Damien de Veuster, Priest Who Aided Lepers In Hawaii, To Become Saint

[babylonsister]

Damien de Veuster, Priest Who Aided Lepers In Hawaii, To Become Saint
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NICOLE WINFIELD | February 21, 2009 01:29 PM EST | AP


n this photo provided by Hawaii State Archive, Father Damien is seen in this portrait taken two months before his death in 1889 at the leprosy settlement in Kalaupapa, Hawaii. The Vatican says a 19th century Belgian priest who ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii will be declared a saint Oct. 11. The Vatican confirmed the Rev. Damien de Veuster's canonization date during a meeting Saturday Feb. 21, 2009 between Pope Benedict XVI and cardinals. (AP Photos/Hawaii State Archive, FILE)


VATICAN CITY — A 19th-century Belgian priest who ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii will be declared a saint Oct. 11 at a Vatican ceremony presided over by Pope Benedict XVI.

The Rev. Damien de Veuster's canonization date was set Saturday during a meeting between Benedict and cardinals at the Apostolic Palace.

De Veuster will be canonized along with four other people, the Vatican said.

In July, Benedict approved a miracle attributed to the priest's intercession, declaring that a Honolulu woman's recovery in 1999 from terminal lung cancer was the miracle needed for him to be made a saint.

He was beatified _ a step toward sainthood _ in 1995 by Pope John Paul II.

Born Joseph de Veuster in 1840, he took the name Damien and went to Hawaii in 1864 to join other missionaries of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Nine years later he began ministering to leprosy patients on the remote Kalaupapa peninsula of Molokai island, where some 8,000 people had been banished amid an epidemic in Hawaii in the 1850s.

The priest eventually contracted the disease, also known as Hansen's disease, and died in 1889 at age 49.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/21/damien-de-veuster-priest-_n_168829.html

[panader0]

1. I went to high school in Hawai'i

Father Damien has been famous for a long time. I'm not a Catholic, but he deserves recognition. A good man.

[hedgehog]

2. I would phrase that as he is being officially recognized as a saint.

Certainly, he's been a saint since long before this!

Ironically, most people are protected from contracting Hansen's disease by their genes. Father Damien was one of the unlucky few who is susceptible. Even at that, if he'd never touched the other lepers, never shared their food or drink, etc, he might never have caught the disease.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. I remember Jack Paar emotionally talking about Father Damien.

Especially the part where he began one mass, telling the congregation of lepers, "My brothers, today, we are now truly brothers," as he announced he too had contracted the disease and would join them in every single way in their struggle.

A wonderful role model for all healers.

[47of74]

4. Glad to hear it.

[Captain Hilts]

5. Can't believe it's taken this long.

Especially since Father Guido Sarducci said US candidates only need two miracles rather than the usual three.

Cardinal Rat is doing ONE thing right other than opposing the Iraq War.

[BelgianMadCow]

6. I lived in his birth town.

Called Tremelo. My parents still live there. The previous Pope also scheduled sainthood and a visit to Tremelo, then thought better of it...

Thanks for your post.
bmc

[AnnieBW]

7. First good thing I've heard out of the Catholic Church

in a long time. Viva Saint Damien!

[arcadian]

8. There is a statue of him in Statuary Hall in the U.S Capitol.