It is Now Official - The USA Has a New Saint

JOZEF DAMIAAN DE VEUSTER
(1840 -1889)

JOSEPH DE VEUSTER, the future Father Damien ss.cc., was born at
Tremelo in Belgium, January 3, 1840. His was a large family and his
father was a farmer-merchant. When his oldest brother entered the
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, his father
planned that Joseph should take charge of the family business.
Joseph however, decided to become a religious himself. At the
beginning of 1859 he entered the novitiate at Louvain, Belgium, in
the same house as his brother. There he took the name of Damien.
In 1863, his brother who was to leave for the mission in the
Hawaiian Islands became ill. Since preparations for the voyage had
already been made, Damien obtained permission from the Superior
General, to take his brother’s place. He arrived in Honolulu on
March 19, 1864 where he was ordained to the priesthood on the
following May 21. He immediately devoted himself, body and soul, to
the difficult service of a “country missionary” on the Island of
Hawaii, the largest in the Hawaiian group.
At that time, the Hawaiian government decided on a very harsh
measure aimed at stopping the spread of “leprosy”: the deportation
to the neighbouring island of Molokai, of all those infected by what
was thought to be an incurable disease. The entire mission was
concerned about the abandoned “lepers” and the Bishop Louis
Maigret ss.cc. spoke to the priests about the problem. He did not
want to send anyone “in the name of obedience” because he knew
that such an order meant certain death. Four Brothers volunteered,
they would take turns visiting and assisting the “lepers” in their
distress. Damien was the first to leave on May 10, 1873. At his own
request and that of the “lepers”, he remained definitively on Molokai.
Having contracted “leprosy” himself, he died on April 15, 1889,
having served sixteen years among the “lepers”. His remains were

