have various types of markings on them.

Fabricating shell lei was not limited to Ni‘ihau, but it was there that this Hawaiian art flourished, most likely due to the abundance of shells available on the island’s beaches and the scarcity of flowers because of the arid climate.

In 1887, Queen Kapi‘olani had a formal portrait taken in New York on her way to attend Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. In the portrait, she wore a multi-strand lei of ivory-colored Ni‘ihau shells which complemented her formal Victorian dress.

Queen Emma, who showed more appreciation of Hawaiian crafts than any other of the Hawaiian royalty, also wore Ni‘ihau shell lei for formal portraits as well as when she was presented to Her Britannic Majesty.

It should be noted that during this time the shell lei was adapted to Victorian jewelry styles which included adding a clasp, thus elevating the traditional lei to the status of a piece of fine jewelry which was worn with the most elegant Western dress.

It is also interesting to note that later, particularly during the early- and mid-1900s, shell lei were more commonly reserved for occasions when Hawaiian attire was worn.

January 6, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaua Kūloko (Civil War 1895)

Following the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893, the Committee of Safety established the Provisional Government of Hawaiʻi as a temporary government until an assumed annexation by the United States.

The Provisional Government convened a constitutional convention and established the Republic of Hawaiʻi on July 4, 1894. The Republic continued to govern the Islands.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the constitutional Hawaiian monarchy were engaged in a war that consisted of three battles on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi.

This has frequently been referred to as the “Counter-revolution”. It has also been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895, the Revolution of 1895, the Hawaiian Counter-revolution of 1895, the 1895 Uprising in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Civil War, the 1895 Uprising Against the Provisional Government or the Uprising of 1895.

In their attempt to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne, it was the last major military operation by royalists who opposed the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. The goal of the rebellion failed.

The chief conspirators who conducted the planning were four: CT Gulick, a former Cabinet Minister of Kalākaua, an American; Samuel Nowlein, a hapa haole, former Captain of the Queen’s Guard; WH Rickard, an Englishman long resident in Hawaiʻi; and Major Seward, an American long domiciled with John A Cummins, a wealthy hapa haole.

For three months, these four held frequent meetings at Gulick’s house and settled upon a plan for the capture of the city and public buildings.

Capt. Nowlein was to be commander of the rebel forces. Major Seward was to procure arms, Rickard was generally useful and Gulick was the statesman of the party.

Gulick, with the others, drew up a new Constitution, wrote a Proclamation restoring the Queen’s Government and prepared written Commissions for a number of chief officials.

On December 20th, after several days watching by five of Seward and Cummins’ men on Mānana (Rabbit Island, near Waimānalo,) the schooner signaled and was answered. The men gave the pass word “Missionary.”

They received two cases containing eighty pistols and ammunition which they first buried on the islet, but afterwards carried to Honolulu. The schooner then lay off outside for twelve days.

On the 28th, the little steamer Waimānalo was chartered by Seward and Rickard, and on New Year’s Day intercepted the schooner about thirty miles NE of Oʻahu, and received from her 288-Winchester carbines and 50,000-cartridges.

Captain Nowlein had secretly enlisted Hawaiians in squads of thirty-eight. About 210 of them assembled at Waimānalo during Saturday night and Sunday, the 6th. They captured and detained all persons passing or residing beyond Diamond Head.

Robert Wilcox, of former insurgent fame, had joined the rebels, and was placed in command under Nowlein.

Beginning on the night of January 6, 1895, several skirmishes ensued, with slight victory for the Royalists. However, their benefit of surprise was now lost and they were out-numbered and out-gunned.

On January 7, 1895 martial law was declared in Hawaiʻi by Sanford B Dole.

Three major battle grounds were involved. First, Wilcox and about 40 of his men were on the rim and summit of Diamond Head firing down on the soldiers.

Seeing no tactical importance in remaining on Diamond Head, Wilcox ordered his men to retreat to Waiʻalae. The new strategy was to move north into Koʻolau mountains then west, avoiding the Government forces in the south.

On January 7, the Royalists moved into Mōʻiliʻili where they were involved with additional skirmishes. Then, on January 8, Wilcox and his men were discovered crossing into Mānoa Valley (they were hoping to get above the city, as well as rouse more supporters.)

