Honolulu, Hawaii, Apr 11, 2010 / 03:14 am
This Thursday is the feast day of St. Damien de Veuster, better known as St. Damien of Molokai. This year, the feast takes on new significance as it is marks the first celebration of the former blessed’s feast since his October 11, 2009 canonization.
Damien de Veuster was born in Belgium to a poor farming family. Answering God’s call, he joined the Fathers of the Sacred Heart, and spent the rest of his life as a missionary in Hawaii.
After being ordained in 1864, Fr. Damien was sent to the peninsula of Kalawao on Molokai, an isolated area of the Hawaiian island where the panicked government of the time quarantined people suspected of having leprosy. Arriving in 1873, he lived on the island for the rest of his life, dying in 1889 of the very disease whose suffering he sought to alleviate in others.
Fr. Damien dedicated his life to the native Hawaiians he found suffering in exile on Molokai. When he arrived, there were very few structures in the area. Many people slept on mats, covered by only a thin blanket as protection against the rain. Though there was a small, preexisting chapel, dedicated to St. Philomena, Fr. Damien set up his first rectory in the shade of a tree. However, he was a skilled carpenter and a hard worker. Quickly, he worked to build coffins, a rectory, houses, a school, and eventually a new chapel for the community.