St. Damien De Veuster, Part II of II

The blog posts for May 9th and 10th will be about Saint Damien De Veuster, known for decades as “Father Damien of Molokai". Saint Damien was canonized on October 11, 2009.


The feast of Saint Damien De Veuster is celebrated today. Usually a saint’s feast day is the date of his or her death, but as April 15th often falls in Lent, the choice was made instead for May 10th. According to the Hawaii Catholic Herald, that date was picked because it marks a significant event in his life, a day on which he performed a particular act of supreme charity and selflessness that would ultimately lead to his canonization. On May 10, 1873 he stepped onto the island of Molokai and made it both his life’s work and eventual place of death. The opening prayer of the feast day Mass reads in part, “Father of mercy, in Saint Damien you have given us a shining witness of love for the poorest and most abandoned. Grant that by his intercession, as faithful witnesses of the heart of your Son Jesus, we too may be servants of the most needy and rejected.”


Sr. Joanne Gonter, VHM