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Biography of Damien, FatherName: Damien, FatherBirth Date: January 3, 1840 Death Date: April 15, 1889 Place of Birth: Tremeloo, Belgium Nationality: Belgian Gender: Male Occupations: missionary, priest Damien, Father The Belgian missionary Father Damien (1840-1889) is known for his work among the lepers on Molokai in the Hawaiian Islands.Father Damien was born Joseph de Veuster in Tremeloo, Belgium, on Jan. 3, 1840, of pious and sturdy Flemish peasant stock. In 1860 he joined his brother in the Contemplative Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. After he experienced a vision of St. Francis Xavier, he was convinced that he had a missionary vocation. Without special preparation he substituted for his brother in a missionary party sailing for Hawaii in 1863. After arrival there he was ordained a priest and was then known as Father Damien.After regular work in a parish, where he proved to be a true priest-workman, the great challenge of Father Damien's life came. He heard about the island of Molokai with its leprosarium, where incurable lepers were sent. He decided that these people "in darkness" needed a …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…organizational ability. In spite of many obstacles he persisted in his work even after 1878, when he was sure that he himself had leprosy. In one of his last letters he wrote, "My face and my hands are already decomposing, but the good Lord is calling me to keep Easter with Himself." He died on April 15, 1889. Above his grave on Molokai his friends set a black marble cross with the inscription, "Damien de Veuster, Died a Martyr of Charity." His body was reburied in Louvain, Belgium in 1936. Further Reading Of the many biographies of Father Damien, a popular, although eulogistic, one is Omer Englebert, The Hero of Molokai: Father Damien, Apostle of the Lepers (1955). See also John Farrow, Damien the Leper (1937).Bunson, Margaret, Father Damien: the man and his era, Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor Pub. Division, Our Sunday Visitor Inc., 1989. Lynch, Maud, Father Damien of Molokai, Dublin: Irish Messenger Publications, 1977. |