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 Centennial of the Founding of the Red Cross "The Good Samaritan" Scott 392-394 (1964) Today’s Daily Email featured the 2013 stamp from Vatican City honoring Raoul Follereau, the twentieth century journalist responsible for promoting world-wide efforts to combat leprosy (or Hansen's Disease). The stamp was issued to commemorate both the 110th anniversary of his birth, as well as the 60th World Day of Leprosy. This Page 2 article focuses on two Catholic saints who worked to combat the stigma of leprosy in Hawaii during the 19th century: Father Damien of Molokai and Sister Marianne Cope. There have been no stamps issued by Vatican City to honor these two Saints, but the 1963 Red Cross Centenary issue, illustrated above, is an appropriate means of calling attention to their efforts. The issue illustrates the story of the Good Samaritan, and the statement across the top of the stamps, "Samaritanus misericordia motus est", translates to "The Samaritan was moved with compassion". At her beatification Mass, celebrated on May 14, 2005, Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, stated that Mother Marianne Cope's life was: "a wonderful work of divine grace…[and] she saw in [those afflicted with leprosy] the suffering face of Jesus. Like the Good Samaritan, she became their mother."The disease of leprosy has always conjured up images of the afflicted as being incurably infected with the causative agent of the disease, and that infected individuals were extremely contagious. Unfortunately, these stigmas are not based in fact, and indeed leprosy is a curable disease thanks to existing treatments. However, past fears resulted in the isolation of victims of the disease into “leper colonies” and kept them from the rest of society and from getting the needed treatments.  Father Damien of Molokai Statue at the Hawaii State Capitol Honolulu, Hawaii From Wikimedia Commons (in the public domain) Father Damien, or Saint Damien of Molokai, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a religious missionary order. His ministry led him to the Kingdom of Hawaii, where he served from 1873 until his death in 1889. He worked with people with leprosy who lived in government-mandated medical quarantine in a settlement on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Molokai. During his time in Hawaii, he preached the Catholic faith, cared for patients, and established a community which built houses, schools, roads, hospitals, and churches. He eventually contracted leprosy and died on April 15, 1889. Called “the Apostle of the Lepers”, he was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009.  Mother Marianne Cope Statue in Honolulu, Hawaii Photo by billsoPHOTO From Wikimedia Commons Used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license Sister, or Mother, Marianne Cope was a German-born American religious sister who was a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse, New York. After having served as a founder of the order’s St. Joseph's Hospital in the city, in 1883 she relocated with six other sisters to Hawaii to care for persons suffering from leprosy. After four years on the island of Oahu, in 1887, a new government came into office and asked Mother Marianne to establish a new facility on Molokai. The sisters relocated in November 1888, where they met and cared for the dying Father Damien. They began to take over his ministry and worked to develop additional medical and social infrastructure on the island. Despite direct contact with leprosy patients over many years, Mother Marianne never contracted leprosy, and stayed on the island until her death in 1918 at the age of 80. She was beatified in 2005 and was canonized in 2012, both by Pope Benedict XVI. Sister Marianne Cope is the 11th Catholic Saint who was active in the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church. REFERENCES |