exhumed in 1936 and placed in the crypt of the Church of the
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary at Louvain.
Damien is universally known for having freely shared the life of
the “lepers” isolated on the peninsula of Kalaupapa on Molokai. His
departure for the “cursed isle”, the announcement of his illness
(leprosy) in 1885 and his subsequent death, deeply impressed his
contemporaries of all denominations. After his death, the whole
world continues to consider him a model and hero of charity. He
who so identified himself with the victims of leprosy to the point of
being able to say “we lepers”, continues to inspire thousands of
believers and non-believers, desiring to imitate him and discover the
source of his heroism.
Witness and servant
The life of Damien reveals that his generosity constantly leads him
to persist in an initiative he recognizes as being that of Providence.
The many circumstances of his life are signs and calls that he knows
how to reflect on and understand. As he responds to them with all his
energy, he is aware he is accomplishing the will of God. In a letter to
his Father General (Dec. 21, 1866), he wrote: “Convinced that the
Good God does not ask me the impossible, I go my way without
troubling myself ...” So it is that, during a retreat at Braine-le-Comte,
he resolutely decides to follow the call of God to religious life. He
enters the Congregation to which his brother already belongs. His
brother’s illness gives Damien the opportunity to offer his service in
place of his brother. His request is accepted and he leaves for Hawaii.
There, the Bishop describes the plight of the “lepers” of Molokai.
Damien volunteers to serve them.
Damien considers his presence among the “lepers” to be like that
of a father amid his children. He is completely aware of the risks
involved in his daily contact with the sick. Taking all reasonable
precautions, he manages to escape contagion for more than ten
years. When he finally falls victim to the dread disease, he finds new
energy from his confidence in God and declares: “I am happy and
content, and if I were given the choice of leaving here in order to be
cured, I would answer without hesitation: I’ll remain here with my
“lepers” as long as I live.”
Doctor who cares for body and soul
Urged by his desire to alleviate the sufferings of the “lepers”,
Damien takes an interest in the progress of medical science related to
the disease. He experiments on himself with some of the new
treatments. Day after day, he cares for the sick, dressing their
hideous wounds. He comforts the dying, buries in the cemetery he
calls the “garden of the death”, those who have completed their
Calvary.
Aware of the power of the press, he does not hesitate to
encourage these correspondents, who publish books and articles
about the “lepers” of Molokai. From this was born a strong
movement of solidarity to ameliorate the condition of the sick.
His familiarity with suffering and death refines in him the
meaning of life. His peace and profound harmony communicate
themselves to others. His goodness and kindness are radiant. As he
himself attests, “I do the impossible to be always cheerful, to animate
the souls of the sick.” His faith, his optimism, his availability touches
the hearts. All feel themselves invited to share his joy of life, to go
beyond, in faith, the limits of their misery and even to escape in spirit
from the narrow confines of their peninsular prison. They were able
to discover in their beloved Kamiano an affectionate closeness which
called them to an encounter with the God who loved them.
Builder of Community
Thanks to Damien, “the hell of Molokai” characterized by
selfishness, despair, and immorality is transformed into a community
which surprises even the government. With the help of the
stronger “lepers”, he builds houses, the orphanage, the church, and
other equipment for common use. They enlarge the hospital,
improve the landing and the road leading to the wharf.
Together they lay a pipeline system to bring fresh water to the
settlement. Damien opens a store where the sick can get provisions
free. He has the lepers start vegetable gardens and begin to grow
flowers. He even starts a band to help fill their leisure hours.
Thanks, too, to his efforts and presence, those who had been left
entirely to themselves rediscover the joy of being together. The gift of
self, fidelity, values of family life, these begin to take on meaning
once again. Acceptance of others out of necessity or constraint gives
way to respect for all human persons, even those horribly disfigured
by “leprosy”. Damien teaches them that in the eyes of God everyone
is infinitely precious, because our Lord loves each one as a Father
does, and in God we are all sisters and brothers
We can easily understand how Damien, a man who advocated
and longed for communion, suffers from not having another Brother
with him, a Brother whose presence he constantly requests.
Apostle of the “Lepers”
It is in his priestly and missionary heart that Damien hears the call
to serve the “lepers.” “They are very hideous to look at,” he admits,
but he quickly adds, “they have souls redeemed by the adorable
blood of our Divine Saviour.” Through his priestly ministry, the
“lepers” receive much needed spiritual help: he reconciles them with
God and with one another; he gives them the means of uniting their
sufferings to those of Christ by receiving His body and His blood.
Baptisms, marriages, funerals, through these sacraments he sought
to open hearts and minds to the universal dimensions of the
Church of Christ. Rejected by society, the “lepers” of Molokai quickly
learn that their illness calls forth the solicitude of a priestly heart
totally devoted to them. “My greatest happiness is to serve the Lord
in these poor sick children, rejected by others.”
Sower of Ecumenism
Damien was before all else a catholic missionary and also a man
of his time. While he remains convinced in his own belief, he respects
the religious convictions of others; he accepts them as persons and
receives with joy their collaboration and their help. With a heart wide
open to the most abject and miserable, he shows no difference in his
approach and in his care of the “lepers.” Whether in his parish
ministry or his works of charity he finds a place for everyone. Among
his best friends are the Lutheran Meyer, superintendent of the “leper
colony”, the Anglican Clifford, the painter, the free-thinker Moritz,
the doctor on Molokai, the Buddhist Goto, the Japanese leprologist.
Damien is very far from being just a philanthropist or a hero for
the day. People from all creeds and from all philosophical systems
recognize in him the servant of God which he always reveals himself
to be, and they respect his passion for the salvation of souls.
Man of the Eucharist
“The world of politics and of the press knows few heroes
comparable to Fr. Damien of Molokai. It would be very worthwhile
to discover the source inspiring so much heroism.” In this remark
Mahatma Gandhi summarizes the deep questions that the life of
Damien poses.
We find the answer in his vocation as religious of the Sacred
Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Damien receives the grace of contemplating,
living and announcing the merciful love of God revealed
in Jesus to whom the Virgin Mary leads us. To accomplish this
mission, his personal experience, reinforced by the tradition of his
Congregation, leads him to find this strength at the very source of
love and of life: the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, Jesus becomes the
bread of life, the living and empowering presence of the love of
God.
His imitation of Jesus urges him to identify himself with his flock.
Thanks to the love of God who never abandons us, he is able to
remain faithful to the end, enduring the cruel disease, the painful
solitude, the unjust criticism, and the misunderstanding of his
own.
His testimony is incontestable. “Without the presence of our
divine master in my small chapel, I would never be able to sustain my
life united to that of the ‘lepers’ of Molokai.”
Voice of the voiceless
A presence like Damien’s among the world’s alienated and
isolated could not fail to challenge and to stir consciences. Less
than two months after his death, a “Leprosy Fund” was established
in London, the first organization devoted to helping the victims of
this disease. Nothing can justify the isolation and the abandonment
of a human being. “We lepers” is no longer a stylistic term, but
it expresses a real identification with those who, despite their
illness, never cease having a right to respect, dignity, and love. By
sharing the lives of the “lepers”, by becoming a “leper” himself,
Damien launches a vibrant appeal for solidarity with all who run
the risk of being marginalized because of an illness, a handicap, a
mistake.
Herald of Hope
Damien’s life and death are prophetic events. If they denounce
attitudes contrary to respect for the rights of human persons, they
are also an appeal for hope.
Today as then, the world knows rejected persons of all kinds: the
incurably ill (victims of AIDS or other diseases), abandoned children,
disoriented youths, exploited women, neglected elderly people, and
oppressed minorities. For all who suffer, Damien remains the voice
reminding us that the infinite love of God is full of compassion and
consolation, confidence and hope, his a voice that denounces
injustice. In Damien we can all recognize the herald of the Good
News. Like the Good Samaritan, he went to the aid of those whom
sickness had cast aside along the road. This is what makes Damien an
example for all men and women who wish to be involved in the
struggle for a more just, more humane world, a society more
conformed to the heart of God.
Servant of God, Damien is and remains for all the servant of the
human person, the servant of a humanity that needs to live, but even
more needs reasons for living.
This is the Damien who challenges us even today!

(From the Official Vatican Biography used at the Canonization Mass on 11 October 2009, Saint Peter's Square, 10.00 AM Vatican Time)