Damien of Molokai

Life events

1. Born — 1840

   Jozef De Veuster was born on 3 January 1840 in Tremelo, Flemish Brabant, Belgium, the youngest of seven children of Flemish corn merchant Joannes Franciscus De Veuster and his wife Anne-Catherine Wouters.

2. Tonsured — 1860

   De Veuster entered the novitiate of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary at Leuven, taking the religious name Damien — reportedly after the fourth-century physician-martyr — and made his religious profession on 7 October 1860.

3. Ordained — 1864

   Damien arrived at Honolulu Harbor on 19 March 1864, having taken his brother Father Pamphile's place when illness prevented him from traveling; he was ordained to the priesthood on 21 May 1864 at what is now the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.

4. Pilgrimage — 1873

   On 10 May 1873, Damien arrived at the quarantine settlement at Kalaupapa on Molokai as the first of four volunteer priests, finding approximately 600 leprosy patients there; at their request and his own, he remained permanently rather than rotating with other volunteers.

5. Other — 1884

   In December 1884, while preparing to bathe, Damien placed his foot in scalding water and felt nothing — the standard diagnostic sign — confirming that he had contracted leprosy after eleven years working in the colony.

6. Died — 1889

   Damien died of leprosy at 8:00 a.m. on 15 April 1889, aged 49, and was buried under the pandanus tree where he had first slept upon arriving on Molokai; his body was repatriated to Leuven, Belgium, in January 1936 at the request of King Leopold III.

7. Other — 2009

   Pope Benedict XVI canonized Damien De Veuster on 11 October 2009 in Rome, in the presence of King Albert II of Belgium and Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy; his feast day is 10 May in the Roman calendar.

Relationships

Documented claims

• In a 2005 poll by Flemish public broadcaster VRT, Damien De Veuster was voted 'De Grootste Belg' — the greatest Belgian in history; he ranked third in a parallel poll by French-speaking broadcaster RTBF. (certain)
• Robert Louis Stevenson spent eight days and seven nights on Molokai in 1889, then published a 6,000-word open letter defending Damien against a Presbyterian minister's public criticism; it became the most famous contemporary account of his ministry. (certain)
• The miracle supporting Damien's canonization involved Audrey Toguchi, a Hawaiian woman diagnosed with terminal liposarcoma in 1997; after praying at his grave on Molokai, her cancer entered unexplained remission and she was still alive in 2016. (certain)
• Mahatma Gandhi cited Damien's work with leprosy patients as an inspiration for his social campaigns in India, writing that the political and journalistic world had very few heroes who compared with Father Damien of Molokai. (likely)
• Hawaii placed a statue of Damien in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol; a replica stands on the steps of the Hawaii State Capitol Building in Honolulu. (certain)