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Syracuse remembers St. Marianne Cope on the 10th anniversary of her canonization

Yellow flags and a black and white photo of St. Marianne’s Cope are on display outside the St. Marianne’s Cope Museum and Shrine.
John Smith
/
WAER.org
Outside St. Marianne’s Cope Museum and Shrine flags line the entrance and photos honoring her are placed in the windows on Oct. 20, 2022.

The Catholic Diocese is celebrating the 10th anniversary of St. Marianne Cope’s canonization this weekend, and organizers say her spirit lives on, helping the ill and others navigate through life.

Mother Marianne always believed in helping the less fortunate and the sick. For years, Mother Marianne helped her community, assuring those who needed medical help received it by creating the first two Catholic hospitals in Central New York, one of which is St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse.

Two years after Mother Marianne Cope was named a saint at the Vatican in 2012, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities opened a shrine and museum in her honor filled with the rich history of her life and artifacts.

A rosary with a silver cross also is accompanied by a black and white picture of St. Marianne and green beads.
John Smith
/
WAER.org
A rosary with pictures of St. Marianne, a cross, and more are sold at the St. Marianne’s Cope Museum and Shrine gift shop.

The shrine also features a place for hospital visitors to come and pray for their loved ones. Museum director Kristen Barrett-Anderson said the 10th anniversary of Mother Marianne’s sainthood is meaningful.

“We can’t take someone at just face value,” Barrett-Anderson said “So, with Marianne, we’re going to see, when the publication of her journals comes out, she actually had challenges with depression that she wasn’t with her community. She thought she was going to Hawaii for six months and getting set up and then coming back.”

Mother Marianne went to Kalaupapa, Molokai, Hawaii in 1883 to care for the sick diagnosed with Hansen’s disease. Anderson said Mother Marianne never returned after she left Syracuse for Hawaii due to her health, and she struggled with that internally. Mother Marianne spent 36 years in Hawaii before passing away at the age of 80 in 1918. Anderson said notable attendees will be at St. Marianne’s celebratory mass including a family member and a local woman who was the first documented case to be cured from a terminal organ disease when she was a teenager.

“The first one (confirmed miracle) was Kate Mahoney, she was just 14 years-old and she was the one who pushed through for the beatification which was part of the canonization process that the Vatican gave approval to… yes, she is blessed," Anderson said. "Now, you can work through and one more miracle and she’ll be considered for canonization.  And then Sharon Smith came along, she was right here at St. Joseph’s Hospital and the sisters and the community all prayed for here and she became the second miracle… total organ failure in both cases.”

For Sister Jean Canora, who attended St. Marianne’s canonization 10 years ago, it is a calling to carry out her dedication and – as she puts it – the will of God.

“Being 90 year-olds old that is my job that the Lord is asking me now,” Canora said. “To be there for the people who are really either looking for cures or a way to accept, to be at peace with what’s happening to them. And I find it to be a very, very rewarding experience.”

Sister Jean Canora sits next to pots of flowers and artifacts inside the shrine room at the St. Marianne’s Cope Museum and Shrine.
John Smith
/
WAER.org
Sister Jean Canora sits inside the shrine room at the St. Marianne’s Cope Museum and Shrine on Oct. 20, 2022.

Canora hopes the authenticity of this weekend’s mass at Assumption Church and the gathering at the museum will resemble what she experienced at St. Marianne’s canonization. The mass is this Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Assumption Church in Syracuse; a reception will happen after at the museum.

John Smith has been waking up WAER listeners for a long time as our Local Co-Host of Morning Edition with timely news and information, working alongside student Sportscasters from the Newhouse School.