Wilcox and his men then escaped up a trail on the precipice to the ridge separating Mānoa from Nuʻuanu. On that ridge his men dispersed into the mountain above; Wilcox and a few others crossed Nuʻuanu that night, eluding the guards.

Some 400 of the Government forces guarded the valleys from Nuʻuanu to Pālolo for more than a week, and scoured the mountain ridges clear to the eastern Makapuʻu point.

This resulted in the capture of all the leading rebels.

As evidence against conspirators accumulated, some forty whites and 120 Hawaiians were arrested. Four foreigners and 140 Hawaiians were taken prisoners of war. The prisons were supplemented by the use of the old Barracks.

Liliʻuokalani was put under arrest on the 16th, and confined in a chamber of ʻIolani Palace.

A tribunal was formed and evidence began to be taken on the 18th. Nowlein, Wilcox, Bertelmann and TB Walker all pleaded guilty, and subsequently gave evidence for the prosecution.

On January 24, 1895, in an effort to prevent further bloodshed, Liliʻuokalani executed a document addressed to President Sanford B Dole, in which she renounced all her former rights and privileges as Queen and swore allegiance to the Republic. The president pardoned the royalists after serving part of their prison sentence.

Convicted of having knowledge of a royalist plot, Liliʻuokalani was fined $5,000 and sentenced to five-years in prison at hard labor. The sentence was commuted to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom of ʻIolani Palace.

After her release from ʻIolani Palace, the Queen remained under house arrest for five-months at her private home, Washington Place. For another eight-months, she was forbidden to leave Oʻahu, before all restrictions were lifted.

Lots of the information here comes from an article in The Friend, February, 1895.

January 4, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Jonah in The Jug

Robert Wilcox defeated Kūhiō’s brother David to become the first Hawaiian Delegate in the US Congress. Kūhiō initially joined Wilcox’s Home Rule Party but grew disenchanted and eventually joined the Republican Party and ran and in 1902, Kūhiō won a landslide victory and unseated Robert Wilcox .

When President Theodore Roosevelt greeted Kūhiō in 1903, he balked at the name Kalaniana‘ole. “I shall not call him Prince Cupid, and I cannot pronounce his last name. I never would be able to remember it, anyhow,” the President complained. From then on, most Washingtonians simply referred to him as “Kūhiō” or “Prince Cupid,” after his childhood nickname.

On January 4, 1904, Kūhiō gained some unwanted notoriety when he was arrested for disorderly conduct after scuffling outside a DC bar. (House-gov)

“According to the police of the first precinct he had a misunderstanding with Charles Clarke, forty-five years old, a collector, near the corner of 13^th street and Pennsylvania avenue northwest, about 11 o’clock last night and refused to accept the kindly offices of Policeman Wolf, who attempted to smooth matters over.”

“The conduct of both men was such, the police state, that it was necessary for the officer to take both men into custody and escort them to the first precinct police station but he only suceeded in doing so by using force after he had exhausted every other means.” (Hawaiian Star, Jan 22, 1904)

He refused to pay a fine or to alert friends to his predicament and stayed overnight in jail, incorrectly claiming that, as a Member of Congress, he was exempt from arrest. The next morning the court notified friends, who bailed him out. (House-gov)

In a letter to his brother, Kūhiō explained, “On the way down from the billiard parlor, I stopped at the Stand to purchase cigarettes (this is on the ground floor and the entrance to the build On the way down from the billiard parlor …”

“… I stopped at the Stand to purchase cigarettes (this is on the ground floor and the entrance to the building), when I heard cursing coming from the rear of the building, where there is a bar, and then an order by the proprietor to his bartenders to put a man out.”

“In the rush-out the crowd did not seem to know who was being put out, and I suppose I got a bit curious, too, to see the row. The first I knew some one brushed against me and another ran into me from the rear and then was rushed out by the mob.”

“Staggering forward through the entrance I felt somebody hit me from the back and a second blow knocked me down to the sidewalk. It all happened so quickly I had not the opportunity to strike back and, upon rising. I asked for an explanation.”

“Two fellows, one turned out to be an officer in citizen’s clothes, said something to this effect, ‘You shut up, you drunken nigger!’ and then made a lunge at me.”

