Father Damien

May 31st, 2010 @ admin

FATHER DAMIEN

Father Damien, a Belgian missionary, was born at Tremeloo, near Louvain, on the 3rd of January 1840. When he was 18 he entered the Church, joining the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary (also known as the Picpus Congregation), and taking Damien as his name in religion.

In October 1863, he went out as a missionary to the Pacific Islands, taking the place of his brother, who had been taken with an illness. He arrive in Honolulu in March 1864, and was ordained priest in Whitsuntide of that year. Touched by the sad condition of the lepers, who the Hawaian government deported to the island of Molokai, he volunteered to take spiritual charge of the settlement at Molokai. Here he remained for the rest of his life until he became stricken with leprosy in 1885. Besides attending to the spiritual needs of the lepers, he managed, by the labor of his own hands and by appeals to the Hawaian government, to improve materially the water supply, the dwellings, and the victualling of the settlement.

For five years he worked alone; subsequently other resident priests from time to time assisted him. He succumbed to leprosy on the 15th of April 1889. Some ill-considered imputations upon Father Damien by a Presbyterian minister produced a memorable tract by Robert Louis Stevenson (An Open Letter to the Rev. Dr. Hyde, 1890). A statue of Father Damien is in the U.S. Capitol. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995, having a feast day of May 10th.

Jan. 3, 1840 — Josef de Veuster is bornTremelo, Belgium

Oct. 20, 1863 — Boards the R. M. Wood for the Sandwich Isles

Mar. 18, 1864 — Arrives in Honolulu Harbor

May. 21, 1864 — Ordained at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral

May. 10, 1873 — Begins his Kalawao service

April. 15, 1889 — Succumbs to leprosy

Sept. 12, 1895 — First Miracle:Sister Simplicia Hue is cured overnight of an intestinal disease

Jan. 27, 1936 — Damien’s body is unearthed and sent to Belgium

July 7, 1977 — Pope Paul VI declares Damien Venerated

May 15, 1995 — Pope John Paul II declares Damien Blessed

Oct. 11, 2009 — Scheduled to become St. Damien

Category : モロカイ島