Discover the Inspiring Story of Saint Marianne Cope

We are honored to be the source of the Saint Marianne Cope archives, museum, shrine and gift shop created by her community, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.

Stained glass artwork depicting religious figures displayed in a museum exhibit with informational panels.
Interior of a museum exhibit featuring historical displays, informational panels, and artifacts related to a hospital. The background includes images of nuns and a flag on the wall.
Hospital exhibit with vintage medical images and artifacts, including old photographs, medical instruments, and informative text panels.
Museum hallway with informational panels, a wooden chair, and a flag on the wall.
Museum exhibit featuring historical displays about Mother Marianne, including text panels, photographs, and a wooden chair. Information panels line the walls with detailed historical context and images.
Interior of a museum exhibit featuring historical artifacts, informational boards, and display cases with religious themes.
Interior of a museum exhibit featuring historical displays, informational panels, and artifacts in a well-lit room with blue ceiling.
Hallway with large wall murals depicting landscapes and historical scenes, informational displays titled 'Kalaupapa,' and quotations.
Museum exhibit featuring Saint Damien, including a display case with a religious garment, informational panels, photos, and a wooden bench.
Museum exhibit with historical displays about "The Bishop Home," featuring informational panels, photographs, artifacts in a glass case, and a window with a scenic view background.
Museum exhibit featuring historical displays and informational panels with a central seating area and religious artifacts on the wall.

A Sister of St. Francis, Marianne was canonized October 21, 2012. She is the first Franciscan woman from North America to be canonized, and only the 11th American saint. A woman of great valor, this beloved mother of outcasts, spent her early years in central New York where she served as a leader in the field of health care, education and of her own congregation. Responding to a call to care for the poor and sick on the Sandwich Islands, she devoted 35 years to caring for those afflicted with Hansen’s disease on Kalaupapa, Molokai, Hawaii.

To share her story and carry on her legacy, we source and create merchandise to convey a dignified, accurate and inspiring message about our Saint Marianne. We invite you to browse through our books, prints, cards, artwork, jewelry and more and hope that you are also inspired by her life of service. 

All profits from the sale of merchandise benefit the Saint Marianne Cope Shrine & Museum and its vision to educate and inspire people to incorporate empathy and compassion for all. 

Our merchandise is developed for you to take into your community and spread these values to promote kindness, peace and unity. 

The mission of Empathy In Action (EIA) is to take the values of Marianne and her Sisters and apply them to the challenges we are facing in today's society. The Sisters have provided peace to individuals across time and across the nation. This care is provided equally no matter race, religion, economic means, personal choice, belief or nationality. The driving force behind these women of faith is dignity and respect for every person.

Our programs seek to unite people and connect all of us across boundaries created by fear; fear of change, fear developed by misunderstanding and fear of embarrassment.

We strive to teach practices that people can incorporate into their daily lives that can not only help to unite us but also ease stress, improve productivity and assist us maintaining hope through our most difficult phases of life's journey.

Abstract illustration of a turquoise and purple fan blade inside a circular frame.

The Compassionate Heart Series, presented by Saint Marianne Cope Museum in collaboration with Francis House is a series of programs that support the values of presence, respect and empathy to caregivers and patients.

At the Saint Marianne Cope Museum, we celebrate a woman who was a pioneer in holistic healthcare. Her innovations in hygiene and hospital care, patients’ rights and whole mind, body and spirit healing, are especially relevant today. The compassion, hope, beauty and dignity given to her patients in the hospitals she administered is the foundation that we build upon through providing support services for people experiencing life’s challenges.  

The Sister Kathleen Osbelt Center of Francis House uses our experience as a social-model of community care for the dying and our Franciscan values to increase awareness, educate, serve, and support persons with terminal illness and those who care for them. Our core values of compassion, acceptance, respect and dignity guide and inform our care and outreach. We offer community education aligned with empowering a healthy and natural dying and grieving process, and to support compassionate care for people on the journey at the end-of-life.

“The heart is more than an organ – it’s the center of our emotional, social and spiritual well-being.” Dr. Jonathan Fisher; Just One Heart

This ongoing series includes meaningful workshops and gatherings, such as an August book study of “Just One Heart” by Jonathan Fisher, MD, FACC and centers around a special Heart-to-Heart Conversation with Dr. Fisher in September.  Each session offers a blend of reflection, storytelling, learning, and community. It is designed to nurture the inner lives of those who so often put others first.

