St. Damien of Molokai

Today is the feast day of St. Damien of Molokai.

St. Damien

Today is the feast day of St. Damien of Molokai. It is his first feast day since being canonized last fall (an event attended by our own Fr. Damien Wee.)

St. Damien de Veuster was born in Belgium on January 3, 1840. The last of seven children, he was supposed to inherit the family business. At school, he was inspired to the priesthood during a Lenten Mission. When visiting his brother at the Sacred Hearts Seminary in Louvain, he was persuaded to join the Sacred Hearts

While Damien was in seminary, his brother was ordained a priest. His brother was assigned to the Sacred Hearts mission in Hawaii. Before leaving, his brother caught Typhus while ministering to the sick. Since, he wasn't able to sail, Damien, not yet a deacon, requested and received permission to take his brother's place.

In Hawaii, Damien was sent to the windward side of Oahu to complete his studies. In short order, he was ordained a deacon and then ordained a priest while only 24 years old. For 9 years he assisted the missionaries on the Big Island.

Shortly before Damien's arrival in Hawaii, leprosy began to spread among the native Hawaiians. Hawaiians, having been isolated for hundreds of years, had no natural immunological defense. The King established an isolation colony on Molokai to stop the spread of leprosy. Government agents identified people showing signs of the disease and shipped them to a detention center where Western doctors confirmed the diagnoses. Lepers were shipped to Molokai.

At a meeting of Sacred Hearts missionaries, Bishop Maigret explained the plight of the Catholics on Molokai. Every Sacred Hearts missionary volunteered to go. After more conversation, it was agreed that four priests would rotate through the colony in three-month increments. Damien was the first.

For most of his time on Molokai, Damien, was the only resident clergyman. Over time, the decision was made that no resident could ever leave the leprosarium.

When Damien arrived, many sick people lacked even the basic necessities. He built houses for every resident, provided conventional medical care and experimented with new medications, planted orchards and imported cattle, built an aqueduct to bring fresh water into the settlement, expanded the pre-existing St. Philomena's church, and established two orphanages (one each for boys and girls). The Sisters of the Sacred Hearts in Honolulu promoted charitable support for the settlement and became the depot for donated goods and services. As the settlement gained notoriety worldwide, donations poured in. This was a great relief to the government which tried to provide for the lepers as best they could.

Before Damien left Belgium for the missions, he had visited a shrine to the Blessed Mother. He asked her for 12 years of missionary service. In his 12th year in the leper colony he was diagnosed with the most virulent form of leprosy. He lived and worked for 4 more years before succumbing to the disease on April 15, 1889 at age 49. It was on this day, in 1863, that Father Damien's arrived to serve the Leprosarium in 1863.

Today is a very good day to invoke the assistance of St. Damien.

St. Damien & 4 others canonized

Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints Sunday, including a 19th-century priest whose work with leprosy patients on a Hawaiian island has been hailed by U.S. President Barack Obama as inspiring those helping AIDS sufferers in today's world.

The pontiff said the newly canonized had given of themselves totally without "calculation or personal gain."

"Their perfection, in the logic of a faith that is humanly incomprehensible at times, consists in no longer placing themselves at the center, but choosing to go against the flow and live according to the Gospel," Benedict said in his homily.

Among those in Rome for the canonization are two priest from our diocese who were named after, now, St. Damien. They are our own Fr. Damien Wee and Fr. Damien Cook from St. Peter's. As mentioned in the bulletin, it's a great day to invoke the help fo St. Damien.

Hopefully Fr. Wee will have some pictures and stories to share with us.

Celebrate St. Damien with Fr. Damien(s)

When I was born in 1973, my mother and father chose the name “Damien” because they had read a newspaper article about a priest named Father Damien who went to Molokai in Hawaii (called the Sandwich Islands then), to give his life in service to lepers. Fr. Damien de Veuster eventually died of leprosy.

Fast forward 36 years, our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, will canonize Blessed Damien of Molokai and declare him a saint on October 11, 2009!

From October 8 to 15, 2009 Fr. Damien Cook, Pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Omaha, who was also named after Blessed Damien, and I, will be leading a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi.

At the same time, four others will be canonized, including Blessed Jeanne Jugan, whose second miracle happened right here in Omaha, Nebraska.

In addition to the canonization ceremony, we will also visit some tombs, including Sts. Peter & Paul, St. Agnes, St. Monica, St. Ignatius, St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Francis of Assisi and Pope John Paul II. We will also visit some beautiful basilicas and churches along the way. If it works out, we will be part of a public audience with Pope Benedict.

The price of the pilgrimage is $2,600 per person, based on double room accommodations. The price includes round trip fair from Omaha to Rome, meals, sightseeing, admission fees and hotel accommodations.

Time is of the essence. Our pilgrimage will only have a maximum of 20 people. If you would like to join us, please prayerfully consider this and call me at 339-3285 x 106 by next Monday, July 13.

God bless,
Fr. Wee