Kalaupapa celebrates Damien, Parish Anniversary, New Pastor

In St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa, Bishop Larry Silva preaches at the Mass celebrating the feast of Blessed Damien, the 100th anniversary of the Church, and the installation of Father Felix Vandebroek, left, as pastor. (HCH photo by Patrick Downes)
KALAUPAPA July 28th 2008: (Catholic Herald) - With a joyful Mass and luau on May 10, St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Kalaupapa savored a triple crown celebration — the 100th anniversary of the parish church, the feast day of Blessed Damien and the installation of a new pastor. More than 100 people filled the gleaming white church for a music-drenched liturgy presided over by Bishop Larry Silva, and concelebrated by the pastor Sacred Hearts Father Felix Vandebroek, and Sacred Hearts Father Lusius Nimu. The guests, many of whom came to the isolated location on eight- and nine-seat chartered planes, outnumbered the parishioners — the small, aging community of Hansen’s disease patients, their caretakers and the settlement’s government workers. They assembled gradually and noisily, like a big family reunion, with plenty of hugs and kisses and leis, delaying the scheduled 10 a.m. liturgy by almost a half hour. No one minded. “You can feel the joy,” the bishop said, greeting the congregation. In his homily, Bishop Silva expounded on the image of the Good Shepherd presented in the Gospel, urging the congregation to be “shepherds in your families, in your school communities, in heath care.” Speaking of the church’s anniversary, he alluded to the church’s distinctive history. “As we come to celebrate the centennial of this holy place, we remember all those who gathered here in hope, gathered in sorrow, gathered with pain in their hearts, gathered with great joy,” he said. Citing progress being made at the Vatican in Blessed Damien’s canonization cause, the bishop hinted that he will be declared a saint within the year, saying “that this is perhaps the last time we will call him ‘blessed’ on his feast day.” After the homily, the bishop installed the 80-year old Belgian priest as pastor. Before reciting his installation promise, Father Vandebroek said he had a special message to give “to the parishioners of St. Francis.” “We love you,” he simply said. The Mass music was led by a dozen members of the St. John Vianney Choir of Kailua, frequent Kalaupapa visitors, and directed by Molokai-born Robert Mondoy who wrote or arranged most of it. A hula by four Kalaupapa residents — “God is Love” to the tune of “Makalapua” — served as a prelude to the liturgy. After Mass, the people were shuttled over to McVeigh Hall for a luau lunch complete with squid luau, sweet potato, raw crab, varieties of poke and a sheet cake with a picture of the church. Homegrown and visiting singers, dancers and musicians provided some spirited local-style party entertainment. Anyone who could grab an ukulele or knew the hula to “Boy from Laupahoehoe” was welcome to join in. Singer-composer Keith Haugen, with his wife Carmen, debuted the Hawaiian-language song “Kiloi ia” (“Discarded”), a mele about the people of Kalaupapa. “The sick people were thrown away, they were just discarded here at Kalaupapa, they were thrown without care from the big ship into the rough sea at Kalawao,” goes the translation of one of the verses. The lei-laden Father Vandebroek happily mingled rather than eat, chatting with parishioners, friends and guests. The pastor, who came to Hawaii in 1956 and has served in parishes on Oahu, the Maui and, has been at Kalaupapa since September. Resident Winnie Harada, wife of the late Paul Harada, presented Bishop Silva and visiting Lutheran Bishop Murray Finck of California with containers of Hawaiian salt her husband was famous for collecting along the Kalaupapa shoreline. St. Francis is Hawaii’s smallest, most remote, most unique parish. Because of its particular membership, there are no regular baptisms, first communions or weddings — just funerals. The parish continuously welcomes pilgrims from around the world who want to walk the soil that cultivated the sanctity of Father Damien de Veuster and Mother Marianne Cope. St. Francis Church is the successor to the church Father Damien built and used, St. Philomena, which still stands a few miles away, alone among the graves in Kalawao, the original site of the settlement that became the state-mandated destination for those who contracted leprosy in Hawaii between 1866 and 1969." The original St. Francis Church, built of wood in 1899, burned down in 1906. Construction for the present Gothic-style stone church began in 1907. It was completed the following year and blessed on May 28, 1908. St. Francis was renovated in the late 1990s by then pastor Sacred Hearts Father Joseph Hendriks.
By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald
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Discriminatory Laws on Leprosy Need Amendment

PUNE, India: 19th August 2009 (Times of India) - Leprosy, which has blighted mankind for thousands of years, is still far from being wiped out from the social psyche even though the disease is completely curable now. Even today, there are several laws that continue to discriminate against the leprosy affected people. The International Leprosy Union Alliance (HA) here has identified 16 such acts and filed a petition to the 'Parliament petition committee' (PPC) recently. "The ILU-HA has formed a committee to discuss the discriminatory laws against leprosy-affected people," said Rashmi Shirhatti, chief executive of ILU-HA . There may be more such acts but the PPC has assured us that they will focus on these 16 acts, where the leprosy-affected persons feel hardship and injustice."

Elaborating on some of these acts, Shirhatti said that the Indian Railways Act of 1869, section 56 gives the railway authorities the power to refuse carriage to patients suffering from contagious diseases. "Leprosy is the least infectious and is not at all contagious. The act is discriminatory," said Shirhatti. Similarly, the Care and Protection Act 2000 says a child found to be affected by leprosy should be dealt with separately. "The committee has proposed an amendment to the effect that such a child should not be segregated, except when undergoing an infectious stage as certified by a medical practitioner," said Shirhatti.

The Life Insurance Corporation Act of 1956, which specifies a higher premium to the leprosy-affected, ought to be amended as "it unnecessarily penalises patients and perpetuates an unscientific fear of leprosy," said Shirhatti. Changes have been sought in the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947; Council of India Act, 1992; Persons with Disabilities Act, 1955; Bombay Municipal Corporation Act, 1888 and The Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, Shirhatti said. "Be it the Special Marriage Act, Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act 1939, The Hindu Marriage Act, 1956 or the India Divorce Act, 1869, all have provisions for divorce on the grounds of a partner suffering from incurable and virulent leprosy, whereas leprosy is a curable disease now," "The laws were framed when leprosy was considered incurable. Now, it's curable. Hence there is a need to amend these laws," said Ashok Laddha, joint director (leprosy and TB).

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The Fight Against Leprosy in Hawaii

Number of victims increasing but the disease not hereditary
Oakland Enquirer 1895 - (California) – The government has been pursuing for 26 years the policy of segregating the lepers, who are sent to the island of Molokai, where they must live and die. When this policy was adopted it was believed that it would accomplish the extirpation of the disease, and upon that theory it is still pursued: But recent official reports that in the long fight against this disease the faith of those in the contest sometimes wavers. The leper population upon Molokai increases steadily, and, while some authorities hold that there is not much leprosy upon other islands, there are those who assert that there is as much as ever.

From the statistics given in the report to the President of the Board of Health, it appears that in 1866, when the Molokai settlement was established there were 105 lepers in it and by 1870 they had increased to 279. In 1880 the number was 606, and in 1890, 1,213. In 1893 it was 1,155, a less number than in 1890 but an increase over 1892. The report comments: “Considering the natural decrease of the native population and the number of new cases which annually occur, it would seem that in proportion there is as much leprosy as at the commencement if not more”.

