Chaminade University Students Discover Hawaiian Saint Marianne Cope’s Relics

Students in the forensic science lab at Chaminade University of Honolulu have uncovered all three ecclesiastical classes of relics of Hawaiian Saint Marianne Cope while examining soil from her original gravesite on Moloka‘i.

A team of forensic science students at Chaminade University of Honolulu was tasked with analyzing soil from the original gravesite of Hawaiian Saint Marianne Cope. Through their examination, the students successfully recovered all three classes of relics.

In the late 19th century, Saint Marianne—a Sister of St. Francis—journeyed from her motherhouse in Syracuse, New York, to the kingdom of Hawaii to help establish its healthcare infrastructure. She is most renowned for her tireless work attending to patients at Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka‘i. Beatified in 2004 and canonized in 2011, her mortal remains were eventually returned to Hawaii and are currently enshrined at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.

The relics recovered by the Chaminade forensic team will be transferred to the Diocese of Honolulu and subsequently distributed to Catholic parishes across the main Hawaiian islands.

Read about this story and more Marianist articles in ALIVE Summer 2026