Saint of the Day: Blessed Damien de Veuster, the Leper Priest, the Hero of Molokai


Born in Belgium on January 3, 1840, Damien (Joseph Van Heuster) joined the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in 1860. He was born Joseph and received the name Damien in religious life.

In 1864, he was sent to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was ordained. For the next nine years, he worked in missions on the big island, Hawaii.

In 1873, at his request, he was sent to the leper colony at Molokai. Damien cared for lepers of all ages, but was particularly concerned about the children segregated in the colony.

He announced that he was a leper in 1885 and continued to build hospitals, clinics, and churches, and some six hundred coffins.

Father Damien lived for the Eucharist. It was this strong apostleship that filled the lives of the lepers. Their Eucharistic adoration was an edifying homage to the Lord. He wrote to his brother, "Without the constant presence of our Divine Master, I would never be able to cast my lot with that of the lepers."

He died on April 15, on Molokai. Slandered by a Protestant minister, Mr. Hyde, Damien was defended by Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote an impassioned defense of Damien in 1905.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" is engraved on a monument to Damien on Molokai. Damien's presence there made the world realize that those afflicted with leprosy were not "unclean outcasts," but vulnerable human beings whom God deeply loved and who were worthy of the same respect and dignity as anyone else. Damien's life of sacrifice turned attention to caring for these unfortunate men and women all around the world.

Father Joseph Damien de Veuster was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 4, 1995, and the state of Hawaii has honored him with a statue which stands in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building.

~ Excerpted, in part, from Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints.
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