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Chapter 28. “O Makalapua”: The Death of Mother Marianne
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339 28 “O Makalapua” The Death of Mother Marianne shortly after arriving at Kalaupapa, Mother Marianne wrote to Mother BernardinaDorn in Syracuse: “The thought of the great distance between us makes my heart heavy and sad—Will I ever see those whom I love again? . . . My poor heart is all too sensitive and feels deeply and keenly the pain of separation from the loved ones and from the Community.”1 In November 1903, she wrote that the Sisters had been at Kalaupapa for fifteen years and commented, “How the time slips away from us—How many more years, will it please God to permit us to work for Him? is a question ever before me.”2 By this time, Mother Marianne knew that she would never leave Kalaupapa and that her trip to Honolulu in June 1898 was her last. In 1899, three months after celebrating her sixty-first birthday, she experienced a severe hemorrhage in which she coughed up basinfuls of blood. Not wanting to deprive her overworked companions of sleep, Mother Marianne sat through the night alone, wrapped in her big black cloak, waiting for morning to come. She was advised never to travel away from Kalaupapa again, as the difficult voyage might cause another hemorrhage. The knowledge that she would never leave Kalaupapa must have weighed heavily on her mind, together with the fact that she and the other Sisters were feeling old and worn out, and no new help was in sight. When either of her stalwart companions, Sisters Crescentia and Leopoldina, became ill, it was felt acutely. On January 23, 1918, Mother Marianne celebrated her eightieth birthday. She had not been well and had spent the last three years of her life in a wheelchair. In Bishop Home girls dressed in their costumes for the Rainbow Drill include (third from left) Mary Zablan (Sing) and (fifth from left) Rose Nailau (Pea). Courtesy of Blessed Marianne Cope Museum and Archives, OSF. [34.237.140.238] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 11:17 GMT) “O Makalapua” 341 1916, Sister Benedicta moved to the Bishop Home to assume Mother Marianne’s responsibilities. Mother Marianne understood separation, she understood loneliness, she understood illness, and she understood the need for support, comfort, and “home.” Thus, she wrote letters for Tina Thielemann to her husband Conrad, who spoke only German, Mother Marianne’s native language.3 When Lono, the wife of Hermann Dreizhner, the baker, died on October 22, 1900, Mother Marianne gathered flowers and ferns to send to him.4 It was characteristic of her to supply people with plants and fruit and also ensure that the girls had special treats on holidays. On New Year’s Day, 1901, she wrote, “Father called to wish us a happy New Year. He visited the dining rooms and the school room to see how nicely the girls had decoratedboth rooms. . . .The girls had coffee for breakfast and pig for dinner— Each one received an orange from our orange tree.”5 Mary Sing knew Mother Marianne for less than a year, but her memories were vivid some sixty years later. She remembered that the first year she was at Bishop Home, although Mother Marianne was in her last illness, “she asked the Sisters to see that the girls all had new dresses for Christmas.”6 She provided special touches such as black velvet ribbon for their “baby waist style dresses.”7 And she rememberedhow they used to sing for her and always sang “Makalapua”—“because she loved that song.”8 Mary Sing described the Rainbow Drill that the Bishop Home girls performed for Red Cross Day in 1917 or 1918. Adelaide Bolster taught them the drill, and the girls sewed their own brightly colored costumes. Mary remembered, “Mother Marianne gave us the material. Mine was orange, and there were so many in light blue, sky blue, and so many of them in the red, dark red.” They performed the drill one time only, at the Social Hall. “We were charging 25 cents a ticket . . . we made a lot of money . . . more than $900 that we sent to the Red Cross.”9 Hanging on the wall of the Blessed Marianne Cope Museum at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, New York, are certificates sent to Mother Marianne and Sister Crescentia by Lucius Pinkham in 1906. Written in both English and Hawaiian, the certificates thank the residents of Kalaupapa for the aid they sent to those who had...