Welcome home, St. Marianne!

Yesterday, 7/31, the Church in Hawaii had the joy of welcoming "home" the sacred remains of St. Marianne Cope.  We actually already had a small 1st Class [bone] Relic of our Saint enshrined in our Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (formerly the Cathedral)... but due to the upcoming relocation of the headquarters of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities (St. Marianne's congregation) to another part of Syracuse, New York... it was decided by these nuns that the Saint's entire skeletal remains would be returned to Honolulu for permanent enshrinement.  So beginning at 10:30am, yesterday, a beautiful welcoming ceremony and Thanksgiving Mass was held in our Basilica to honor Hawaii's second Saint.

 

      

Sisters of St. Francis carrying the casket

containing the relics of St. Marianne Cope...

and locals venerating the relics after the

welcome ceremony.

 

The ceremony was held with the usual Hawaiian flair... with Hawaiian-language chanting; hula dancing; dozens of fragrant leis; and with the small casket enclosing St. Marianne's entire skeleton and her habit being draped in a traditional Hawaiian quilt incorporating the Hawaii flag design.  Local members of the Sisters of St. Francis even carried the casket into the church on a canoe-shaped bier.  I wasn't able to attend the ceremony, due to my work schedule, but a few friends who were there informed me that it was a very moving and powerful event.

       

The casket of relics enshrined in

the Reliquary Shrine of St. Marianne

in the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.

 

I was able to visit the Basilica today and venerated St. Marianne's relics after the Noon Mass.  By then the metal casket had already been encased in the large Koa wood shrine, along with the original monstrance-reliquary that holds the smaller bone relic.  The church was packed again, as many people continued to view and venerate the holy remains.  Below is a short snippet taken from www.catholicnews.com of our Bishop Larry Silva's beautiful words concerning the presence of St. Marianne's body in our Cathedral Basilica:

According to a friend who works in the diocesan office, the Honolulu Diocese is expanding the Basilica with the addition of a small, attached chapel that will enshrine both the relics of St. Marianne and St. Damien.  It will be a few more years before the planned renovations are realized, but below is a preview of what the outside of the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace will look like with the newly constructed reliquary chapel attached to it.  'can't wait to see it finished.

 A sketch of our Honolulu Basilica showing

the exterior with the small chapel (center)

that will enshrine both the relics of St.

Marianne and St. Damien.