“Three or four others, who undoubtedly knew the officer and, probably thinking they were assisting him, all jumped on me and I resisted with but little effect, however.”

“I was protesting against this men roughly took hold of me, when I again protested to the arrest being unjustified, and asked who had placed me under arrest. The officer in citizen clothes replied, he did, and showed his authority, the badge, upon my demand.”

“I requested of the uniformed officers that the fellow who struck me and also the officer that placed ‘me under arrest be taken along too; but the latter told them, ‘Never mind him; take the damned drunken nigger!’”

“On arrival at the station with the two ‘cops’ I was charged with disorderly conduct, when I then again protested and demanded the arrest of the other two without avail.”

“Then I told the clerk that I am a Congressman and that I thought a Congressman had some privileges exempting him from arrest while he is in attendance at the Capitol.”

“He replied he thought there was no help unless I put up $5 collateral, which I refused to do unless it be upon my own recognizance. The clerk again replied that I had one of two things to chose, either put up the collateral up or be locked up.”

“I had become enraged at the perpetrated outrage and I chose the latter.’” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Jan 23, 1904)

In the morning, “prince Cupid drank out of a tin cup along with persons who had been arrested for being drunk.” (Los Angeles Times, Jan 6, 1904) (The LA Times headlined their story of this experience as “Jonah in ‘The Jug.’”)

“The charge of disorderly conduct against Prince Kūhiō Kalaniana’ole, Delegate from Hawaii, was nolle prossed [dropped, abandoned or dismissed] in the police court today. The Delegate had been arrested in connection with an encounter with a Honolulu attorney named Charles Clarke.”

“A number of friends of Prince Kūhiō were present in the court room and they warmly congratulated him over the satisfactory outcome of the case.” (Hilo Tribune, Jan 22, 1904)

“The law in question is found in Section 6, Article I, of the Constitution, and reads as follows: ‘The Senators and Representatives … shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same.’”

“Commenting on this, Paschal, in his ‘Constitution of the United States,’ says: ‘This would seem to extend to all indictable offenses, as well as those which are attended with force and violence.”

“The privilege from arrest commences from the election, and before the member takes his seat or is sworn. One who goes to Washington duly commissioned to represent a State in Congress is privileged from arrest …”

“… and though it be subsequently decided by Congress that he is not entitled to a seat there, he is protected until he reaches home, if he return there as soon as possible.’” (Hawaiian Gazette, Feb 12, 1904)

This wasn’t the first time Kūhiō had been jailed. In 1895, following the overthrow of Queen Lili‘uokalani, Kūhiō took part in a counterrevolution led by Robert Wilcox against the Republic of Hawai‘i.

The prince was charged with misprision of treason and served his sentence of one year in prison. During his imprisonment, a Kauai chiefess, Elizabeth Kahanu Ka‘auwai, visited him each day, and after his release, the two married on October 8, 1896.

Kūhiō and his princess left Hawai‘i on a self-imposed exile and traveled extensively through Europe. In 1899, the prince served in the British Army in the Second Boer War against the independent Boer (Dutch-settled) republics of Transvaal and Oranje Vrijstaain in southeast Africa. (DHHL)

Then, Kūhiō returned home and engaged in the politics of post-annexation Hawai‘i. (The image shows Kūhiō in his initial imprisonment in Hawai‘i.)

December 31, 2022 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Queen Kapiʻolani

Julia Napelakapuokakaʻe Kapi‘olani was born on December 31, 1834 in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. Her father was high chief Kūhiō, and her mother Kinoiki was the daughter of King Kaumualiʻi of Kauaʻi (who negotiated peace with Kamehameha I to unify the islands in 1810.) (KCC)

“Kapiʻolani remained in Hilo the place of her birth until she was eight years of age. She was then sent to Kona, the home of some of the highest chiefs that have ruled people in these islands.”

