Damien, Father

orig. Joseph de Veuster

born Jan. 3, 1849, Tremelo, Belg.

died April 15, 1889, Molokai, Hawaii

Belgian priest.

After training at the College of Braine-le-Comte, he joined the Society of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in 1858. He went as a missionary to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands in 1863 and was ordained there in 1864. In 1873 he volunteered to take charge of the leper colony on Molokai Island. There he served as both physician and priest, dramatically improving living conditions and building two orphanages. He contracted leprosy himself in 1884 but refused to leave his post, and he died at Molokai five years later.

* * *

▪ Belgian priest

original name  Joseph de Veuster  

born Jan. 3, 1840, Tremelo, Belg.

died April 15, 1889, Molokai, Hawaii [U.S.]

 Belgian priest who devoted his life to missionary (mission) work among the Hawaiian lepers.

      He was educated at the College of Braine-leComte, and in 1858 he joined the Society of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Picpus Fathers) at Leuven. In place of his brother, Father Pamphile, who had been stricken by illness, he went as a missionary to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands in 1863. He reached Honolulu in 1864 and was ordained a priest the same year. Moved by the miserable condition of the lepers (leprosy), whom the Hawaiian government deported to Kalaupapa on Molokai Island (1873), he volunteered to take charge of the settlement. He served as pastor and physician, improved water and food supplies and housing, and founded two orphanages, receiving help from other priests for only 6 of his 16 years on Molokai. In 1884 he contracted leprosy and refused cure because it would have necessitated his leaving the lepers. His remains were transferred to Leuven in 1936.

      Rumours before and after Damien's death accused him of immorality, but he was exonerated by an investigation held shortly after his death. In 1965 Hawaii placed a statue of him in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

* * *