Blessed Damien of Molokai | |
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Father Damien was a Roman Catholic missionary who helped lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokaʻi and also died of the disease. |
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The Leper Priest | |
Born | 3 January 1840 in Tremelo, Belgium |
Died | 15 April 1889 in Kalaupapa, Molokaʻi, Hawaii |
Venerated in | Catholic Church, Anglican Church |
Beatified | 1995, Rome by John Paul II |
Major shrine | Leuven, Belgium (bodily relics); Maui, Hawaii (relics of his hand) |
Feast | May 10 (universal); April 15 (in Hawaii) |
Attributes | leprosy |
Patronage | people with leprosy, outcasts, those with HIV/AIDS, the State of Hawaii. |
Saints Portal |
Father Damien, since 1995 Blessed Damien of Molokai, born Joseph de Veuster, SS.CC. (January 3, 1840, Tremelo – April 15, 1889, Molokai), was a Belgian Catholic missionary of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary who is revered primarily by Hawaii residents and Christians for having dedicated his life in service to the lepers of Molokai in the Kingdom of Hawaii. In Catholicism, Father Damien is the spiritual patron of people with leprosy, outcasts, and those with HIV/AIDS, and of the State of Hawaii. Father Damien Day is recognized each year in Hawaii on April 15. His Feast Day in the Catholic Church is May 10. Having been beatified in 1995, Father Damien is awaiting formal approval for sainthood.
The Father Damien Statue memorializes the priest in bronze at the United States Capitol. A full size replica stands in front of the Hawaii State Legislature. In 1995, Pope John Paul II beatified him and bestowed the official title of Blessed Damien of Molokai.
In 2005, Father Damien was chosen as the Greatest Belgian of all time by the Flemish public broadcasting service, VRT.
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Damien was born Joseph (Jef) de Veuster, the seventh child of the corn merchant Frans de Veuster and his wife Cato Wouters in the village of Tremelo in Flemish Brabant. He attended college at Braine-le-Comte, then entered the novitiate of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Leuven, taking the name of Damianus (Damiaan in Flemish, Damien in French) in his first vows, probably after Saint Damian.[1] Following in his brother's footsteps, Damien became a Picpus Brother on October 7, 1860. His brother could not fulfill his dream of travelling overseas to actively participate in missionary work. Damien took up his brother's dream as his own and went in his place on a mission abroad.
On March 19, 1864, Damien landed at Honolulu Harbor in downtown Honolulu as a missionary. There, Damien was ordained to the priesthood on May 24, 1864 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, a church established by his religious order. He served at several parishes on the island of Oahu just as the kingdom faced a public health crisis.
Native Hawaiians became afflicted by diseases inadvertently introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by foreign traders and sailors. Thousands died of influenza, syphilis and other ailments which had never before affected Hawaiians. This included the plight of leprosy, today called Hansen's disease. Fearful of its spread, King Kamehameha V segregated the lepers of the kingdom and moved them to a settlement colony on the north side of the island of Molokai. The Royal Board of Health provided them with supplies and food but did not yet have the resources to offer proper healthcare. In 1865, Father Damien was assigned to the Catholic Mission in North Kohala on the island of Hawai‘i. While Msgr. Louis Maigret, vicar apostolic, believed that the lepers at the very least needed a priest to minister to their needs, he realized that this assignment could potentially be a death sentence. After prayerful thought, Damien asked Msgr. Maigret for permission to go to Moloka‘i.
On May 10, 1873, Damien arrived at the secluded settlement at Kalaupapa. Bishop Maigret presented Damien to the colonists as "one who will be a father to you, and who loves you so much that he does not hesitate to become one of you; to live and die with you." The settlement was surrounded by an impregnable mountain ridge. There were 816 lepers living at Kalaupapa. Damien's first course of action was to build a church and establish the Parish of Saint Philomena.
University of Hawaii System historians working with the Hawaii Catholic Church to archive its history agree that Damien was the only one in a position to provide comfort for the people of Kalaupapa. His role was not limited to being a priest; he took on the role of doctor as well. He dressed ulcers, built homes and beds. Damien even built coffins and dug graves.
Sociologists argued before the Roman Curia in proceedings for sainthood that Damien was sent to a morally deprived, lawless "colony of death" where people were forced to fight each other to survive. The kingdom didn't plan the settlement to be in such disarray but the government's neglect in providing much needed resources and medical help created the chaos. Damien's arrival is seen as a turning point for the community. Under his leadership, basic laws were enforced, shacks became painted houses, working farms were organized and schools were erected.