The settlement is kept up at an annual cost of $80,000 or over, and, of course, it would not be maintained if it were not generally believed that segregating abates the plague of leprosy, with prospects of its ultimate eradication. And bearing in mind that this policy stamped out leprosy in Europe where it was very prevalent during the Middle Ages, it is reasonable to believe that it will do the same in Hawaii, only it must continue for a century or two and not merely for twenty six years.

This report shows that the theory of hereditary leprosy has been shaken by the experience at Molokai, where most of the children of lepers appear to be healthy, or in the term used by the physicians “clean”. And many of the children taken away young do not in after life develop the disease. This evidence, in the opinion of Dr. Myer, the health officer upon Molokai, justifies the belief that children do not inherit the leprosy, but contract it from their parents in early childhood. This separation of the children from their leper parents involves a good deal of suffering, and has not been universally followed. There is a home provided for little daughters of lepers but none for boys. Dr. Myer asks the question what will become of these children who grow up on the island and answers it by saying: “They will grow up probably a lawless and dangerous element. The settlement is their home; they know no other. …. There is no work for them; they have learned nothing; they have seen little less than idleness, drinking and gambling, and whatever else perfects hoodlums and tramps”.

A human being could hardly come into existence under more depressing conditions than those of the heartfelt child in a colony of lepers.

New York Times
Published September 28th. 1895
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Book Review - Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

Don't assume by the length of time it took me to read this book that I didn't like it. I started it sometime last week and fully expected to finish it by the end of the week. However, life got in the way, and it took me almost a full week longer to finally get it read.

Moloka'i is the story of Rachel, a Hawaiian girl who develops leprosy at the age of seven and is sent to the island of Moloka'i which is the site of a leper colony. I was afraid the book would be depressing and bleak, but it really wasn't. I learned so much from this book. I wasn't aware that the Hawaiian people were (are?) very susceptible to developing leprosy and that there was such an epidemic of the disease. I loved this book - in fact, it makes my list of favorites. Don't be dissuaded by the subject matter - this is a lovely book.
Thanks to SOMER @ http://somereads.blogspot.com/

"Moloka’i is a big, generous, compassionate, beautifully rendered epic novel about a largely forgotten, largely ignored chapter in Hawaiian and American history. Alan Brennert has written an exquisitely textured tale of darkness and light, tragedy and the triumph of the human spirit, filled with original, fully realized characters who walk right off the page and into our hearts."

-Jim Fergus, author of One Thousand White Women: The Journals Of May Dodd


"Love, marriage, divorce, infidelity.life was the same here as anywhere else, wasn't it?....The pali [cliff] wasn't a headstone and Kalaupapa [a leper colony] wasn't a grave. It was a community like any other, bound by ties deeper than most, and people here went to their deaths as people did anywhere: with great reluctance, dragging the messy jumble of their lives behind them."

I confess that I have been haunted by the story of the leper colony on Moloka'i for years and have read other books about Father Damien, who spent sixteen years ministering to patients before he himself died in 1889 of leprosy (as Hansen's disease was then called). Hawaiians were particularly vulnerable to this disease, having lived in isolation on their Pacific islands until the arrival of the white men who brought it.

A couple of years ago, my interest in the human story of the colony was piqued by James Brocker's book, The Lands of Father Damien, in which he memorialized as many of the people from the colony as he could document, including over a hundred photographs of the individuals confined to the colony, the buildings in which they lived, and the activities which made up their day. By far the most moving photographs were those of the small children, all of whom had been wrested from their families, sometimes by bounty-hunters, and sent to live-and meet their deaths-among complete strangers in the Kalaupapa settlement on the island of Moloka'i. One child, Beka, was only four when he arrived alone from Maui to spend the three short years remaining of his life away from his parents, brothers, and sisters.

Alan Brennert's novel Moloka'i is based on serious research into the history of this colony (and includes Brocker's book in the Author's Note). Like Brocker he chooses to focus on the human tragedy, both of individual sufferers and of those families who, while free from the disease themselves, were ostracized by their neighbors and employers because of their association with a patient. But he also emphasizes the personal triumphs of many of these patients, and that is a story which has long needed telling. Instead of elaborating on the horrors of the disease in order to build up drama, as a less skillful writer might have done, Brennert recognizes their dignity and respects them. Though no book about leprosy and the colony at Kalaupapa can ever be free from profound sadness, Brennert avoids turning this novel into a ten-hanky tearjerker, focusing instead on the lives the patients create for themselves and on their attempts at normalcy.

Rachel Kalama, the main character, is a typical 5-year-old growing up in a loving family in Honolulu when her mother first sees a sore on Rachel's leg which will not heal. Fearing what this may mean, not just to Rachel but to the rest of the family, she bandages it and makes Rachel wear long skirts. For over a year she succeeds in keeping Rachel's condition a secret, until one of her siblings lets the secret out during an argument at school. Rachel is taken by the health inspector, who receives a bounty for capturing her, and sent to a Honolulu hospital for sufferers of the disease. The trauma of separation from the only life she has ever known is bad enough, but at least she is in Honolulu, where she can see her family, even at a distance. When Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa a year later, however, her isolation-at the age of seven-is total.

The "family" she develops in Kalaupapa, her friendships with other young children, and her refusal to let the disease (or any of the nuns) control her spirit make her life bearable, and the reader will admire her pluck even while dreading what her future holds. Yet Rachel is one of those in whom the disease develops very slowly, and her story continues through her teen years, her marriage, and well beyond. Through the lively Rachel, Brennert shows the history of the Kalaupapa settlement, the history of treatment for leprosy (Hansen's disease), and the history of Hawaii itself, including the seizure of the Queen and the annexation and colonization of the islands by the American sugar barons (events which clearly parallel Rachel's story). The misconceptions about the spread of the disease and the ostracism of innocent families are brought to life through episodes about Rachel's family and those of her friends at Kalaupapa.

The Christianity of the nuns who work at the settlement sometimes comes into conflict with the centuries-old Hawaiian religious beliefs and mythology of their patients, which the nuns regard as paganism, contributing further to the isolation of the patients and adding to the instability of their lives. Yet Rachel's long, abiding friendship with Sister Catherine, an important part of the book, is built on mutual respect, and Catherine becomes one of the book's most vividly realized characters.

Brennert enriches his novel by incorporating events described in real documents and journals in the Hawaii archives into his story of the settlement, from its lawless, "wild West" atmosphere at the outset, to its final development as a "home" for the people who live there. (Thirty-one people, now completely cured of the disease through sulfa drugs, still reside, voluntarily, in Kalaupapa.) He includes many real people among the fictional characters, thereby informing a new audience of the unselfish service of doctors, administrators, nuns like Sister Catherine, and enlightened patients themselves toward bettering the lives of the people of Kalaupapa. Even Robert Louis Stevenson, who visited the settlement, plays a cameo role. The reader observes the community as it becomes more "normal," with marching bands, sports teams, celebrations, and even horse races (with the patients as riders), along with facilities such as bakeries, general stores, and laundries.

