120 years after his death, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed Blessed Damien de Veuster a saint on Sunday 11th October 2009.  

Damien’s image, vividly showing lesions of leprosy on his face, was draped alongside that of four others from the façade of St Peter’s Basilica. Among the pilgrims who thronged to witness the canonization of five new saints, some of the keenest were surely those eleven people affected by leprosy, with an average age of 80, most of them using a wheelchair, who are still living at Kalaupapa. They had  travelled to the Vatican City for Father Damien, who is known as the “personal saint” of generations of people affected by leprosy in Hawaii. There were around 650 people from this country in total, including Audrey Toguchi, a retired school teacher, whose recovery from lung cancer a decade ago was ruled a miracle by the Vatican.

Father Emilio Vega, from Spain, who had overseen confirmation of the miracle recovery of Audrey Toguchi from praying to Father Damien, shared the stage with the Pope in the Vatican. Father Vega had played a role in the beatification of Father Damien also, as he had overseen confirmation of the first miracle attributed to Father Damien: Sister Simplicia Hue, a sister in his congregation, recovered from a near-fatal intestinal disease in 1895 in France through her prayers to Father Damien.

King Albert II and Queen Paolo of Belgium and Presidents of the Senate and the First Minister were in Rome too to witness the most famous Belgian of all time, as revealed by a nationwide poll in 2005, be canonized. In fact there were some 2,500 Belgians in St Peters Square.

Mr Rigo Peeters, General Secretary of Damien Foundation Belgium, was one of the many who were greatly moved by all those who, like him, had turned out for Father Damien. Speaking on the day of the canonization, Mr Peeters said that neither he nor his organisation and its numerous supporters regarded Father Damien any differently on 11^th October 2009 than previously. “His importance for all those who are engaged in leprosy work will never diminish. He has always been, and always will be, our hero. We respect him. And we will continue to follow his example in caring for all those who are neglected.”  

Also present were Representatives of some other Member Associations of the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations (IDEA), representative of the International Association for Integration Dignity and Economic Advancement (IDEA) and Mr Douglas Soutar, General Secretary of ILEP, accompanied by Assistant General Secretary, Mr Andrew Clark.

President Barack Obama of the United States, who was born and spent part of his childhood in Hawaii, told reporters that he remembers stories about Damien caring for people affected by leprosy and its stigma. In a message for the canonization, President Obama urged people to follow Damien’s example, for he showed us how to deal with modern diseases such as HIV/AIDS. He said that “Father Damien challenged the stigmatising effects of disease, giving voice to the voiceless and ultimately sacrificing his own life to bring dignity to so many”.

After the canonization, representatives of IDEA from India, Brazil, Ghana and the USA, joined by the General Secretary of ILEP, read out their Quest for Justice Resolution, which contained a reminder of Father Damien’s insistence that “people should not be deprived of their rights or value as human beings because they had a disease”. There are approximately 20,000 members of IDEA around the world, all people who have faced the consequences and effects of leprosy. They hope that the canonization of Father Damien will further accelerate the progress people affected by leprosy have made in freeing themselves from the stereotypes and misperceptions that have surrounded leprosy since biblical times. For whilst, there are some encouraging stories of individuals who have managed to pursue careers and lives of their choosing after being cured of leprosy, there are still too many around the world, who are facing restrictions on their lives and who are being discriminated against.

The “spirit of Aloha”, which literally means “to share breath” is a way of life that is native to Hawaii, but no one embodied it quite like Father Damien. He did not see people with leprosy as “unclean” as was common at the time. He treated them as fellow humans with a physical illness and he did everything he could, both spiritually and practically, to make their lives as comfortable as possible. His faith helped channel his concentration and his intent was always as clear; like his eyes as described in a song written for him by the boys on the island: “His eyes are like the first glimmer of dawn, clear and sparkling…”

Father Damien was a shining example of humanity to live up to! His life could be termed “beautiful” if we understand there to be beauty and power in the simple, non-discriminatory humanitarianism of his life and the positive transformative effect he had, and still has on others.

Life in Brief

• Born in 1840 as Joseph de Veuster, he took the name Damien. He 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 the island of Molokai. Father Damien eventually got leprosy and died in 1889 at the age of 49.
• Since 1936, Father Damien’s body has rested in his Belgium home town of Tremolo. His grave at Kalaupapa contains a relic of his right hand.
• A bone from the foot of Father Damien was given to the Catholics of Hawaii for custody. The Bishop of Honolulu, Larry Silva, is presenting this heel bone for veneration in Detroit (where a church is to be named in honour of Saint Damien – the first in the United States), San Francisco and near Oakland, California, as he returns to Hawaii. It will rest in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.

Leprosy in Hawaii

About 90% of the approximately 8,000 people exiled to the peninsula during a leprosy epidemic in the 1850s were native Hawaiians. The State of Hawaii stopped exiling people with leprosy in 1969. Many patients were transferred to other parts of Hawaii in the 1980s. Today, there are 24 people affected by leprosy at Kalaupapa.

- Father Damien Day is celebrated on 15^th April in Hawaii.

- May 10^th has been a memorial feast day in Hawaii since Father Damien’s beatification on 4^th June 2005.

Also canonized on 11^th October 2009:

• Zygmunt Szcezesny Felinski, a nineteenth century Polish bishop, who defended the Catholic faith during the years of the Russian annexation, which had led to the shutdown of Polish churches.
  
• Jeanne Jugan, a French woman described by the Vatican Radio, as an “authentic Mother Teresa ahead of her time”. A nun, she helped found the Little Sisters of the Poor, which today runs homes for indigent elderly worldwide.
  
• Two Spaniards were honoured – Francisco Coll y Guitart, who founded an order of Dominicans in the nineteenth century and Rafael Arniaz Baron, who renounced an affluent lifestyle at the age of 22 to live a humble life in a strict monastery and dedicate himself to prayer.

See also:

Father Damien and Right to Health
http://www.ilep.org.uk/news-events/article/view/father-damien-and-right-to-health/376/

Book Review - Father Damien: A Bit of Taro, A Piece of Fish and A Glass of Water
http://www.ilep.org.uk/news-events/article/view/father-damien-a-bit-of-taro-a-piece-of-fish-and-a-glass-of-water-book-review/355/

Resolution to Promote the Basic Rights of All, Especially Those Who Have Had Leprosy
http://www.ilep.org.uk/en/news-events/article/view/resolution-to-promote-the-basic-rights-of-all-especially-those-who-have-had-leprosy/363/

 

Website of Damien Foundation Belgium:
http://www.fondationdamien.be/

 

In French:

Canonisation Saint Damien
http://www.actiondamien.be/damien/damien_canonisation.cfm?l=h&l=h

 

Photos:
Photo One: Panorama St Peters Square © Henry Law
Photo Two: Supporters © Katholiek Nederland

 

 

Categories: News and Notes