Pope to canonize priest as saint

dr. agnes martinko

The old, gray stone church sits about four blocks inland, tucked behind the high-rise hotels that line the white sand beach at Waikiki. When I opened the church door to attend a late Sunday afternoon mass in October of l980, I was surprised to discover items on two tables in the far corner of the vestibule with a hand-crafted sign thumbtacked to the wall above them that read, “These are the personal belongings of Father Damien, the leper priest of Molokai.”

The European Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary built the church when members arrived at Hawaii as missionaries in the l820s. This small cathedral is where the 24-year-old seminarian from Belgium, Joseph de Veuster, was ordained a priest in l864, choosing the religious name of Damien after the martyred 4th-century Syrian saint. And, this is where his body would lie in state for two weeks before being shipped back to Belgium.

On Sept. 9, 2009, a Mass of thanksgiving filled the church to standing-room-only capacity as Hawaii launched its official celebration for its patron saint. Bishop Larry Silva announced that he will lead a pilgrimage of eleven lepers from Molokai and their caregivers, first, to the shrine and burial place of Father Damien in Leuven, Belgium and then on to Rome, where Pope Benedict XVI will canonize the priest as a saint on Oct. 11. The group of lepers will have a place of honor among the 10,000 Hawaiians expected to attend the ceremony in Rome.

The Hawaiians had already honored Damien as their patron saint by placing a full-sized statue of the priest in front of the Hawaii State capitol building and a small replica in Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol.

It was Damien’s brother, already an ordained priest, who was scheduled to be sent to Hawaii as a missionary but, two weeks before the ship was to sail, he became ill. Damien acted swiftly and sent a letter directly to the Order’s provincial in Paris, asking for permission to go in place of his brother. Much to the displeasure of his local superior, permission was granted.

The journey by ship took five months as they encountered two violent storms. One account reads, “The ocean’s motion never stopped, day or night. The restless power locked in the Pacific’s waves mirrored the surging energies locked within his own heart.”

Bishop Maigret welcomed the group of one priest and three seminarians enthusiastically when they landed in March of l864 but he had hoped for more priests to serve the 39,000 Catholics. To alleviate the situation, the seminarians were put on a crash course of study and, within three months, they were ordained. For nine years, Damien ministered at the various mission sites, learned the language, and became an excellent carpenter, building a new church each year.

As the foreign population increased, the diseases they brought to the islands diminished the native population from 300,000 at the time of their discovery by Capt. Cook in l778 to 30,000 in 1900. Of all the diseases, leprosy was the most horrendous. Since Europe had eradicated the disease by isolating those afflicted, the King of Hawaii ordered everyone who had contracted the disease evacuated to the island of Molokai.

By l873, the colony of lepers at Molokai had grown to more than 800 individuals. They were expected to grow their own food and survive on their own. The bishop was hesitant to send a priest to minister to them as it would surely be a death sentence but he knew that something had to be done and asked his priests if someone would volunteer. Without any hesitation, Father Damien eagerly accepted the assignment.

The leprosy victims were being sent to Molokai for seven years prior to Damien’s arrival. There were no buildings, shelters, or potable water. Folklore and oral histories reveal that, “Sometimes lepers were told to jump overboard and to swim for their lives. Occasionally a strong rope was run from the anchored ship to the shore and they pulled themselves painfully through the high, salty waves, with legs and feet dangling below like bait on a fishing line.” The ship’s crew would then throw whatever supplies had been sent into the water, relying on currents to carry them ashore or the exiles swimming out to retrieve them.

When Damien stepped ashore, he found the lepers living in rock enclosures, caves and in rudimentary shacks built of sticks and dried leaves. His first night was spent propped against the lone tree at the settlement and he tried to sleep amid the constant coughing as the lepers tried to expel the phlegm from their throats. Damien was prepared for what leprosy would look like but he was not prepared for the constant stench of rotting flesh.

The Board of Health doled out six dollars a year for each person to provide medicine, bandages, food, clothing and all other needs. This was hardly adequate, and Damien insistently requested more supplies from the board and for more helpers from his bishop, but neither supplies or help arrived.

Fortunately, a devastating storm struck the area and the newspaper reporters became his allies. Their coverage of the storm brought aid and the needed lumber to build durable huts. The improvements Damien made were always front-page news items in Hawaii, and from there traveled around the world bringing additional contributions.

From his first day on Molokai, Damien’s main concern was to bring self-respect to these individuals so shunned by the rest of the world. He felt that by celebrating their life at death would show others that their life was valuable to God in spite of their miserable condition. He built fences around the graveyards so that wild animals would not dig up the shallow graves and showed them how to make coffins to protect the body. They learned songs and made instruments to play for the funeral processions that occurred on the average of every other day.

Even though groups of able workers were organized into various sodalities to take care of the needs of 800 people, Damien continued to ask for helpers. He was so insistent that he was warned not to ever come to Honolulu or he would be arrested. He longed for another priest who could hear his confession, as he was well aware of his faults and the ship bringing a priest for that purpose came so infrequently. Damien grieved deeply when news came that his mother had died, as he had longed so often to see her face once more.

Although Damien always referred to the group as “we lepers,” the day came when it was true. He was preparing to soak his feet and had heated some water and placed it in a container. He placed one foot in the water and when he attempted to place the other foot in, realized the water was scalding. When he withdrew the first foot, it was covered with blisters, but he felt nothing. The disease destroys the nerve endings and the affected part goes numb.

Damien remained at Molokai until his death April 15, 1889. He was 49 years old and had been on the island for 16 years. A year before his death, help came from four strangers: a Belgian priest, an American Civil War soldier, a male nurse from Chicago, and a Franciscan nun from Syracuse, New York. He knew that the work would continue and he died with a smile on his face.

XDr. Agnes Martinko is a member of St. Edward Church.