While we have no way of knowing if Brennert's depiction of the life Rachel and others lived in the settlement may be a bit rosy-colored, it is the kind of life we would hope these patients could enjoy. Though there is melodrama and sentimentality here, it flows naturally from the subject and the author's desire to present the full historical record. Few readers will remain unchanged by Rachel's story. As one character says, "How we choose to live with pain, or injustice, or death.is the true measure of the Divine within us."
(reviewed by Mary Whipple JAN 11, 2004)

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Former Leprosy Patients Hear Long-awaited Apology

Father Damien's church in Kalaupapa, Molokai, Hawaii on August 12, 2008. The state of Hawaii passed a resolution apologizing to the residents of Kalaupapa, who are victims of Hansens Disease, on how unfairly they have been treated. (AP PHOTO)
Aug. 13th. 2008 (Associated Press) - The Hawaiian state delivered a long-awaited apology to former leprosy patients forcibly confined to a remote peninsula on the island of Molokai. "We're sorry. We're sorry for the treatment. We're sorry for the suffering that you've been through," state Sen. J. Kalani English told about a dozen former patients gathered Tuesday at a meeting hall. "The entire state is with me today as I say this." English then read aloud a resolution the Senate and House passed in April apologizing to the former patients.

It said many patients were torn apart from their families when they were sent to Kalaupapa Peninsula. It acknowledged the sacrifices the patients made, noting they thought of the public more than themselves, and gave up freedoms and opportunities the rest of society takes for granted. The Hawaiian Kingdom, and then later the republic, territory and state of Hawaii, together banished 8,000 people with leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, to Kalaupapa for over a century after 1866 in an attempt to control the illness. Drugs to cure the disease were first administered in the 1940s. Patients were no longer required to remain at Kalaupapa after 1969 but many have chosen to live out the rest of their lives there because it had become their home.

Former patient Gloria Marks told English the apology was way overdue but she appreciated it. "We're very grateful for you to come here and give us this message," Marks told English. But she was sad that Paul Harada, her brother-in-law and former patient who pushed hard for an apology resolution, was not alive to witness the event. Harada died Jan. 4. After English spoke, Makia Malo visited the grave of his younger brother, Earl D.K. Malo, who died at Kalaupapa in 1968 when he was 35 years old. Malo, who is blind, held his cane on top of his brother's gravestone while a health aide read the resolution. Malo, 73, said he thought everyone buried at Kalaupapa heard the statement. "I know they're watching and nodding. All of these people. They're all agreeing. They're just saying 'at last,'" Malo said.

Edwin "Pancake" Lelepali, 80, said he believed the apology should be made to the earliest residents of Kalaupapa more than anyone because they had to scrounge for shelter and food and were given little medical care. But by the time Lelepali arrived in 1941 at the age of 14, he said patients received food rations, allowances and health care. Then in 1969, patients were given the opportunity to leave if they wanted. "Those people up there, they had nothing," Lelepali said. "They really suffered."
By AUDREY McAVOY
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Doctor Shares Story of Cancer Patient's Miracle Cure

Dr. Chang

KALIHI, Hawaii: Aug. 11th. (KHNL) -- It's the miracle cure that is leading to the sainthood of one of Hawaii's best known religious figures. On Sunday night, a cancer survivor's doctor shares his story. Dr. Walter Chang and others in the medical field couldn't help but marvel about the surprising results, after cancer patient Audrey Toguchi, refused treatment. A Kalihi church priest asked doctor chang to speak about Mrs. Toguchi's so called "miracle cure." Even though it's not a catholic church, a recent discussion about miracles in life, sparked episcopalian interest. "Right down the street I grew up and my brother was telling you, very interesting times," Dr. Chang said.

But not nearly as interesting as his experiences with his former patient, Audrey Toguchi. "We were really, truly, I mean, we marvelled at this particular phenomenon and of course it's called complete spontaneous regression of cancer, the true believable call it a miracle, a true skeptic will say this is a random coincidence," Chang said. At Kalaupapa on Molokai, Father Damien treated Hansen's Disease patients for more than 15 years and was said to give them hope instead of dispair. After refusing treatment, Toguchi prayed to Father Damien often. Eventually doctors confirmed Toguchi's tumors had disappeared without treatment. "So I was so thrilled when I learned that it was she who had her cancer disappear in five months and I think all of us at Aiea High School, there's an alumni association, are just ecstatic about what has happened to her," Toguchi's co-worker Nancy Au said. "No one could've deserved it more than her." Dr. Chang feels this so-called miracle might not work for everyone. "Well, hopefully that they'll believe there's something to prayers, but they should actually see their physician actually for tried and true therapy first," he said.

One thing most agree on is that no one truly knows why some cancers disappear. Dr. Chang says an additional three patients he's treated have experienced complete spontaneous regression of cancer. He says only around 800 people throughout the world have experienced this.

By Duane Shimogawa
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In Their Own Words

In the past, both patients and visitors to Kalawao and Kalaupapa wrote about their impressions and experiences. First-hand accounts reveal how people felt about being sent to this remote place, and of the conditions they faced. The following quotes offer some insight into patient life as seen from the standpoint of the patients themselves.

Ambrose T. Hutchison, resident in the settlement from 1879-1932
“On the night of the 4th day of January 1879 about seven p.m. I with 11 other fellow sufferers were lined up in two by two file by our jailer (each of us carrying our own baggage) guarded on each side by a squad of policemen were taken from the leper detention station...and put aboard the SS Mokolii lying along side the pier at the foot of Fort Street. After a half-hour wait for two Government Officials, Sam G. Wilder President of the Board of Health and Dr. N.B. Emerson newly appointed first resident physician of the Leper Settlement of Kalawao. When they arrived and came aboard the steamer the line was cast off, the steamer moved out into the habor and steamed out to sea bound for Molokai and arrived off Kalaupapa the next morning 7 a.m. when the steamer anchored we entered a row boat with the two officials and rowed to the Kalaupapa landing and put ashore and [were] received by the local officials of the Leper Settlement. After our names, ages and places we hailed from were taken down, left on the rocky shore without food and shelter. No houses provided by the then Government for the like of us outcasts.”
- Ambrose T. Hutchison, resident in the settlement from 1879-1932

Peter Kaeo, cousin of Queen Emma, in a letter to Queen Emma, August 11, 1873

Peter Young Kaeo Kekuaokalani March 4, 1836 - November 26, 1880 was a Hawaiian prince and cousin of Queen Emma of Hawaii also the grandson oJohn Young Olohana advisor to Kamehameha the Great. Peter was born March 4, 1836 at Pa'loha, Honolulu on the island of O'ahu. He was born into a noble Hawaiian family. His mother was Jane Lahilahi, the youngest daughter of John Young and Ka'o'ana'eha. His father was The Hon. Joshua Kaeo, sometime Judge of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, and great grandson of King Kalaniopuu. He was, according to Hawaiian tradition, hanaied (adopted) by his maternal uncle John Kaleipaihala Young at birth. His uncle was the fourth Kuhina Nui and the Minister of the Interior. He was chosen by Kamehameha III to attended Chiefs'Children's School along with his cousin Emma because of their descent from Kealiimaikai, Kamehameha III's uncle. The school was ran by Amos Starr Cooke and Julliette Montague Cooke an American missionary couple. He was declared eligible to succeed the Hawaiian throne by the Royal Order of Kamehameha III. He serve as a member of the House of Nobles and assisted in formulating laws of kingdom. He also served as Aide-de-camp to Kamehameha IV.