His symbols are a tree and a dove.
King David Kalakaua bestowed on Damien the honor Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kalakaua. When Princess Lydia Liliuokalani visited the settlement to present the medal, she was reported as having been too distraught and heartbroken to read her speech. The princess shared her experience with the world and publicly acclaimed Damien's efforts. Consequently, Damien's name was spread across the United States and Europe. American Protestants raised large sums of money for the missionary. The Church of England sent food, medicine, clothing and supplies. It is believed that Damien never wore the medal given to him.
As indicated in diaries, in December 1884 Damien went about his evening ritual of soaking his feet in boiling water. He could not feel the heat: he had contracted leprosy. Despite the discovery, residents claim that Damien worked vigorously to build as many homes as he could and planned for the continuation of the programmes he created after he was gone.
With the flurry of activity, four strangers came to Kalaupapa in search of Damien to help the ailing missionary. Louis Lambert Conrardy was a Belgian priest. Mother Marianne Cope was Superior of the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse. Joseph Dutton was an American Civil War soldier who left behind a marriage broken because of alcoholism. James Sinnett was a nurse from Chicago. Conrardy took up pastoral duties while Cope organized a working hospital. Dutton attended to the construction and maintenance of the community's buildings. Sinnett nursed Damien in the last phases of the disease, closing his eyes upon Father Damien's death at the age of 49 from leprosy. He was originally buried on Molokai, but in 1936, the Belgian government asked for the return of his body, and is now buried in Leuven, a city close to the village where he was born.
Upon his death, a global discussion arose as to the mysteries of Damien's life and his work on the island of Molokai. Much criticism came especially out of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in Hawaii. It has been argued for decades that these church leaders took a stance against Damien merely out of spite for Catholicism in general.[citation needed] They derided Damien as a "false shepherd" who was driven by personal ambition and ego. The most famous treatise published against Damien was by a Honolulu Presbyterian, Reverend C. M. Hyde, in a letter dated August 2, 1889 to a fellow pastor, Reverend H. B. Gage. Reverend Hyde wrote:
In addition to calling Reverend Hyde a "crank", Stevenson answered the charge that Damien was "not sent to Molokai but went there without orders" by arguing that:
In the process of examining Damien's fitness for beatification and canonization, the Roman Curia pored over a great deal of documentation of published and unpublished criticisms against the missionary's life and work. Diaries and interviews were scoured and debated. In the end it was found that what Stevenson called "heroism" was indeed genuine.
Mahatma Gandhi offered his own defense of Damien's life and work. Gandhi claimed Damien to have been an inspiration for his social campaigns in India that led to the freedom of his people and secured aid for those that needed it. Gandhi wrote, "The political and journalistic world can boast of very few heroes who compare with Father Damien of Moloka'i. It is worthwhile to look for the sources of such heroism."
On June 4, 1995, Pope John Paul II beatified Blessed Damien and gave him his official spiritual title. On December 20, 1999, Jorge Medina Estévez, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, confirmed the November 1999 decision of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to place Blessed Damien on the liturgical calendar with the rank of optional memorial. His official Feast Day is on May 10 of each year. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu is currently awaiting findings by the Vatican as to the authenticity of several miracles attributed to Damien. Upon confirmation that those miracles are genuine, Blessed Damien could then be canonized and receive the title of Saint Damien of Molokaʻi.
In Blessed Damien's role as patron of those with HIV and AIDS, the world's only Roman Catholic memorial chapel to those who have died of this disease, at the Église Saint-Pierre-Apôtre in Montreal, is consecrated to him.
After the beatification of Blessed Damien, Belgian film producer Tharsi Vanhuysse was inspired to lead a project honoring the famous priest. Vanhuysse teamed with film producer Grietje Lammertyn of ERA Films and searched for screenwriter, director and lesser known actors. Australian David Wenham was chosen to play the lead. Another Australian, Paul Cox, was selected to direct the project. Previously, he had completed an independent movie about the artist Vincent van Gogh. American John Briley wrote the screenplay. Briley was an Academy Award winner for writing the screenplay for Gandhi. He also worked on the movie, Cry Freedom. Other actors in the movie entitled Molokai: The Story of Father Damien include Derek Jacobi, Kris Kristofferson, Sam Neill, Tom Wilkinson and Peter O'Toole. The movie was released on March 17, 2000.
Father Damien was portrayed in 1980 by Ken Howard in the television film Father Damien: Leper Priest.[5]