St.
Damien is known as the Leper Priest and the Hero of Moloka'i. Born in
Tremelo in Belgium on January 3, 1840, he was son of a farmer and his
wife. He lived a devout life and in 1860 obtained permission to join the
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Although born
Jozef De Veuster, the young brother took the name Damien in religious
life. In 1864, in answer to his prayers to St. Francis Xavier, he was
sent as a missionary to Honolulu, Hawaii. Here he applied himself to
diligent study to compensate for his lack of an early education, and he
was ordained to the sacred priesthood on May 21. For the next nine years
Fr. Damien worked in various missions throughout Hawaii.
Wishing
to do more to help God’s suffering people, Fr. Damien volunteered as a
missionary priest to the leper community on the island of Moloka'i. His
offer was accepted by Bishop Louis Désiré Maigret, the Vicar Apostolic
of Honolulu and on May 10, 1873 Damien was formerly presented by the
bishop to the flock of his new mission.
Fr. Damien’s first
course of action was to build a church for the inhabitants of the colony
of Moloka'i and to establish the Parish of St. Philomena. He was not
just an ordinary parish priest to his large flock, he went out "into the
highways and byways,” dressing ulcers, building proper homes and
furniture for his parishioners, making coffins and digging graves. “I
make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all for Jesus Christ,” he
wrote of himself to his brother. Under his leadership, working farms
were organized, basic laws enforced, and hospitals, schools and
orphanages established, for Fr. Damien had a particular concern and care
for the children of his mission.
Contracting leprosy himself in
1885, Fr. Damien continued to work vigorously to build as many homes as
he could and made plans for the continuation of the programs he had
established for after he was gone.
The
Hero of Maloka'i died of leprosy in the early morning of April 15,
1889, at the age of 49. After his funeral Mass at St. Philomena's the
next day, the whole leper colony of Moloka'i followed the funeral
cortège to the cemetery where Damien was laid to rest under the same
pandanus tree where he had slept upon his arrival at the mission.
St.
Damien of Moloka'i was canonized on October 11, 2009 by Pope Benedict
XVI who held the Leper Priest up as one who "teaches us to choose the
good fights, not those that lead to division, but those that gather us
together in unity."
Monday, May 10, 2021
St. Damien de Veuster of Moloka'i
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