A banner celebrating Father Damien hangs from a window in Belgium. Photo by (Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP)
Loving across the boundaries of culture and nationality, St. Damien de Veuster became a true Hawaiian. Expressing his respect for the Hawaiian people and his reverence for the land and its traditions, he said: “I should like to remain incognito in the leprosarium of Kalawao, where I feel happy and content among my numerous sick children.”
Like the breath of the Holy Spirit that blows in quiet and sometimes loud ways, St. Damien’s mere presence brought comfort and hope.
To his brother in Belgium, Sacred Hearts Father Pamphile, he wrote: “I have become a leper among lepers in order to win them all for Christ. Because of this, when I preach, I usually say ‘We lepers.’”
St. Damien’s love was a sacrificial love. He expressed it not only by raising a church and building homes for the abandoned, but by lifting up a forsaken community. From 1873 to 1888, he was their priest, teacher, wound-dresser, peace-keeper, government advocate and friend.
Inspired by two books about Father Damien he read in high school, Sacred Hearts Father William Petrie set his heart on becoming a missionary to those afflicted with leprosy. He arrived in Calcutta in 1975. What began as a three-month stay turned into 25 years of joyful priestly service and sacrificial love working with Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Sacred Hearts Father Sudhir Kumar Nayak, Director of the Damien Social Development Institute founded in India by Father Petrie, wrote: “The noble work with leprosy patients started by Father Bill from the day he came to India is still going on today without fail.”
These works include health services and clinics, rehabilitation and educational programs, building homes for the homeless, and promoting self-dignity and respectable employment.
In 2009, Blessed John Paul II designated St. Damien de Veuster as the “Servant of God; Servant to Humanity.” In 2012, Father Petrie was assigned as pastor to St. Damien Church on Molokai. In an interview with Eternal Word Television Network, he said, “As a follower of Christ, we can work with anyone. We open ourselves completely up to the world. I feel privileged to bring the spirit of Molokai to the world, or the world to Molokai.”
*Dutch for “inspires.” A slogan used in Belgium for the canonization of Father Damien.
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