FATHER DAMIEN 

Father Damien, the Belgian Catholic priest who lived in a leprosy colony on the island of Molokai in Hawaii between 1873 and 1889, is to be raised to sainthood in a ceremony in Rome on 11 October 2009.  

Father Damien was born Joseph de Veuster into a large family in 1840.  He was raised as a Christian and his father, a farmer-merchant, planned that Joseph would eventually take charge of the family business.

However, when he was 18, Joseph felt called by God to follow his brother into the priesthood and was ordained aged 23.  It was then that he took the name of Damien.

Damien went to say goodbye to his brother Pamphile, who was about to sail to Honolulu, Hawaii as a missionary, but found that he was too sick to travel the long journey.  Damien took Pamphile's place and so began his life's work.  The following May, he was ordained to the priesthood.

In those days, the Hawaiian government believed that people who had leprosy should be deported to the neighbouring island of Molokai.  This was to stop the spread of the disease as then it was thought to be incurable.  Damien's superiors were looking for volunteers to take turns visiting and assisting those with leprosy on Molokai.  After turning down one volunteer because he was unwell, they accepted Damien and sent him out.  Damien was 33 years old, healthy and strong.  He remained there for sixteen years until his death in 1889, having contracted leprosy himself.

Few people stayed on the mountainous island of Molokai.  It was not easy to make a living there.  Father Damien filled every day of his life with work.  For the sakes of those who had leprosy, he was their doctor, nurse, builder, carpenter, engineer as well as priest and friend.  His first day on the island was spent working for 12 hours with one short break and some fruit to eat.  For the first few weeks his sleeping place was his mat under a tree.

At the same time that Father Damien was working on Molokai, similar work was happening in India as Wellesley Bailey founded the Mission to Lepers (now The Leprosy Mission).

After Father Damien's death news of his life's work began to spread around the world.  In England, the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, moved by Father Damien's sacrifice, helped to erect a large cross on Molokai to remember his work. It had an inscription from words in the Bible:  "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."  (John 15:13)

'Father Damien's canonisation is a time to celebrate his life and to remember the powerful impact that one life, dedicated to a just cause, can have on people who are living with leprosy,' says Geoff Warne, General Director of The Leprosy Mission. 'But we mustn't forget that today, in the 21st century, leprosy-affected people still experience stigma and rejection; this is something that The Leprosy Mission is passionate about working to overcome.'

Thousands of people are diagnosed with leprosy every year; in fact someone is diagnosed with the disease every two minutes. But 130 years after Father Damien arrived in Molokai, people are still experiencing human rights abuses because they have leprosy. The Leprosy Mission is committed to bringing an end to this injustice and works tirelessly with leprosy-affected people while there is still much work to be done.

The Times Online published a moving article following the canonisation of Father Damien on 11 October.
There has probably never been an occasion before when so many people affected by leprosy were together at any one time.  The canonisation happened at St Peter's Square, Rome.

You can also read a poem written by an admirer of Father Damien, Amos S Cresswell.