Participants will learn how to align heart and mind in moments of care, navigate emotional challenges like burnout and moral injury, and rediscover meaning in the sacred act of caregiving. Whether you’re
a healthcare professional, advocate, or family caregiver, this talk, and all the Compassionate Heart Series programs will offer powerful tools to care for others without losing yourself along the way.

The Compassionate Heart Series is presented with support from St. Joseph’s Health

Compassionate Heart Series Events

  • Graphic promoting healthcare awareness with the text 'Take Charge of Your Healthcare. Who is rowing your medical care boat?' and logos for Saint Marianne Cope Shrine & Museum and Francis House, with a hand gently touching water.

    JULY 12, 2025
    10 AM- 2PM
    AT THE SAINT MARIANNE MUSEUM

    Who's rowing your healthcare boat? Gain resources and practices for navigating healthcare decisions after a life-changing diagnosis. Learn to support whole-person healing, improve communication with medical teams, and walk the journey with confidence. This talk is led by Kristin Barrett-Anderson and Nancy Light, BSN, RN, MPS.

    REGISTER
  • Book cover for 'Just One Heart,' part of the Compassionate Heart Series, for August Bible study, with a green background and an open book with a heart-shaped leaf design.

    AUGUST 14, 2025 | Focus: Chapters 1-4
    AUGUST 21, 2025 | Focus: Chapters 5-9
    AUGUST 28, 2025 | Focus: Chapters 10-13
    5:30-7 PM
    AT THE SAINT MARIANNE MUSEUM

    Just One Heart: A Cardiologist's Guide to Healing, Health, and Happiness by Dr. Jonathan Fisher, MD,FACC. Open to all, each session will offer insights and discussion on a different section.

    Our hearts are aching — physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.

    In Just One Heart, Dr. Jonathan Fisher, a Harvard-trained cardiologist and mindfulness teacher, shares an evidence-based approach to wholehearted living, grounded in the latest research in medicine, psychology, and neuroscience.

    Drawing from both Western science and Eastern wisdom, this book offers practical tools and daily practices to reduce stress, strengthen emotional resilience, and reconnect with what truly matters.

    You’ll find insights from his personal journey through anxiety and burnout, inspiring patient stories, and conversations with over fifty leading experts in mind-body health.

    Whether you’re a healthcare professional, a compassionate leader, or simply someone seeking to feel more whole, this book will help you awaken the power of the mind-heart connection.

    Discover how living and leading with just one heart can transform your health—and your life.

    REGISTER
  • Promotional flyer for the Compassionate Heart Series titled "A Heart-to-Heart with Dr. Jonathan Fisher," featuring a headshot of Dr. Fisher, smiling and wearing glasses, with logos for Saint Marianne Cope Shrine & Museum and Francis House on a blue background with textured patterns.

    SEPTEMBER 18, 2025
    9 AM- 12 PM
    AT THE CENTRAL NEW YORK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

    In this inspiring and practical session, cardiologist and well-being leader Dr. Jonathan Fisher explores the art and science of caring for others without losing yourself. Drawing from the latest research in neuroscience, mindfulness, and human connection, he offers evidence-based strategies to help caregivers cultivate deep empathy and connection, while protecting their own emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.

    REGISTER
Collage featuring a vintage journal labeled 'Exercises' from 1888, a decorative round wood carving, a stack of composition books attributed to Sister Leopoldina, and a handwritten note titled 'Chapter LIII Sunshine, and Shadow.'

Never-before-published journals of Saint Marianne Cope and Sister Leopoldina Burns

The Saint Marianne Cope Museum is preparing...

Sunshine, and Shadow

Covers the years the Sisters were at the Kaka‘ako Branch Hospital in Honolulu (1883 - 1888) as well as more than 130 years at the Bishop Home, also known as the Pauahi Home (1888 - present).

We will be self-publishing these historical journals enhanced with photographs, commentary and excerpts included from the National Women’s Hall of Fame, Kate and Mary Mahoney and an introduction from Sister Mary Laurence Hanley.

Giving opportunities start at $25. With a $100 donation, you will receive a coupon redeemable for a first edition copy including added bonus features.