ROME » In his first Mass in Rome leading to Mother Marianne Cope’s ascension to sainthood, Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva on Tuesday said Cope ignored references in the Bible to the uncleanliness of those once referred to as lepers.
"Mother Marianne came from a very different perspective," Silva said, his voice booming inside the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls church.
As nine Hansen’s disease patients from Kalaupapa looked on, Silva said Cope and her fellow sisters "understood what Jesus was talking about and the difference between being unclean on the outside and being clean and beautiful on the inside. … She saw beauty and she saw love."
Moments after Silva spoke, Kapeka Lagundino danced hula with her Hawaiian halau just steps from the tomb of the apostle St. Paul inside the ornate basilica and felt touched by forces she could not explain.
Lagundino, 21, began tearing up as she and seven of her fellow dancers finished performing "‘O ‘Oe ‘Io" inside the hallowed fourth-century church where St. Paul’s tomb lays partially excavated.
"One person can change everything," Lagundino said following the performance by her Honolulu halau, Keali‘ika‘apunihonua Ke‘ena A‘o Hula, which means "the chief that travels the world."
"For one person to make such a difference, it’s a big thing," Lagundino said. "It’s a life-changing experience."
The song refers to a hawk with unusual powers and what the hawk meant to ancient Polynesians, said halau member Kau‘uhane Aiu.
In 2009 some 30 members of Keali‘ika‘apunihonua Ke‘ena A‘o Hula performed at Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls church when ceremonies wrapped up in Rome for the canonization of Hawaii’s first saint, Father Damien. He was elevated for his work with leprosy patients in the remote Kalaupapa peninsula — work continued by Cope following Damien’s death from the disease.
This year eight members of the halau kicked off Masses in Rome for Cope by performing at the basilica Tuesday before her upcoming canonization Sunday by Pope Benedict XVI.
AT the end of the performance, dozens of visitors to the basilica whose timing coincided with the hula performance applauded the halau, and some asked to take photos of the dancers.
Lagundino was nervous performing in front of more than 100 people, most of them from Hawaii.
Then, as she danced, she was overcome by something much more powerful than nerves.
"I didn’t know it (the basilica) was going to be this big and this beautiful," she said. "I got chicken skin."
The basilica was founded over the grave of St. Paul and can hold as many as 60,000 people. It contains a dome designed by Michelangelo.
Today the religious pilgrims from Hawaii will attend a papal audience with Benedict, followed by a Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
