Minnesota Sacraments Baptism and Eucharist

Damien deVeuster, SS.CC., a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, volunteered to go as a missionary to Hawaii when he was 23 years old. Blessed with physical strength, he was also a skilled carpenter. Each place he was assigned on the islands, he build churches, sometimes even hewing the wood from jungle trees. He traveled great distances on foot
to celebrate Mass wherever he found converts. After nine years of this work he went to live with the lepers on Molokai.

Leprosy was one of Europe’s gifts to Hawaii. In Damien’s day the disease was enshrouded by ignorance and was seen as a punishment from God - not unlike AIDS in our day. Lepers were torn from their families and quarantined on a rocky coast of Molokai. Once there, they could never leave. They lived in abject poverty, with no medical attention, surrounded by despair. By volunteering to be their priest, Damien cut himself off from the rest of the world.

On Molokai he build a church and homes for the lepers. He brought music back to the lepers and encouraged them to sing. He ate with them and shared their life. He personally dug graves for those who died. He fought with the government for better conditions. In time he, too, contracted the disease. To his bishop he wrote, “I am calm and resigned and very happy in the midst of my people.”

By the time he died, Damien’s efforts among the lepers had borne fruit. They lived in some dignity, with better food and medical attention. Another priest had come to take Damien’s place, as had an energetic layman and a group of Franciscan nuns. His death forced the Western world to re-examine leprosy, as well as its attitude toward the disease. Today many see him as a patron saint for those who have AIDS.

"Bl. Damien the Leper" courtesy of and © Br. R. Lentz ofm. Reproductions available from Trinity Stores • www.trinitystores.com