Vatican reschedules
beatification of nun

The beatification of Mother Marianne Cope, which was scratched from the Vatican calendar last week, appears to have been penciled in once more.

Pope Benedict XVI will not officiate at the ceremony in Rome, and it will not be on May 15 as planned by the previous pope, but "we were told there is no doubt it is going to happen," said Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, of Syracuse, N.Y., who heads the Cope sainthood cause.

Hanley said the Sisters of St. Francis were told that Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva-Martins, who heads the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will preside at the ceremony to recognize the 19th-century nun's 30 years of service to leprosy patients in Kalaupapa and Oahu. For the cardinal to preside is a resumption of the practice that prevailed until 40 years ago, she said. It is likely to be May 14 or 16.

Franciscans and other people planning to attend the event are cautiously optimistic at that news, which came five days after their spirits were dashed by news of the cancellation. About 50 local residents and more than 90 in a Syracuse delegation were stuck with their travel plans despite the cancellation. Alan Tamai of Seawind Tours and Travel said it was too late to get refunds from airlines and hotels.

Choir rehearsal will go on tomorrow with members practicing "O Makalapua," which they expect to sing in St. Peter's Basilica or St. Peter's Square. The 1912 song by Charles E. King was a favorite of Cope, who lived at Kalaupapa until her death in 1918. Local composer Robert Mondoy has added verses about the love of God to the original song, which honored Queen Liliuokalani. It is still sung at most church and social gatherings in Kalaupapa.

Sister Marie Jose Romano, song leader, said the ad hoc choir of Franciscans, members of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church choir in Pearl City and others on the Cope pilgrimage, will also sing "How Great Thou Art" in Hawaiian as well as English.

The beatification "will be an awesome experience," said Sister Marion Inouye, retired teacher and a Franciscan for 50 years. "We will also go to Assisi," the birthplace of St. Francis, who founded the religious order. "It has always been my dream, and my dream will be realized."

Sister Ancilla Yim, a nun for 55 years, said, "It's a rare historical occasion for people in Hawaii and all the United States."

Hanley said the rescheduling took place after Syracuse Archbishop James Moynihan communicated with Vatican officials about the pilgrims whose travel plans could not be canceled. The Cope celebration was one of four beatification ceremonies planned for May 15. The Americans learned that the beatification was halted in part because the planners for the other ceremonies had dropped their plans because of Pope John Paul II's death.

The Franciscan Sisters "got a phone call the other morning from the Vatican secretary of state's office," said Hanley. "They said, 'The Holy Father wants to know if you are ready.' Certainly we were ready." It's not known whether the other causes -- two founders of religious orders, a French missionary who was killed in Africa and a group of men martyred in Spain -- have gotten their acts together and will still be part of the ceremony.

Cope's skeleton was removed from its Kalaupapa burial place in January and taken to Syracuse, where a shrine will be built. Cope was a nurse and hospital administrator when she left Syracuse in 1883, bringing six nuns to Hawaii in answer to a plea from the Kingdom of Hawaii. After operating a hospital on Oahu, Cope and other Franciscans went to Kalaupapa shortly before the death of Father Damien DeVeuster in 1889. The Belgian priest has also been beatified, the second of three steps to sainthood, for his 16 years of work with leprosy victims before he died of the disease.

The Franciscan sisters remained in Hawaii, establishing schools and the medical system that bears their name.

Said Sister Margaret Antone Milho, born on Kauai, "We have known about Mother all our lives. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for her."