He contracted leprosy, known as Hansen's disease, which was uncurable at the time. He was exiled and isolated to the leper colony at Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai. He arrived on the settlement on the same boat as William P. Ragsdale, landing June 29 1873. He had the means to maintain a comfortable existence for himself, including two servants, but was not unaware of the poverty and desperation around him. During his exile at Kalaupapa, he and his cousin Emma Kaleleonalani, at the time Queen Dowager of Hawaii, exchange letters revealing record of their personal lives during this three-year period.

From Peter Kaeo to Queen Emma, August 11, 1873:

"Deaths occur quite frequently here, almost dayly. Napela (the Mormon elder and assistant supervisor of the Kalaupapa Settlement) last week rode around the Beach to inspeck the Lepers and came on to one that had no Pai [taro] for a Week but manage to live on what he could find in his Hut, anything Chewable. His legs were so bad that he cannot walk, and few traverse the spot where His Hut stands, but fortunate enough for him that he had sufficient enough water to last him till aid came and that not too late, or else probably he must have died."

In November 26, 1880 at the age 44, he died at Kalawao, after 7 years of suffering on the leper colony. Yet the Hawaiian Gazette, Dec. 1, 1880 has to say: The Hon. P. Y. Kaeo died at his residence on Emma Street on Friday night [November 26, 1880]. The funeral took place on Sunday and was largely attended by the retainers and friends of the family. The hearse was surrounded by Kahili-bearers as becomes the dignity of a chief.

- Peter Kaeo, cousin of Queen Emma, in a letter to Queen Emma, August 11, 1873

Male, Part-Hawaiian, c. 1977-78
“Like the other patients, they caught me at school. It was on the Big Island. I was twelve then. I cried like the dickens for my mother and for my family. But the Board of Health didn’t waste no time in those days. They sent me to Honolulu, to Kalihi Receiving Station, real fast. Then they sent me to Kalaupapa. That’s where they sent most of us. Most came to die.”
- Male, Part-Hawaiian, c. 1977-78

Female, Hawaiian, c. 1977-78
“I remained in Kalaupapa for thirty years. I was finally paroled in 1966. My mother was still alive, so I wrote to her and told her I was finally cured. I could come home. After a long while, her letter came. She said, ‘Don’t come home. You stay at Kalaupapa.’ I wrote her back and said I wanted to just visit, to see the place where I was born. Again, she wrote back. This time she said, ‘No, you stay there.’ You see, my mother had many friends and I think she felt shame before them. I was disfigured, even though I was cured. So, she told me, her daughter, ‘Don’t come home.’ She said, ‘You stay right where you are. Stay there, and leave your bones at Kalaupapa. This place is finally my real home. They take good care of me here.”
- Female, Hawaiian, c. 1977-78

Male, Hawaiian, c. 1977-78
“You know, the babies that were born inside here were not allowed to stay with their parents. After the babies were born, the law said they had to be taken away to the baby nursery in Kalaupapa. They were afraid of the contact—afraid the babies would catch the disease from their parents…. But some of my children, I will tell you this, some of them I kept longer. Most times, the babies were born in the night. We kept everyone quiet so the administrators and nurses would not hear the baby being born. All my babies were born in my own home, right here."
- Male, Hawaiian, c. 1977-78

Male, part-Hawaiian, c. 1977-78
“One of the worst things about this illness is what was done to me as a young boy. First, I was sent away from my family. That was hard. I was so sad to go to Kalaupapa. They told me right out that I would die here; that I would never see my family again. I heard them say this phrase, something I will never forget. They said, ‘This is your last place. This is where you are going to stay, and die.’ That’s what they told me. I was a thirteen-year-old kid.”
- Male, part-Hawaiian, c. 1977-78

Male, part-Hawaiian, c. 1977-78
“When I arrived at Kalaupapa, I was the youngest child inside the place. My father was waiting for me when I arrived, along with many of his friends. All the people took me in, and I became like everyone’s child. It was really one big family in here, an ohana. I had everything…so much love! I was spoiled rotten. I even had the nuns taking care of me.”
- Male, part-Hawaiian, c. 1977-78

Official photo left, taken in Oct 1934, providing her with her patient identification number.
Olivia Robello Breitha (1916-2006)
Olivia Robello Breitha's life was "ordinary and uneventful" until 1934. That year when she was 18 yrs. of age, about to be married and happily living with ther family, she was told she had leprosy. In those days, all those diagnosed with this disease in Hawaii were forcibly taken from family, friends and community and isolated on the remote peninsula known as Kalaupapa. Olivia lived at Kalaupapa for 73 yrs. during which time a cure for leprosy had been discovered, the isolation laws have been abondoned and Kalaupapa designated as a National Historical Park for the education and inspiration of present and future generations. Olivia traveled to different states and other countries but chose to live out her life at Kalaupapa - her home. This is where she fell in love, married Johnny Breitha and chose not tohave children because she knew they would be taken away from her at birth. This is where she wrote her autobiograpby and made a documentary with Tim Baker a 32 yr. old man who has since died from Aids, continuing to fight for her own rights and those of others.
Documentary Review Olivia & Tim Click Here >>>>>>

“The administration office…had a railing around the ‘boss’ (administrator) and there was a bench set against the wall where the patient sat. When Mr. Judd [Lawrence Judd, former Governor of Hawai`i who later became a Kalaupapa superintendent] came, the first thing that came down was the railing in his office. Then came the chain link fence in the caller house at the visitors’ quarters. That gave us a feeling that we, the patients, almost belonged to the human race again. You cannot imagine how much a simple thing like a fence and a railing coming down meant to me. I’m sure it had the same effect on all the patients.”
- Olivia Robello Breitha,
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An Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy, Honolulu 1865

(Statue of King KAMEHAMEHA)
WHEREAS, the disease of Leprosy has spread to considerable extent among the people, and the spread thereof has excited well grounded alarms; and Whereas, further, some doubts have been expressed regarding the powers of the Board of Health in the premises, notwithstanding the 302nd Section of the Civil Code; and Whereas, in the opinion of the Assembly, the 302nd Section is properly applicable to the treatment of persons afflicted with leprosy. Yet for greater certainty, and for the sure protection of the people,

BE IT ENACTED, by the King and the Legislative Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands, in the Legislature of the Kingdom assembled:

SECTION 1. The Minister of the Interior, as President of the Board of Health, is hereby expressly authorized, with the approval of the said Board, to reserve and set apart any land or portion of land now owned by the Government, for a site or sites of an establishment or establishments to secure the isolation and seclusion of such leprous persons as in the opinion of the Board of Health or its agents, may, by being at large, cause the spread of leprosy.

