Prayer to Damien Father of Mercy, in our brother priest, Saint Saint Damien Damien of , ss.cc., You have given a shining witness of love for the poorest and most abandoned. Grant that, by his intercession, as De Veuster, ss.cc. faithful witness of the Heart of Your Son Jesus, we too may be servants of the most needy and rejected. of Molokai Damien with boys of the settlement, 1889. Teach us to live our lives with joy like Yours, and to celebrate and contemplate the Eucharist so we might be good disciples of Jesus and Mary.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Damien at twenty-three just before he th left Europe. Feast Day May 10 - the day St. Damien arrived to serve the Leprosarium in 1873.

Father Damien with some children of the settlement, probably members of the choir.

Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Sacred Hearts Center P.O. Box 1365, Kaneohe, 96744-1365 Tel: 808.247.5035 / Fax: 808.235.8849 Email: [email protected] Website: www.sscc.org

Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Servant of Humanity Damien two months before his death Mother , OSF and Sister Leopoldina U.S.A. Province Archives in 1889. The fowered sling supporting Burns, OSF prepared the funeral bier and casket of 1124 Seventh Avenue, Honolulu, Sanctus Damianus Molocaiensis his arm was given to him by Mother , April 1889. Hawaii 96816-2414 Marianne Cope, OSF. Email: [email protected] Ora pro nobis De Veuster was born on January 3, imposed measures were meant to prevent settlement. She later conferred upon him Joseph Dutton 1840 in the village of Tremeloo, Belgium. the spread of the disease, with no regard the decoration of Knight Commander He was the seventh of eight children born for the emotional impact this would have of the Royal Order of Kalakaua, in One of the notable to Frans and Anne-Catherine DeVeuster on those afected. recognition of his dedicated service. persons assisting in a devout Catholic family. His father Father Damien at the intended for him to take over the family In May of 1873, Bishop Maigret blessed A medical examination in 1884 confrmed Kalaupapa Settlement farm someday. However, Joseph felt the frst stone church of St. Anthony that Damien had contracted leprosy. In the was a man named drawn to the religious life like two of in Wailuku, Maui. To the assembled face of this adversity, he stoically stated: “I Joseph Dutton. He was his sisters and a brother before him. At priests, he expressed the dire need to have accepted this malady as my special born in Stowe, Vermont age 19, he entered the Congregation of provide spiritual help for the people cross.” Despite his failing health, Damien on April 27, 1843. Te the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary at of Kalaupapa. Realizing the risks and continued to work up until a few days name given to him at Louvain. For his religious name, he chose sacrifce that this would entail, the bishop before his death on April 15, 1889. He was birth was Ira. At the DAMIEN afer a third-century physician- asked for volunteers on a three-month buried beneath the pandanus tree which age of 18, he enlisted in the Union army saint and early . rotating basis. Damien was the frst to frst sheltered him nearly 16 years earlier. and served during the Civil War. In 1866, volunteer, and accompanied the bishop In 1936, at the request of King Leopold he entered into an ill-fated marriage that In 1863, Damien’s older brother, Father to Kalaupapa. Afer seeing the paltry ended in divorce 14 years later. He fell into Pamphile, was headed for the Sacred living conditions and the despair of its III, Father Damien’s remains returned to his homeland. Much pomp and a downward spiral of intemperance and Hearts mission in the Hawaiian Islands. residents, he decided to remain there. depravity. Longing for redemption and A case of typhus prevented him from With no house to shelter him, he slept circumstance heralded the return of this native son of Belgium. His remains now intent on pursuing a life of penance, Ira going. Damien, with missionary zeal and under the canopy of a pandanus tree for converted to the Catholic faith on April 27, unbridled enthusiasm, asked and received several days afer his arrival. Te tree rest in the crypt of the church where he frst entered religious life. 1883. He took the name of Joseph. For two permission to take his brother’s place. stood next to the small Catholic chapel years he lived at the Trappist monastery in Afer a sea voyage of nearly fve months, erected the year before in the village of Public acclamation of Damien’s sanctity Gethsemane, Kentucky. Ten one day he Damien arrived in Honolulu on March Kalawao. was heard even during his lifetime. But, it read an article about Father Damien and 19, the Feast of St. Joseph, in 1864. For the would take 120 years afer his death before his work in the leprosy settlement. Tis next two months, he studied the Hawaiian Damien cared for the spiritual and he was ofcially recognized as a saint. would be a profound turning point in his language and prepared for ordination to physical needs of the residents of Ofcial acknowledgment began on July 9, life. Dutton made his way to Molokai. On the priesthood. Kalaupapa. In addition to celebrating Mass and hearing their confessions, 1977 when Paul VI accorded Damien July 29, 1886, he descended down the steep Te ordination of Damien and two others he built houses, an orphanage, and a the title of Venerable. Pope John Paul II pali trail and arrived at Kalaupapa. Tere took place at the Cathedral of Our Lady hospital. He constructed churches, both in declared him Blessed on June 4, 1995. he would remain for the next 40 years. of Peace in Honolulu on May 21, 1864. Kalaupapa and on top-side Molokai. For Finally, on October 11, 2009, Pope Benedict He proved himself capable and dedicated His frst assignment was to the island of those who died, he made their cofns and XVI proclaimed Father Damien a saint of as he flled the roles of nurse, gardener, Hawaii. He labored there for nearly nine dug their graves. the church. His feast day is celebrated on carpenter, cook, and sacristan. Afer years – frst in the Puna district, and then May 10, the frst day of his arrival on the Father Damien’s death in 1889, Dutton in an area encompassing the districts of Father Damien’s acts of compassion and island of Molokaí. A relic of Saint Damien took charge of the home for boys, later Kohala and Hamakua. It was on Hawaii advocacy for the patients at Kalaupapa is enshrined in the Cathedral of Our called Baldwin Home. On March 26, 1931, Island that Damien frst witnessed leprosy earned him the respect and admiration Lady of Peace; and another relic has been Joseph Dutton died at the age of 88 years patients being separated from their families of people around the world. In 1881, the reinterred within his original grave site at old. He was buried near the grave of Father and banished to the isolated peninsula of Princess Regent Liliuokalani met Father Kalawao for veneration by the faithful. Damien, his friend and mentor, in the Kalaupapa on Molokai. Tese government- Damien during her visit to the leprosy churchyard of St. at Kalawao.