Saint Damien de Veuster

Damien's work unfolded entirely within the leper colony of Molokai, where the Kingdom of Hawaii had organized the forced exile of people suffering from leprosy starting in 1866. Cut off from the world, deprived of care and infrastructure, several hundred patients lived there in destitution. Damien became, all at once, a priest, nurse, carpenter, gravedigger, and defender of his parishioners' rights. He dressed wounds, built houses, a church, and an orphanage, installed a water system, organized choirs, and restored dignity to men and women whom society considered lost. Refusing any cautious distance, he shared their daily life completely; it is reported that he addressed them by saying "we lepers," expressing total solidarity. It was in this unreserved commitment that he eventually contracted the disease: leprosy was diagnosed in him toward the end of 1884 or the beginning of 1885. Far from abandoning his post, he continued his ministry and wrote at the time: "I am myself reputed to be attacked by the terrible disease." Having become, in the words of Benedict XVI, "a leper among lepers," he continued his service until his strength was exhausted.

Damien's holiness lies in the heroism of a charity pushed to the point of total self-giving. Animated by the reparatory spirituality of the Sacred Hearts, he saw in every sick person the face of the suffering Christ and deliberately chose not to protect himself from contagion in order to serve better. His decision to remain on Molokai after the diagnosis of his own leprosy was understood, even during his lifetime, as an exemplary testimony of evangelical love. His influence quickly transcended the borders of Catholicism: his cause was supported by Protestants, and the writer Robert Louis Stevenson publicly defended him against those who sought to tarnish his memory. Benedict XVI emphasized that "to follow Christ, Father Damien not only left his homeland, but also risked his health," making him a model of courage and service to the poorest. Tradition attributes to him, as death approached, these words filled with peace: "How sweet it is to die as a child of the Sacred Hearts." His reputation for holiness continued to grow after his death, making him a missionary figure venerated far beyond Hawaii and Belgium.

Damien's cause reached its conclusion after the recognition of two healings deemed inexplicable. The first miracle, accepted for his beatification, concerns the French sister Simplicia Hue, of the Sacred Hearts, who was suddenly restored to health in 1895 from a serious intestinal illness after invoking the Servant of God. John Paul II proclaimed Damien blessed on June 4, 1995, during a celebration held at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels, in his native country. The second miracle, required for canonization, is the healing of Audrey Toguchi, a retired schoolteacher from Honolulu who was diagnosed in the late 1990s with liposarcoma, a rare cancer that had metastasized to her lungs and was considered incurable; her complete remission occurred after she prayed at Damien's grave in Kalaupapa. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints validated this healing, and Benedict XVI canonized Damien de Veuster on October 11, 2009, at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. His liturgical feast is set for May 10, the anniversary of his arrival at the Molokai leper colony; in Hawaii, it is celebrated on April 15, the day of his death.

Saint Damien de Veuster is universally recognized as the patron of people suffering from leprosy, the sick, and the excluded; his example is regularly invoked in pastoral care for AIDS patients, and several healthcare institutions bear his name. He is honored as one of the patron saints of Hawaii and the Diocese of Honolulu. His influence has resulted in numerous civil tributes: a statue representing him is part of the National Statuary Hall collection at the United States Capitol in Washington, where it is one of the two figures chosen to represent the State of Hawaii. In Belgium, where he was once voted by the public as "the greatest Belgian," his native village of Tremelo maintains a museum dedicated to him. His remains, initially buried in Molokai, were repatriated in 1936 to Leuven, Belgium, while a relic was later returned to Hawaii. His memory remains alive in the devotion of the faithful of the archipelago as well as in the missionary spirituality of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, which presents him as a model of service to the most destitute.