SEC. 2. The Minister of the Interior, as President of the Board of Health, and acting with the approval of the said Board, may acquire for the purpose stated in the preceding section, by purchase or exchange, any piece or pieces, parcel or parcels of land, which may seem better adapted to the use of lepers, than any land owned by the Government.

SEC. 3. The Board of Health or its agents are authorized and empowered to cause to be confined, in some place or places for that purpose provided, all leprous patients who shall be deemed capable of spreading the disease of leprosy, and it shall be the duty of every police or District Justice, when properly applied to for that purpose by the Board of Health, or its authorized agents, to cause to be arrested and delivered to the Board of Health or its agents, any person alleged to be a leper, within the jurisdiction of such police or District Justice, and it shall be the duty of the Marshal of the Hawaiian Islands and his deputies, and of the police offers, to assist in securing the conveyance of any person so arrested to such place, as the Board of Health, or its agents may direct, in order that such person may be subjected to medical inspection, and thereafter to assist in removing such person to place of treatment or isolation, if so required, by the agents of the Board of Health.

SEC. 4. The Board of Health is authorized to make such arrangements for the establishment of a Hospital, where leprous patients in the incipient stages may be treated in order to attempt a cure, and the said Board and its agents shall have full power to discharge all such patients as it shall deem cured, and to send to a place of isolation contemplated in Sections one and two of this Act, all such patients as shall be considered incurable or capable of spreading the disease of leprosy.

SEC. 5. The Board of Health or its agents may required from patients, such reasonable amount of labor as may be approved of by the attending physicians, and may further make and publish such rules and regulations as by the said Board may be considered adapted to ameliorate the condition of lepers, which said rules and regulations shall be published and enforced as in the 284th and 285th Sections of the Civil Code provided.

SEC. 6. The property of all persons committed to the care of the Board of Health for the reasons above stated shall be liable for the expenses attending their confinement, and the Attorney-General shall institute suits for the recovery of the same when requested to do so by the President of the Board of Health.

SEC. 7. The Board of Health, while keeping an accurate and detailed account of all sums of money expended by them out of any appropriations which may be made by the Legislature, shall keep the amounts of sums expended for the leprosy, distinct from the general account. And the said Board shall report to the Legislature at each of its regular sessions, the said expenditures in detail, together with such information regarding the disease of leprosy, as well as the public health generally, as it may deep to be of interest to the public.

Approved this 3rd day of January, 1865.
KAMEHAMEHA, R.

The section referred to is as follows:
§ 302. When any person shall be infected with the small-pox, or other sickness dangerous to the public health, the Board of Health, or its Agent, may, for the safety of the inhabitants, remove such sick or infected person to a separate house, and provide him with nurses and other necessaries which shall be at the charge of the person himself, his parents or master, if able; otherwise at the charge of the Government.

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LEPER MAIL DISINFECTED

(Picture left, from Hawaiian State archives shows two boys with leprosy in the year 1900. Picutre right, shows 24 yr. old man with leprosy)




New York Times: Published November 2nd. 1900

Precaution in Hawaii to guard against the Disease
Washington Nov. 1st: Marine Hospital Surgeon Carmichael at honolulu, Hawaii, in a report to Surgeon General Wyman, on the disinfection of mails from the leper settlement on the Island of Molokai, says a reasonably safe plan has been adopted to avoid the delay incident to sending the mail to the quarantine station. All mail from the leper settlement will be disinfected with sulphur dioxide at the settlement and then transferred directly to the steamer and received on board in clean and disinfected sacks furnished by the Post Office authorities.

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Ten interesting facts about Bl. Damien of Molokai

1. The lepers were confined to the northern shore of Molokai, separated from the rest of the island and its inhabitants by a sheer cliff.

2. It was not unusual for Bl. Damien to celebrate more than one funeral a day.

3. Bl. Damien was quite handy: he built a church, clinics, an orphanage and huts and he even built the coffins for the deceased lepers himself.

4. April 15, 2009 will be the 120th anniversary of his death.

5. There's a Catholic high school in Hawaii named after Bl. Damien.

6. Bl. Damien served the lepers for over 12 years.

7. He is buried in Belgium, but his right hand has been kept in his grave at Molokai.

8. Bl. Damien was born and raised in Belgium.

9. Bl. Damien wasn't originally chosen to minister to the lepers, but was sent when his older brother, Pamphile, was too sick to go.

10. Bl. Damien was a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
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Mother Marianne Cope (1838-1916)

For centuries Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, was a frightening illness, both for its victims and those who treated them. Although it was known to be contagious, no one knew exactly how it was contracted. For that reason, many physicians and other health care providers refused to treat or even touch those patients diagnosed with the disease. In the late 1800’s Mother Marianne Cope and other Sisters of St. Francis journeyed from the United States to the far-away Kingdom of Hawai`i to care for these outcasts of society when others would or could not. Their story is not as well known as Father Damien’s, but it is just as full of love and sacrifice. It was in June 1883, in Syracuse, New York, that Mother Marianne Cope received an intriguing letter from a Catholic priest asking for help in managing hospitals and schools in the Hawaiian Islands. At that time, she was 45 years old and had been a Sister in the Order of St. Francis for 21 years. There were reasons Mother Marianne might have ignored the letter. Growing up in Utica, New York, Mother Marianne had not had an easy life. She was born Barbara Koob to a family of modest means in the village of Heppenheim in the German grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. The family immigrated to Utica, New York, in 1840 when Barbara was a child of two. As a young adult she was a factory worker in Utica. At her acceptance into the community of Franciscan Sisters she took the name of Marianne. By 1883 she had reason be proud as she had achieved the position as supervisor of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse. The letter that arrived from Hawai`i offered her a different path. Mother Marianne decided to accept the less prestigious position with the Hawaiian mission. She responded to the letter enthusiastically: “I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen Ones, whose privilege it will be, to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders…. I am not afraid of any disease, hence it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned ‘lepers.’”

She and six other Sisters of St. Francis arrived in Honolulu in November 1883. With Mother Marianne as supervisor, their task was to manage Kaka`ako Branch Hospital on Oahu, which served as a receiving station for Hansen’s disease patients gathered from all over the islands. Here the more severe cases were processed and shipped to the island of Molokai for confinement at the settlement at Kalawao, and then later at Kalaupapa.The sisters set quickly to work. They began the process of cleaning the hospital and tending to the 200 patients. By 1885, the sisters had made major improvements to the living conditions and treatment of patients at Kaka`ako. In November of that year, they also initiated the founding of Kapiolani Home inside the hospital compound. The home was established to care for the non-patient daughters of Hansen’s disease patients at Kaka`ako and Kalawao.

