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Father Damien to be canonized
Posted on 18 July 2008 by
The Vatican has approved Father Damien’s second miracle. It is likely a date in 2009 will be set for his canonization.
On Thursday 3rd July 2008, Pope Benedict XVIth approved the healing of Audrey Toguchi as a miracle, after the Congregation of Causes for Saints agreed that there was no medical explanation for her recovery. She had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. But after a visit to Kalaupapa, where she had prayed to Father Damien, she recovered and was confirmed cured in 1999. Thereafter her doctor encouraged her to report her recovery to the church.
Pope John Paul beatified Damien in 1995 after the church authorities had determined that he been responsible for a miracle in 1895. In that year Sister Simplicia Hue began a novena to Father Damien as she lay dying of an intestinal illness. The symptoms of the illness disappeared overnight.
Father Damien went to Honolulu in 1864 and Kalaupapa in 1873, where he lived with people affected by leprosy and looked after all aspects of their lives. He died in 1889. Two years ago, in 2006, the population of his country of birth voted him the greatest Belgian of all time.
Among those who carry on the work of Father Damien, are the collaborators of ILEP Member Damien Foundation, whose Head Office is based in Brussels. On their website they have highlighted ten qualities and attributes that are the hallmarks of his exceptional character and life.
“That the sheer enthusiasm of a single person could change the norms and values of a whole society for the better remains as impressive today as it always has been”, says Mr Rigo Peeters, General Secretary of Damien Foundation Belgium. Father Damien was a trailblazer. There was nothing that he would not do for people affected by leprosy. He was at times a lobbyist, a carpenter, an architect, an undertaker, a teacher, a nurse, a surgeon, an organiser, a policeman and an author. He was also an inventor. He designed a spoon for persons with no fingers, so those who had lost their fingers could eat easily.
Visit the website of Damien Foundation Belgium for more information in French and Flemish: www.fondationdamien.be
The St Augustine Catholic Church in Waikiki has recently received approval to build a museum to honour Father Damien. It is hoping to purchase a store in front of the church where it can display several of the priest’s artefacts.
Categories: Europe, News and Notes