“Kona was the home of Kapiʻolani (nui) wife of Naihe and a relative of the family …. Although Kapiʻolani (nui) was not living at the time, the young chiefess was given her name.” (Evening Bulletin, June 24, 1899)

On March 8, 1852, “At the age of 16 Kapiʻolani came to Honolulu and was taken under the protection of Kauikeaouli (King Kamehameha III.) Four years later, she married the High Chief Nāmākehā.” (Evening Bulletin, June 24, 1899)

Bennet Nāmākehā – a man thirty-five years her senior – was brother of Naʻea (Queen Emma’s father.) “Queen Kapiʻolani had been aunt to Queen Emma … and had nursed the young prince, the son of Alexander Liholiho (King Kamehameha IV,) although her rank not only equaled, but was superior to, that of Queen Emma, the child’s mother.” (Lili‘uokalani)

For his health the young couple voyaged for months on The Morning Star, an American Protestant missionary vessel, among the Gilbert Islands, but in vain, for Nāmākehā died on December 27, 1860, at Honolulu. He was buried at the Wylie Crypt at Mauna ‘Ala (Royal Mausoleum.) (Kravitz)

Later, efforts were underway to arrange a marriage between Alexander Liholiho’s sister, Victoria Kamāmalu, and David Kalākaua. (Kanahele) Kalākaua was, however, attracted to Kapiʻolani. On December 8, 1863, Kalākaua’s romance with Julia Kapiʻolani crystallized, and they were married in a quiet, secret ceremony by an Episcopal minister. (Kelley)

David Kalākaua was elected to replace the deceased King Lunalilo in 1874, making Kapiʻolani Queen to King Kalākaua. Kapiʻolani was a visible monarch. Queen Kapiʻolani reigned for nearly seventeen years. (KCC)

“It was in her home life that the Queen’s womanly qualities shone to the best advantage. Sweetness and amiability, with a soft gentleness of voice and manner to all who approached her, were her chief characteristics. She had a smile for everyone.”

“In the happy old palace days her favorite pastime was to sit under the shade of the great banyan tree, in the back of the palace yard, with her ladies in waiting, lounging lazily on the grass around her, and tease them about their sweethearts or worm a confession out of this or that timid one jealously guarding the secret of her heart.”

“She went very little into society and appeared in public usually only when her presence was necessary at state dinners, balls and other functions of royalty.” (Austin’s Hawaiian Weekly, July 1, 1899)

In April 1887, Queen Kapiʻolani and Princess Liliʻuokalani traveled to England to participate in the celebration of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. They first sailed to San Francisco, traveled by train across the North American continent, spent some time in Washington and New York; they then sailed to England.

Upon their return from Europe, Queen Kapiʻolani and her entourage stopped again in Washington, DC. At that time, they toured the National Museum, later to become the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. As a result of that visit, Queen Kapiʻolani gifted the museum with a Hawaiian outrigger canoe to add to their collection. (OHA)

Kapiʻolani made headlines when President and Mrs Grover Cleveland hosted a formal state dinner at the White House in her honor.

She also visited schools, hospitals, and other public institutions in San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, and New York. As the first queen to visit the United States, her activities received extensive coverage in various U.S. newspapers. (KCC)

“During the political difficulties associated with the overthrow of the monarchy, and final annexation of Hawaiʻi to the United States, she has, with dignity, …”

“… kept herself free from all complications, accepting with sorrow and resignation the loss of Hawaiian nationality. Her attitude was so lofty and dignified that it wins the sympathy even of her political enemies.” (Austin’s Hawaiian Weekly, July 1, 1899)

In 1891, King Kalākaua passed away at the age of fifty-four. Since the royal couple bore no children, the king’s sister Lili‘uokalani succeeded the throne. (KCC)

“Shortly after the death of King Kalākaua in San Francisco, January, 1891, the Queen went into retirement, making the Waikiki place her permanent home but travelling about among the Islands and particularly to her old home in Kailua, Kona, from time to time.”

“It was not long ago after the King’s death that Kapiʻolani began to fail in health and she never succeeded at any time since then in fully recovering it.”

“A short time (later) she made over all her property, a considerable amount, to her two nephews, the Princes David Kawānanakoa and Cupid Kalanianaʻole (Kūhiō) who are her sole heirs.”

“To these young men she was ever a loving and indulgent aunt. It was her money that paid for the education of the young men in America and England and it is to them now that she leaves all her earthly belongings.”