The Call to Kalaupapa
Mother Marianne expanded the efforts of the Sisters of St. Francis to include managing a hospital and school at Wailuku on Maui. She also responded to a call for assistance on Moloka`i. In April 1888, wealthy Honolulu banker Charles Bishop had presented the Hawaiian government with a donation of $5,000 to establish a home for girls in Kalaupapa. The government approached Mother Marianne with supervising the new home. The resident priest, Fr. Damien, who by 1888 had already been diagnosed with Hansen’s disease and knew his death was imminent, was eager for the sisters to come. Mother Marianne consulted with all the sisters and, to her credit, they felt free to voice their concerns. Responded one: “I am very honest with you. I am afraid. I have heard too much about these poor people. I heard also that there are no rules and regulations. That everyone does as he pleases.” Another stated: “If it is not a suitable place for any woman how can it be for the Sisters.” But Mother Marianne, along with Sister Leopoldina Burns and Sister Vincentia McCormick, accepted the challenge and in November 1888 they arrived at Kalaupapa. They ran the Bishop Home, and until 1895 they managed the Home for Boys at Kalawao, founded by Father Damien for boys and young men.

The workload was extremely heavy in that Bishop Home alone provided shelter for 103 girls in 1893. There were times when the burden seemed overwhelming. In a moment of despair, Sister Leopoldina reflected, “How long Oh Lord must I see only those that are sick and covered with leprosy?” Mother Marianne’s example—her never-failing optimism, her serenity, her caring nature, and her considerable abilities—gave strength to the other sisters. Together, through devotion and self-sacrifice, the Sisters of St. Francis rendered a remarkable service to humanity in the islands of Hawaii. Mother Marianne never returned to Syracuse. She spent the remainder of her life at Kalaupapa. She died in 1918 at the age of 80 and is buried on the grounds of Bishop Home.
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Another Molokai Collaborator of Damien

Brother Joseph Dutton
Zenit: July 26th. 2008: - Catholicism on the Hawaiian island of Molokai owes much to the pioneering efforts of Blessed Damien de Veuster and Mother Marianne Cope. Soon their names will be listed among the saints.

But there is another collaborator of theirs who also deserves mention for the increase of the faith. His name is Joseph Dutton (1843-1931), a Vermont-born convert who labored first with Father Damien and then with Mother Marianne and her successors for 44 years.

His own dedication to God was marked by the fact that he gave himself completely in service of those with Hansen's Disease, only leaving their side to enter St. Francis Hospital, Honolulu, where he died while recovering from surgery at age 87.

Perhaps one day this great layman will join his colleagues on the rolls of the saints.

Patrick Hayes, Ph.D.

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The Facts behind the 2nd Miracle attributed to Damien

NEWS KHON2 TV Hawaii - Audrey Toguchi talks of her miracle. Click Here >>>>>>
It is a first for Hawaii -- an elevation to sainthood. Father Damien received the pope's approval today. The final hurdle was cleared today when Pope Benedict the 16th approved a second miracle attributed to the Molokai missionary -- the 1998 cure of an Aiea woman's cancer. Science says Audrey Toguchi wouldn't be here today. Cancer gave her a death sentence in 1997. "He told me straight out, he said this cancer is going to take your life," said the retired school teacher who just made 80 last month. Her husband of more than 50 years remembers the feeling as if it were yesterday. "Five to 6 months only the doctor gave,” said Yukio Toguchi. “Five to 6 months, can you imagine that?"

Audrey's doctor wanted to try chemotherapy to battle back the tumors taking over her lungs. Retired surgeon Dr. Walter Chang recalls: "She said to me very quietly and very calmly, ‘No, I'm going to pray to Father Damien.’ I said, well that's very nice and good. Prayers are important but you still need chemotherapy, she said no." Instead, she went to Molokai, to the grave of Father Damien, the missionary she had studied since her youngest days in Catholic school. "And right there I said, dear lord, please, you created my body please take care to make it well, and Father Damien can you please pray for me because I need you, your intercession to help me to get well," Audrey said. The tumors began to shrink and were gone altogether within 5 months. "I put everything in his hands, I trusted him and I figured from here on I am not going to worry about it," Audrey said. "There has never been another one described, so we call it in medicine a complete spontaneous regression of her liposarcoma,” Chang said. “It's very remarkable, very unusual, never previously described."

The Vatican carefully vetted the case, a process that took years. "They want to make sure that this is not a hoax, that this is not some kind of a scam," Chang said. It was almost in jeopardy when the hospital lost track of some original evidence -- in somewhat of a clerical miracle, the doctor had set more biopsy slides aside, key proof to the pope for approving the case as miracle. "That's how I look at a miracle, you can't explain it," Audrey said. She says Damien has always been a saint to her, but she's thrilled the world will know, too. "I think the greatest thing that's happening is to the villagers in Kalaupapa," she said. “He offers hope to everybody and he's kind of like a hero to all of us."

Still to come from Rome -- a date for canonization, the formal ceremony to grant sainthood. When cardinals hold their consistory in February, they could set the date for sometime later in 2009. Some Kalaupapa residents, like uncle Boogie Kahilihiwa, were overcome with emotion upon hearing the news. "Some guys broke down in tears and said its about time, he should have been a saint a long time ago. You gotta be here to really feel it. All our prayers been answered already...Father Damien is going to be a saint officially. As far as I am concerned he is here with us." The story of father Damien's life begins on January third, 1840.

He was born Joseph de Veuster in Belgium. He chose the name Damien upon entering the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in 1859 and was ordained to priesthood 5 years later. In 1873, Father Damien arrived on Molokai and devoted the remaining 16 years of his life to Hansen's disease patients at Kalaupapa. After learning that he had contracted leprosy in 1884, Father Damien wrote "My eyebrows are beginning to fall out. Soon i will be disfigured entirely. Having no doubts about the true nature of my disease, I am calm, resigned, and very happy in the midst of my people." Father Damien died on April 15, 1889. In 1955, 106 years after his death, the cause of Father Damien was formally introduced for the purpose of Sainthood. In 1977, Pope Paul the sixth declared Father Damien, venerable Damien. And in 1995, he was declared Blessed Damien by Pope John Paul II.

Plans are moving forward to honor Father Damien with a church bearing his name on Molokai. A model was approved by parishioners in the spring. The project is estimated to cost $3,000,000. A gala dinner event is scheduled to take place August 16th on Oahu at the Koolau Golf Club. Tickets are $125. All proceeds benefit the Blessed Damien Church Building Fund.
By Gina Mangieri
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KGMB TV Hawaii - Father Damien to Become Catholic Saint

NEWS KGMB TV Hawaii - Announcement of Damien's canonisation click here >>>>>>

July 3rd. Hawaii: - Rev. Damien de Veuster, better known at Father Damien, will be recognized by the Catholic Church as a saint. Thursday Pope Benedict XVI declared Father Damien has performed a second miracle, a prerequisite for sainthood. Father Damien came to the then Sandwich Islands in 1864. He dedicated his life to serving people who had been banished to Kalaupapa on Molokai with leprosy. He eventually contracted the disease and died in 1889 at the age of 49.

Catholics in Hawaii are celebrating the honor being bestowed upon Father Damien. "It is with a great sigh of relief that finally our prayers are being answered and that recognition will be given to this holy man ... this wonderful priest who worked so hard for the cause of those that were the least of our brothers. The outcasts of society," said Rev. Christopher Keahi, the Provincial Superior of the Sacred Hearts Fathers in Hawaii, the same order Father Damien belonged to.

According to the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu Father Damien's second miracle happened in 1999. An Oahu woman named Audrey Toguchi was dying of lung cancer when she went to Father Damien's grave on Molokai and prayed to him. Although her condition was terminal, the cancer vanished and she is still alive today.

