Signs of Saint Marianne Cope placed at church

[little2add]

09/10/22

Two 12-foot signs celebrating Saint Marianne Cope were installed on Thursday, Sept. 8, on the Parish Center/Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen at St. Joseph and St. Patrick Church (Utica, NY). A blessing and lighting of the signs will take place on Saturday, Sept. 17, during a parking lot festival celebrating the 10th anniversary of St. Marianne’s canonization.

In anticipation of the 10th Anniversary of Saint Marianne Cope’s Canonization in October, the Catholic Churches of Greater Utica will celebrate by blessing and lighting two new 12-foot x 12-foot signs on Saturday, Sept. 17. One sign proclaims “Utica Has A Saint,” while the other displays a portrait of St. Marianne.

Admission is free to the festival-style celebration in the parking lot at St. Joseph & St. Patrick Church, home parish of St. Marianne.

The festivities get under way at 5 p.m., with the blessing and lighting of the signs shortly after twilight at approximately 7:45 p.m.

Entertainment will include performances by Anthony LaBarbera, MC and singer; Cassandra Harris-Lockwood, Catholic-Christian folk singer; Maureen Griffin, singer/songwriter; the Butler-Sheehan Academy of Irish Dance; and La Banda Rossa, traditional Italian pops concert, procession and marching band.

There will be face painting and coloring for children. Children 12 and under will receive a copy of Saint Marianne of Molokai.

Cope was baptized Barbara Koob, later anglicizing her last name to "Cope". She was born on January 23, 1838, in Heppenheim in the Grand Duchy of Hesse to Peter Koob (1787–1862) and Barbara Witzenbacher (1803–1872). The following year her family emigrated to the United States, settling in the industrial city of Utica, New York. They became members of the Parish of St Joseph, where Cope attended  parish school. By the time she was in eighth grade, her father had developed a disability. As the oldest child, Cope left school to work in a textile factory to support her family.[4] Her father became naturalized as an American citizen, which at the time meant the entire family received automatic citizenship status.[citation needed]

By 1870, Cope had become a member of the governing council of her religious congregation. She helped found the first two Catholic hospitals in Central New York, with charters stipulating that medical care was to be provided to all, regardless of race or creed. She was appointed by the Superior General to govern St. Joseph's Hospital, the first public hospital in Syracuse, serving from 1870 to 1877.

In 2007, a statue of her was erected at St Joseph's Church in her native Utica, whose parish school she had attended in her childhood.

Her feast day was established as January 23 and is celebrated by her own religious congregation, the Diocese of Honolulu, and the Diocese of Syracuse.

[little2add]

 

years ago my children went to this parish, as part of their "homeschool gym and swim" program.  

[Nunsuch]

There is a shrine to St. Marianne adjacent to St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse. As @little2addsaid, Marianne was once head of that institution.  I'm proud to be on the Board of that Shrine.

There will also be a celebration of the 10th anniversary of her canonization at Assumption (Franciscan) Church in Syracuse. See link below for more on the shrine and on the Syracuse celebration.

https://www.saintmarianne.org/