St. Damien of Molokai - Hawaii's Saint

Saint of the Day:
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
St. Damien of Molokai
(1840-1889)

When Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, few people in Europe had any firsthand knowledge of leprosy (Hansen's disease). By the time he died at the age of 49, people all over the world knew about this disease because of him. They knew that human compassion could soften the ravages of this disease.

Forced to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm, Joseph entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary six years later, taking the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr. When his brother Pamphile, a priest in the same congregation, fell ill and was unable to go to the Hawaiian Islands as assigned, Damien quickly volunteered in his place. In May 1864, two months after arriving in his new mission, Damien was ordained a priest in Honolulu and assigned to the island of Hawaii.

In 1873, he went to the Hawaiian government's leper colony on the island of Molokai, set up seven years earlier. Part of a team of four chaplains taking that assignment for three months each year, Damien soon volunteered to remain permanently, caring for the people's physical, medical and spiritual needs. In time, he became their most effective advocate to obtain promised government support.

Soon the settlement had new houses and a new church, school and orphanage. Morale improved considerably. A few years later he succeeded in getting the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by Mother Marianne Cope (January 23), to help staff this colony in Kalaupapa.

Damien contracted Hansen's disease and died of its complications. As requested, he was buried in Kalaupapa, but in 1936 the Belgian government succeeded in having his body moved to Belgium. Part of Damien's body was returned to his beloved Hawaiian brothers and sisters after his beatification in 1995.

Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009.

When Hawaii became a state in 1959, it selected Damien as one of its two representatives in the Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.

Retrieved May 10, 2011 from http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saintofday/

On the Feast of St. Damien of Molokai

The first comment on the Word on Fire blog post below about the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt comes from Lebanon and reminds us that today is the feast of St. Damien of Molokai:

Bob Conroy
I am living in a community of Lebanese people. One of these people was speaking to these very points just yesterday morning.

This is the plight of Christians.

We are reminded through these events and the martyrs' blood of the sacrifice that has been offered perfectly for us. We are invited to freely step into this sacrifice with our own lives. Today is the feast of Fr. Saint Damien of Molokai.

I ask myself if I have the conviction and faith to make these sacrifices. My only recourse is to immediately ask for the grace to act with faith as I move through this life from blessing to blessing.
5/10/2011 10:29:44 AM

Retrieved May 10, 2011 from http://wordonfire.org/WoF-Blog/WoF-Blog/May-2011/News-Violence-Against-Christians-in-Egypt.aspx