The first miracle was recognized by the Vatican in 1992. It involved a French woman who, in 1895, was dying of intestinal disease. She too prayed to Father Damien, recovered and lived for another 32 years. Catholics all over Hawaii are celebrating, including people at Honolulu's Damien Memorial School. If you look at a young man who is from Belgium coming to Hawaii and giving up his life knowing the consequences of his work but doing it for religious purposes, it is very inspiring," said Bernard Ho, President and C.E.O. of Damien School. "The Catholic community and the Damien community have been waiting for this for a while. We've been praying for it for a while and it's finally answered our prayers."

There is no official word on when Father Damien will be canonized to sainthood, but sources within the church said it probably will not happen before February of 2009 at the very earliest. The ceremony will happen at the Vatican in Rome with people from Hawaii and Belgium in attendance.
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Background to Molokai Becoming a Colony for Lepers

Padre Damián de Molokai - Espanol

Le Pere Damien Sera Canonise

Juli 3 RTBF Belgique: - Le pape Benoît XVI a signé le document permettant la canonisation du Père Damien. Avec cette décision, il deviendra sans doute bientôt "Saint Damien de Molokaï". Le Père Damien, missionnaire belge ayant oeuvré dans la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle auprès des lépreux sur l'île de Molokai (Hawaii), a été béatifié en 1995 par le pape Jean Paul II.

Le pape Benoît XVI a signé le document permettant la canonisation du Père Damien, a déclaré le porte-parole du cardinal Godfried Danneels, Hans Geybels. Le cardinal a tenu à remercier le pape pour cette décision. "Le pape a consenti à la publication du décret reconnaissant le miracle attribué à l'intercession du bienheureux Père Damien, l'apôtre des lépreux", annonce le cardinal Danneels dans un communiqué. "Avec cette décision, s'ouvre la voie d'une future canonisation de celui qui deviendra sans doute bientôt 'Saint Damien de Molokaï'".

Le Père Damien, missionnaire belge ayant oeuvré dans la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle auprès des lépreux sur l'île de Molokai (Hawaii), a été béatifié en 1995 par le pape Jean Paul II. Le miracle attribué par la commission vaticane concerne une habitante d'Honolulu, Audrey Toguchi, qui souffrait fin des années '90 d'une forme rare de cancer des poumons. Son mal aurait disparu "de manière inexpliquée" alors qu'elle invoquait chaque jour le Père Damien. La commission de théologiens du Vatican y a vu une guérison miraculeuse. Celle-ci a été approuvée par les cardinaux et évêques de la Congrégation pour la cause des saints avant d'être approuvée par le pape. La date de la canonisation n'a pas été fixée mais celle-ci devrait se dérouler à Rome.

Dans un communiqué, le cardinal Danneels a tenu à remercier le Pape. "Merci, Saint Père, de faire un tel cadeau à l'Eglise", dit-il. "L'apôtre des lépreux est tout le contraire d'un saint de porcelaine. C'était un prêtre bien de son époque, qui a puisé dans sa confiance en Dieu la force de partager jusqu'au bout la vie des intouchables de son temps", poursuit le cardinal. De son côté, le ministre flamand Geert Bourgeois (N-VA) a annoncé son intention d'inviter le pape Benoît XVI à organiser la canonisation du Père Damien à Tremelo, son lieu de naissance, a-t-il indiqué jeudi à l'Agence Belga.
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Belgian Priest who treated Leprosy Patients in Hawaii Moves Closer to Sainthood

(Left Fr. Ed Popish, sscc Right Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu)

HONOLULU, Hawaii: July 3rd. (International Herald Tribune) - The question of whether Father Damien, a Belgian priest who dedicated his life in the 19th century to serving leprosy patients in Hawaii, will become a saint is now in the hands of Pope Benedict XVI. The pope on Thursday will be presented a document attributing a modern miracle to the priest, who helped leprosy patients exiled to a remote peninsula on Molokai, one of the Hawaiian islands. "At that point we will have to wait, with patience and prudence," the Rev. Ed Popish, treasurer of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in Rome, said in an e-mail Wednesday.

Under the Vatican's saint-making procedures, two miracles must to attributed to the candidate's intercession in order for the person to be made a saint. If the first miracle is approved, the person is beatified, and if the second miracle is approved, the person can be made a saint, or canonized. In 1995, Pope John Paul II beatified Damien after church authorities determined he had been responsible for a miracle in 1895. The second miracle has to do with a Honolulu woman, Audrey Toguchi, who recovered from terminal lung cancer in 1999 after she made a pilgrimage to Kalaupapa, where Damien had cared for banished and quarantined leprosy patients. She prayed to the priest, and attributed the healing to the intercession of Damien. The case was written up in the Hawaii Medical Journal in 2000 in an article about complete spontaneous regression of cancer. Her doctor also encouraged her to report her recovery to the church.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints, comprised of bishops and cardinals, recently agreed that Toguchi's recovery defied medical explanation. "It's such an exciting time in our lives that one of our men, one of us here in Hawaii, has attained the highest rank of sanctity and will soon be declared a saint in the church," said the Rev. Christopher Keahi, head of the Sacred Hearts order of Hawaii. Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva said canonization is important, "not simply as a recognition of the saintly heroism of Father Damien, but so that, following his example, we may all be renewed in holiness and in our dedication to those brothers and sisters who are most in need." More than 8,000 people were banished to the remote Molokai peninsula after leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, became epidemic in Hawaii in the 1850s. Forced quarantine did not end until 1969 after drugs were developed to control the disease. Born Joseph de Veuster in 1840, Damien came to Hawaii in 1864, joining other missionaries of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He went to Kalaupapa nine years later, ministering to patients until he contracted Hansen's disease himself and died in 1889 at the age of 49.
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Pope Clears Way for Belgian Priest to become Saint

VATICAN CITY: July 3rd. (Chichago Tribune) - Pope Benedict on Thursday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of a 19th century Belgian priest who ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii -- opening the way for him to be declared a saint. Benedict declared that a Honolulu woman's recovery in 1999 from terminal lung cancer was the miracle needed for canonization of the Rev. Damien de Veuster. The miracle was attributed to the intercession of the late priest, to whom the woman, Audrey Toguchi, had prayed. The approval means that Father Damien, beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995, will be canonized at a date still to be set. "It's such an exciting time in our lives that one of our men, one of us here in Hawaii, has attained the highest rank of sanctity and will soon be declared a saint in the church," said the Rev. Christopher Keahi, head of the Sacred Hearts order of Hawaii.

Born Joseph de Veuster in 1840, Damien went to Hawaii in 1864 and joined other missionaries of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Nine years later he began ministering to leprosy patients on the remote Kalaupapa peninsula of Molokai island, where some 8,000 people had been banished amid an epidemic in Hawaii in the 1850s. The priest eventually contracted the disease, also known as Hansen's disease, and died in 1889 at 49. Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva said canonization is important, "not simply as a recognition of the saintly heroism of Father Damien, but so that, following his example, we may all be renewed in holiness and in our dedication to those brothers and sisters who are most in need."

