Women of Faith · Week 3 · Grades 9–12
Guided Notes: St. Marianne Cope
- Name
- Date
- Class
Follow along as your teacher presents. Fill in each section when its slide is on the screen.
An immigrant who built hospitals
Maria Anna Barbara Koob was born in Heppenheim, Germany, on January 23, blank 1, and grew up in Utica, New York. When her father fell ill she left school in eighth grade and spent nine years in a factory supporting her family.
She entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse in blank 2, at age 24, and took the name Marianne. Between 1866 and 1869 she helped start two of the first Catholic hospitals in central New York.
Many hospitals of the time turned away people who were poor, blank 3, or of a different religion. Hers admitted everyone. In 1877 she became the leader of her community.
Hawaii, 1883
In 1883 a priest wrote from Hawaii. People were dying of blank 4, then called leprosy, and the government forced them to leave their families and live far away. More than 50 religious communities declined to help.
Mother Marianne accepted. “I am not afraid of any disease,” she wrote. She arrived in blank 5 that November with six sisters, reformed a dirty hospital where patients were treated badly, and opened a home for the healthy daughters of sick parents.
In 1888 she moved to blank 6 on Molokai, where the sickest patients were sent. She cared for Father Damien until his death in 1889 and took over his home for boys. She died there on August 9, 1918, at age 80.
A life and its recognition
Write what happened in each year.
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1838 | Write your answer |
| 1862 | Write your answer |
| 1883 | Write your answer |
| 1888 | Write your answer |
| 1889 | Write your answer |
| 1918 | Write your answer |
| 2005 | Write your answer |
| 2012 | Write your answer |
Apply it: what counts as care?
Marianne gave patients flowers, a choir and pretty dresses. Which principle best explains why? Circle one.
- A Comfort keeps patients calm and easier to manage
- B Charity should always be visible to those who fund it
- C Beauty matters more than medical treatment
- D A person’s dignity does not shrink with illness or exile
Why is that the right answer?
Apply it: online
A classmate is being mocked and dropped from group chats after a rumor. Which response is closest to Marianne’s witness? Circle one.
- A Leave the chats quietly so you are not part of it
- B Stay close to the person and treat them as fully one of you
- C Post a general message telling everyone to be kind
- D Wait until the rumor is confirmed before choosing a side
Why is that the right answer?
Take a side
A society is justified in separating sick people from everyone else when it believes this protects the healthy.
My side: ☐ Agree ☐ Disagree
- Governments have a duty to protect the common good, including public health.
- The government in Hawaii forced people to leave their families, and no one was there to care for them.
- Is the problem separation itself, or separation without care, consent and dignity?
- Marianne kept strict rules of cleanliness and still lived among the patients. Does that show a third way?
- Who decides who is dangerous, and what stops fear from making that decision?
My strongest reason, with evidence from the slides:
The best argument for the other side, and my response:
Her own words
Marianne wrote that she wished “to be one of the chosen ones, whose privilege it will be to sacrifice themselves.” Why would she call sacrifice a privilege? What would it cost you to see it that way?
Think: my idea before we talk
Sentence starters: “She could call it a privilege because ...”“The hardest part of that for me would be ...”“Our culture says sacrifice is ..., but she ...”
Pair: something my partner said
Let us pray
“Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Matthew 25:40
Lord Jesus, you meet us in those the world sends away.
Give us courage to draw near and humility to stay.
Teach us to see your image in every person, on every screen and street.
St. Marianne Cope, pray for us.
Amen.
My own prayer or intention:
Go and do likewise
“Let us make best use of the fleeting moments. They will not return.”
One thing I learned today:
One question I still have:
How could the example of St. Marianne Cope shape the way I live, online and offline?
Challenge: This week, find one person your school or your feed treats as an outcast. Give them your time and attention in person, not only a like or a message.