A Saint From Utica - St. Marianne of Molokai

The term "saints" originally referred to all those who believed in Jesus Christ but very early on became limited to those people who were recognized for their holiness either by universal acclamation (like St. Peter, St. Paul), or through canonization by the Catholic Church. The canonization process was a lengthy and tedious process. In 1983, Pope John Paul II streamlined the process, after which more saints became canonized.  Considering the number of Catholics worldwide, there are still not that many recognized saints and only 12 come from the United States (according to Wikipedia).

And one of them was a resident of Utica.


Mother Marianne was born Barbara Koob in Germany, January 23, 1838 and emigrated to the US with her family the year after her birth. The Koobs (later changed to Cope) settled in Utica in 1840 and became among the earliest parishioners of  St. Joseph's.  Barbara studied at St. Joseph's School until the 8th grade.  Although she experienced a call to religious life at an early age, she had to work in a factory in West Utica to help support her family when her father became an invalid.  After her younger siblings could care for themselves, and one month after her father's death in 1862, she joined the Third Order of St. Francis at St. Joseph's, adopting the name Sister Marianne, taking her vows in November 1863.

As Sister Marianne, she became superior of St. Clare's Convent at St. Joseph's Church (1868-69) and deputy to the Mother Superior in Syracuse (1864). She helped established two hospitals in Utica and Syracuse, and became adminstrator of St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse (1870). Between 1877 and 1883, she was the Superior General of the Franciscan Sisters in Syracuse.  It was her response to a letter from King Kalākaua begging her to send her Sisters to the hospitals and schools in Hawaii that led to her candidacy to sainthood.

In October 1883, Mother Marianne and 6 sisters left for Hawaii, where they worked with Fr. Damien caring for the lepers in the settlement.  She managed a hospital in O'ahu, established another in Maui and cared for orphans of women lepers as well as diseased clergy.  When nobody else would, she cared for the dying Fr. Damien. She, or any of the sisters that followed her, even until now, never succumbed to leprosy, considered itself a miracle. She never returned to the mainland and after devoting more than three decades in the care and education of the victims of this devastating disease, died in 1918. She was canonized by Pope Benedict  XVI on October 21, 2012.



The original church and school attended by St. Marianne in Utica are no longer there, the present church built before she went to the islands.  A later St. Joseph School also closed and the building is now used as the parish center.

This shrine and other places of pilgrimage are listed in the St. Marianne Cope's website.







The church was closed when we visited on a Monday afternoon so we checked at the parish office and a sister graciously came out and opened the church just for us. The church had beautiful stained glass windows although we failed to locate the two which supposedly depicted some scenes in St. Marianne's life.







 To the left of the altar, a section was devoted to St. Marianne.  The reliquary, we were told, contains a bone of the newly recognized saint. After saying a prayer and offering a petition, we left feeling privileged to have walked (sort of) in the footsteps of a saint.