MOTHER MARIANNE'S GRAVE

Near the church of St. Philomena is the tomb of Mother Marianne Cope (1838-1918). Less well known than Father Damien, Mother Marianne played a fundamental role in the Kalaupapa community. While working in a New York-area hospital in the 1880s, she heard about the missions at Kalaupapa and Father Damien's work with lepers. With six Franciscan sisters, she decided to move there. They arrived in 1888 and soon established a boarding school for the single women of the community. Mother Marianne worked tirelessly until the end of her life. She helped Father Damien enormously in his mission. When she passed away in 1918, there was great grief in Kalaupapa. She is considered a saint by all the inhabitants of the village. The Catholic Church beatified her in 2005.

Next to her grave is a large Celtic cross that pays homage to Father Damien, as if to reunite these two beings in the afterlife. In 1936, the expatriation of Father Damien's remains to Belgium was a real tragedy for the patients of Kalaupapa. After many protests from the community, the right hand of the religious was removed from the Belgian coffin in 1995 and symbolically placed in the original tomb near the church of Saint Philomène.

Both monuments are still highly respected today, please behave appropriately.