“Kapiʻolani was Christian woman whose good deeds were not confined to the bosom of her family but were extended to her friends and her people. Those who were closest to her say she had not a single enemy.”

“This is indeed an enviable record and the peace that was with her at death seems but a fitting end to such a life.” (Evening Bulletin, June 24, 1899) At sixty-four years of age, she died on June 24, 1899 at Pualeilani, her modest home in Waikiki. (KCC)

Kapiʻolani Park in Waikiki was named in honor of her. She visited Kalaupapa in 1884 to learn how she could assist those who were diagnosed with leprosy and exiled there, and she raised the funds to build the Kapiʻolani Home for Girls whose parents had leprosy.

Though childless, the Queen cherished the Hawaiian family and the role of mother. In 1890, she established the Kapiʻolani Maternity Home, which is today the Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children. (KCC)

Queen Kapiolani wearing her coronation gown-PP-97-14-001-1883

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Queen Kapiolani Statue

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Kapiolani Hospital-PP-40-7-015-00001-1934

USS Atlanta – manning the yards in honor of Queen Kapiolani, Brooklyn, NY-PP-97-15-009-1887

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Kapiolani Funeral-PP-25-10-001-00001

December 26, 2022 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Sisters of Charity

Appropriately, we read a lot about the good work of Father Damien and Mother Marianne (both, now Saints.) But we don’t seem to hear of the many others who worked with them in ministering to those in need.

Here, we look at only a few (some of the earliest Sisters that worked with Mother Marianne,) and the hard work and hardship they endured.

The first shipment of lepers landed at Kalawao (Kalaupapa) January 6, 1866, the beginning of segregation and banishment of lepers to the leper settlement.

Receiving and detention centers were established on Oʻahu. Kalihi Hospital was the first hospital for leprosy patients in Hawaiʻi opening in 1865. Kapiʻolani Home opened in Kalihi Kai in 1891 adjacent to the Kalihi Hospital and Receiving Station; Kalihi Plague Camp (1900-1912) and Meyers Street, Kalihi Uka (1912-1938.) (NPS)

In January 1883, Walter Gibson, Minister of Foreign Affairs and president of the Board of Health, appealed to Hermann Koeckemann, Bishop of Olba, head of the Catholic Mission in Hawai’i, to obtain Sisters of Charity from one of the many sisterhoods in the US to come and help care for leprous women and girls in the Islands.

Father Leonor Fouesnel, with a royal commission from King Kalākaua, was designated as agent to go on this mission. Landing in San Francisco and traveling East, Father Leonor petitioned more than fifty different sisterhoods before a favorable reply was obtained, from the Franciscan Convent of St Anthony at Syracuse, New York.

The reply to the King’s emissary was not made lightly, but only after a long, serious debate among the sisterhood. One of the prime supporters of this action was the Mother Superior, Mother Marianne Cope. (Greene; NPS)

“I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen Ones, whose privilege it will be, to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders… I am not afraid of any disease, hence it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned ‘lepers.’” (Mother Marianne; NPS)

Mother Marianne consulted with all the sisters and, to her credit they felt free to voice their concerns. Responded one: “I am very honest with you. I am afraid. I have heard too much about these poor people. I heard also that there are no rules and regulations. That everyone does as he pleases.”

Another stated: “If it is not a suitable place for any woman how can it be for the Sisters.” (NPS) With calmness, good sense, firmness, and a kind heart she was able to get cooperation from all around her. Her religious life was a series of administrative appointments, culminating in her being placed in charge of missions in Hawai’i.

Only six sisters could be spared to go with Mother Marianne, who insisted that as superior of the convent it was her duty to go with the first group of sisters and help them get established. It was not the intent of the convent that she stay in Hawai’i permanently. (Greene; NPS)

On October 23, 1883, Mother Marianne and her companions set off for Hawai’i, arriving on November 9. These were: Sister M Bonaventure Caraher, Sister Crescentia Eilers, Sister Ludovica Gibbons, Sister M Rosalia McLaughlin, Sister Renata Nash and Sister Mary Antonella Murphy.

Three of the sisters and Mother Marianne went to work at the branch hospital for leprosy victims at Kaka’ako in Honolulu on January 11, 1884, and spent almost five years there. Three others were put in charge of the new hospital at Wailuku on the island of Maui.

