Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 2808 Location: People's Republic of Kalifornia
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 12:14 pm Post subject: Leprosy patients to see Father Damien canonized
Leprosy patients to see 1800s priest canonized
By AUDREY McAVOY
The Associated Press
Friday, September 25, 2009; 6:34 AM
HONOLULU -- Most need wheelchairs. Their average age is 80.
Neither fact is stopping 11 elderly Hawaii leprosy patients from traveling 12,000 miles to the Vatican next month to watch as the Catholic Church canonizes Father Damien - a priest who cared for leprosy patients throughout the islands more than a century ago before dying of the disease himself.
FILE -- A file photo provided by the Hawaii State Archive shows Father Damien two months before his death in 1889 at the leprosy settlement in Kalaupapa, Hawaii. Eleven elderly leprosy patients from Hawaii are expected to travel 12,000 miles to Rome in October 2009 to see the canonization of Father Damien.. (AP Photos/Hawaii State Archive) (Anonymous - AP)
Damien, who was born in Belgium as Joseph de Veuster, remains a beloved figure among many in Hawaii. In the 1870s, the leprosy patients Damien cared for were shunned by most people, even doctors, because of an intense stigma that was associated with the disease.
Today's patients from Kalaupapa, the isolated peninsula where Hawaii's leprosy patients were banished for more than 100 years, feel particularly close to Damien.
Dr. Kalani Brady, their physician, said Thursday the trip to Rome will be an "energy-laden" voyage for many of his patients.
"They're going to see their personal saint canonized," said Brady, 53, who will accompany the group to Rome. It's "incredibly important, incredibly personal for them," he said.
The reverence for Damien transcends religious sects, Brady said, noting that one 84-year-old making the trip is Mormon.
"He's bound to a wheelchair, he's completely blind. So it's important enough for him to go, despite the hurdles which he has to overcome," Brady said.
The Catholic Church announced earlier this year that it would make Damien a saint after determining a Hawaii woman was cured of terminal cancer after she prayed to Damien and he interceded on her behalf. The church found there was no medical explanation for the woman's recovery.
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Pope Benedict XVI is due to preside over Damien's canonization on Oct. 11. Damien was beatified - a step toward sainthood - in 1995 by Pope John Paul II.
The pope is expected to meet privately with the patients during their stay in Rome.
The 11 are among about 20 patients who still live at Kalaupapa. The Kingdom of Hawaii began banishing leprosy patients to the remote section of Molokai island in the 1860s to control an outbreak of the disease that was killing Native Hawaiians in large numbers.
Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 463 Location: Ft. Riley, KS
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 6:56 pm Post subject:
That is sad to say, sad to see, and you had me in the moment about Fr. Damian, who really was a holy priest. And then the hula girls.... what a sloppy way to ruin a nice thread!
(sorry penitent, just picking on your post after our other exchanges on the Fr. Pfeiffer sermon and the baby leaping for joy....)
Anyway, I know that SSPX priests (Fr. Couture) who visit the Hawaii missions there on the islands often specially arrange a flight to visit and pray at Blessed Damian's chapel on Molokai.
Blessed Damian, pray for us! And pray for the Catholics in Hawaii, they need a lot of help, as we all do.
Reading the old book of Father Damien's life, during the beginning of the 'abuse' scandals wrenched me to no end. He was so filled with love of others that he was willing, like Jesus, to live with the lepers. He knew for sure that he would contract the disease, but, it was alright with him as long as he was fulfilling his priesthood, and, in the hardest way. He was like another Jesus. What a perfect priest - like the Cure of Ars.
His life just pours forth the idea of what true LOVE is all about.
I'm so glad he is being canonized.
Does anyone know how one can obtain a relic of Father? _________________ I have dipt my wings in Truths' emerald spray....
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