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This is a milestone month for members and supporters of the Catholic religious order that founded and gave its name to the St. Francis Medical Center and St. Francis Health Care System of Hawaii. St. Francis celebrates
75th anniversaryStar-Bulletin staff
The 75th anniversary of the opening of the hospital in Liliha was celebrated Thursday by the Sisters of St. Francis with a Mass in the hospital chapel.
Sister Beatrice Tom, chief executive officer of the health care system, presided at the dedication of a painting of Mother Marianne Cope, who led the first Franciscan sisters here from their headquarters in Syracuse, N.Y. The painting by Honolulu artist Peggy Chun will be displayed in the hospital lobby.
"Celebration 75" will continue with a May 31 benefit dinner and show at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom. Entertainment will include Uluwehi Guerrero, the Islanders Trio, Jan Brenner and the Allstars Band, the Royal Hawaiian Band Glee Club, Brickwood Galuteria and the Ellsworth Simeona Band. A portion of the $150 ticket price is tax-deductible. For information and reservations, call the St. Francis Foundation, 547-6877.
Although the 1927 hospital opening is the focus of festivities this month, the painting memorializes the Franciscans' original mission in Hawaii. Mother Marianne led six sisters to the islands in 1883 at the request of King Kalakaua. They were enlisted to care for leprosy patients at a time when the disease claimed hundreds of victims each year.
They worked with patients on Oahu and, after five years, extended their services to patients in Kalaupapa, Molokai. Franciscan nurses continue to work at the settlement to this day.
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