The Vatican's saint-making procedures require that a miracle attributed to the candidate's intercession be confirmed in order to be beatified. Damien was beatified after the Vatican declared that the 1987 recovery of a Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary nun was a miracle. The nun recovered from an illness after praying to Damien. After beatification, a second miracle is needed for sainthood. A date for canonization was not expected to be set until February. Damien's body was exhumed from his Molokai grave in 1936 and his remains sent back to Belgium for reburial. In 1995, a relic of his right hand was given back to the Hawaii diocese and returned to the Molokai grave. The decree for Father Damien was one of 13 approved by the pope for people in various stages of the sainthood process.
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON |Associated Press Writer
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Kalaupapa Patients Look Forward to Sainthood Celebration

WAILUKU, Hawaii: July 3rd. (Honolulu Advertiser) — A final recommendation for canonization of the Blessed Damien of Kalaupapa will be in the hands of Pope Benedict XVI today, the last step toward the famed priest's journey to sainthood. "Everyone prays to Father Damien to make life easier and is looking forward to the celebration," said Gloria Marks, who with her husband, Richard, owns Damien Tours. Both are leprosy patients at Kalaupapa. "We have been waiting for this for a long time. "What's sad is that a lot of them that were waiting passed away and didn't get a chance to see him become a saint."

The recommendation for sainthood for the Belgium-born Joseph de Veuster, who took on the name Father Damien on his ordination to the priesthood, was approved earlier this week by the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. "At that point we will have to wait, with patience and prudence for the Vatican's communication about the Holy Father's action with regard to this document," according to an e-mail sent yesterday from Rome by the Rev. Ed Popish of Damien's international order, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts. Representatives of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and the order said they do not expect Damien's official canonization ceremony in Vatican City, called a consistory, to occur until mid to late 2009. Typically, two or three people are canonized each year by the pope.

The ceremony will likely be scheduled when the Congregation for the Causes of Saints sets the date in February, said diocesan spokesman Patrick Downes. "In light of the fact that the canonization seems imminent, I have already been working with the Diocesan Father Damien/Mother Marianne Commission, which I founded to promote their causes for sainthood, in planning for both local celebrations and pilgrimages and for a pilgrimage to Rome and Belgium," wrote Bishop Larry Silva of the diocese in an e-mail Wednesday. Blessed Mother Marianne Cope, a Franciscan nun who served patients at Kalaupapa, also awaits canonization. Despite the additional wait, Hawaii Catholics were buoyed by the news of the man who gave his life to care for the once-ostracized Hansen's disease, or leprosy, patients and serves as an inspiration for compassion to people across the globe. "It's an exciting thought that finally Father Damien will be given praise for giving comfort to those who were treated as the dreck of society," said the Very Rev. Christopher Keahi, who is the superior of the Hawaii province of Damien's order. Keahi said the recognition is a tremendous step for the faithful of Hawai'i. Now that Damien will be raised to the rank of sainthood, Keahi said, Catholics will understand that it is not impossible and all can aspire to holiness. Damien's order and admirers have pushed for his sainthood since he died in 1889 at age 49. He had contracted leprosy while serving the sick and exiled people of the colony on the remote north coast peninsula on Molokai.

Kalaupapa remains home to 14 leprosy patients, all cured but scarred by the disease, and is a National Historic Park. It is also home to the church that the former carpenter helped build, St. Philomena, which stands next to Damien's lei-draped grave. His remains were exhumed for reburial in Belgium, but a relic, his right hand, was returned to the remote site to be buried next to the church in 1995. "It's been a long time coming that he will be recognized by the universal church," Downes said. "Now, there will be a St. Damien Day put on the church calendar. . . . It's a great honor, not only for the Catholic Church in Hawaii but for the people of Hawai'i and particularly for the Hansen's patients who still live in Kalaupapa and are a living legacy to the charity of Blessed Damien." While known through his life and death as Father Damien, his Catholic title was raised to Blessed Damien when he was beatified with the first determination of a miracle attributed to his intervention. Although the people of Kalaupapa suffered, it was a place that has always inspired hope as well, said state Sen. J. Kalani English in a statement. English, whose 6th District includes Kalawao County and the Kalaupapa settlement, is among those working to get the state to issue a formal apology to the 8,000 patients who were forced to live and die on Kalaupapa and create a monument to them. "To think that a saint walked among the humble residents of Kalaupapa and eased their burdens is deeply moving and a reminder that we never know who among us will have the power to change the world," English said.

Damien may have been born in Europe as Joseph de Veuster, but it was here that he became a hero, Downes said. He lived with Native Hawaiians, learned the language, ate the food, cared for the sick and injured, and built homes. Damien fought to improve conditions at Kalaupapa through his order and patronage and was diagnosed with leprosy five years before his death. Pope John Paul II beatified Damien in Brussels in 1995. Gloria Marks, 70, attended the ceremony and received communion from the pope. She said this time she will only make a trip to Honolulu for a planned celebration there. The road to sainthood has been very complicated and demanded that two miracles be attributed to Damien. Church authorities first determined that Damien had been responsible for a miracle dating to 1895, leading to his beatification a century later. In that case, a French nun dying of a gastrointestinal illness reportedly experienced a miraculous recovery after beginning a novena to Damien before slipping into unconsciousness. Then, this summer, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, composed of bishops and cardinals, approved the second miracle that was previously supported by a panel of theologians and a five-doctor Vatican commission. The church determined that a Honolulu woman's healing of terminal lung cancer defied medical explanation. Audrey Toguchi was cured in 1999 after she made a pilgrimage to Kalaupapa and prayed to the priest. She attributed the healing to the intercession of Damien. The case was written up by her doctor, Walter Chang, in the Hawaii Medical Journal in 2000 in an article about complete spontaneous regression of cancer. Chang also encouraged her to report her recovery to the church.

Interest in Damien has steadily grown since his beatification, Molokai residents said. Molokai Mule Ride brings tour groups six days a week down the 1,600-foot cliff to visit Kalaupapa. Noah John Horner, operations manager for the company, said mounting interest in Damien can also be attributed to recent books and movies produced about his life. "We're sold out for the next seven days," Horner said. "A lot of Catholics are trying to come out here." Federal law limits the number of visitors to the park to 100 per day, a limit based on patients' preferences to maintain their quiet, private lives. "It's a big deal," Downes said. "Hawai'i has its own saint now. I don't think Montana has its saint yet."

Steps to Sainthood

According to the Roman Catholic Church, steps to sainthood were finalized in 1588. Pope John Paul II in 1983 promulgated the canon norms:

Initiation of an investigation of Christian virtues by the bishop of the diocese requesting canonization.

On determination of a life of heroic theological virtues, reception of the title of servant of God. The diocesan investigation and further investigations are reviewed by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Being credited with a miracle, leading to beatification and being recognized as blessed.

Being credited with a second miracle subsequent to being recognized as blessed. The pope has the authority to waive the requirements.

A final recommendation from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints is presented to the pope.

A celebration, called a consistory, advances the blessed to sainthood.
By Chris Hamilton
Maui News Staff Writer

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