“For us it is happiness to be able to comfort, in a measure, the poor exiles, and we rejoice that we are unworthy agents of our heavenly Father through whom He deigns to show His great love and mercy to the sufferers.” (Mother Marianne, 1884)

Queen Kapi‘olani had visited Kalaupapa in 1884 to learn how she could assist those who were diagnosed with leprosy and exiled there, and she raised the funds to build the Kapiʻolani Home for Girls. (KCC) She and others also recognized the need for a home for the non-infected children of the leprosy patients.

On November 9, 1885, the healthy girls living in Kalawao moved into Kapiʻolani Home on the grounds of the sisters’ convent at the Kaka’ako Branch Hospital. (Hawaii Catholic Herald)

On April 22, 1885, a second group of sisters arrived from Syracuse as reinforcements. This included Sister Leopoldina Burns, Sister Carolina Hoffmann, Sister Martha Kaiser and Sister Benedicta Rodenmacher. Shortly after, Sister Antonia Brown, Sister M. Vincentia McCormick, Sister M. Irena Schorp and Sister Ephrem Schillinger. (More came later.)

News continually filtered back to Kaka’ako about conditions at the Moloka’i settlement. The children on the island were in desperate need of care and the venerable Father Damien himself had been diagnosed as having leprosy and obviously had few years left in which to continue his work.

Mother Marianne, however, was being kept busy in Honolulu all this time. At one point she had suggested to Walter Gibson that a home for children of leprous parents be built near the sisters’ residence in Honolulu. This establishment opened in November 1885 as the Kapiʻolani Home for Girls. (Green; NPS)

Then, Mother Marianne Cope and Sisters Leopoldina Burns and Vincentia McCormick of the Third Order of St. Francis, Sisters of Charity arrived on November 14, 1888. They managed the Charles R Bishop Home for Unprotected Leper Girls and Women, which opened at Kalaupapa in 1888. (NPS)

Sister Leopoldina describes the place: “One could never imagine what a lonely barren place it was. Not a tree nor a shrub in the whole Settlement only in the churchyard there were a few poor little trees that were so bent and yellow by the continued sweep of the birning wind it would make one sad to look at them.” (Voices of Kaulapapa; SanDiego-gov)

While there was no cure for the residents of Molokai, the sisters tried to bring dignity to their lives. Before the sisters arrived, patients dressed in rags. The sisters gave the girls proper clothes and taught them embroidery, sewing and gardening. They also gave them music lessons.

Father Damien himself succumbed to leprosy on April 15, 1889. Upon the death of Damien, Mother Marianne agreed to also head the Boys Home at Kalawao. The Board of Health had quickly chosen her as Saint Damien’s successor and she was thus enabled to keep her promise to him to look after his boys.

A traveler on a steamer that later (May, 1889) brought Sisters Crescentia and Irene to Kalaupapa noted, “When I was pulled ashore one early morning there sat with me in the boat two sisters bidding farewell (in humble imitation of Damien) to the lights and joys of human life. One wept silently and I could not withhold myself from joining her.” (The Messenger)

The workload was extremely heavy in that Bishop Home alone provided shelter for 103 girls in 1893. There were times when the burden seemed overwhelming. In a moment of despair, Sister Leopoldina reflected, “How long Oh Lord must I see only those that are sick and covered with leprosy?” (Sister Leopoldina: NPS)

The Baldwin Home, which opened in May of 1894, replaced the Boys’ home built by Father Damien. Mother Marianne Cope and the Sisters of Saint Francis managed the Baldwin home until they turned over jurisdiction to Joseph Dutton and the Sacred Hearts Brothers in 1895.

While at Kalaupapa, Mother Marianne predicted that no Franciscan Sister would ever contract leprosy. Additionally she required her sisters use stringent hand washing and other sanitary procedures. No sister has ever contracted the disease. Mother Marianne died in the summer of 1918 at the age of 80.

Mother Marianne was canonized on Oct. 21, 2012, making her the first Franciscan woman to be canonized from North America and only the 11th American saint. Forevermore, she will be known as St Marianne Cope, with the title “beloved mother of outcasts.” (Lots of information here is from NPS and Hawaii Catholic Herald.)