Banners were hung from St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Oct. 11, 2009, featuring Father Damien and others who were also canonized that day. (CNS file photo)
By Jennifer Rector
Hawaii Catholic Herald
On Oct. 11, 2009, people speaking different languages and from many nations all united at the Vatican to witness Pope Benedict XVI proclaim Hawaii’s first saint — Father Damien de Veuster of Molokai.
The canonization of St. Damien put a spotlight on his courageous story of ministry to Hansen’s disease patients on the isolated Kalaupapa peninsula.
Starting in 1873, he worked among the patients sent to live in the remote settlement until he caught the disease, then known as leprosy, himself. He died in Kalaupapa in 1889 at age 49.
Fifteen years after his canonization, several people who made the long journey to Rome recalled their once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“I prayed for the Kalaupapa patient people who never got to go back,” said Meli Watanuki, a resident of Kalaupapa. (Hansen’s disease is now curable, but a number of people sent to live there as patients chose to remain after treatment.)
Watanuki was one of the 11 patients who attended the canonization.
“I looked up at the ceiling and looked at the pope, and I got tears in my heart. I was thinking about Kalaupapa people,” she said.
In all, more than 500 pilgrims from Hawaii attended the momentous event.
“To be there I think was exciting and I think even more so because we were up in the front on the side of a main altar. So, we had a beautiful vision of the whole Mass,” said Sister of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities Alicia Damien Lau, who lives and serves in Kalaupapa.
Sister Lau recalled, “Everything was just amazing. It was like, wow, about time. I mean, Damien, it took you so long.”
Pope Benedict XVI presides over the canonization of Father Damien and four others on Oct. 11, 2009, in St. Peter’s Basilica. (HCH file photo)
While some had a clear view, others had a totally different experience.
“There were big crowds, people pushing and confused as to where we were supposed to go,” said Anna Weaver, former reporter at Hawaii Catholic Herald.
Weaver described the canonization Mass itself as “chaotic.” It was originally planned to be outside, but due to inclement weather, the crowds were moved inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
“After going into St. Peter’s and then out again, I got separated from Patrick (Downes, former Hawaii Catholic Herald editor), who ended up by the Kalaupapa patients. I managed to let Vatican security let me back into the basilica to stand on the photographer’s stand, off to the left side of the basilica,” Weaver said.
The large crowds were also due to the four other people being canonized that day — Sister Jeanne Jugan, Brother Rafael Arnaiz Baron, Archbishop Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski and Father Francisco Coll Guitart.
“After Mass, the pope did come outside for a blessing, and I got a great picture of him on the steps of St. Peter’s with St. Damien’s banner hanging on the outside of the basilica, alongside the other saints canonized that day,” Weaver said. “And then I got yelled at by Vatican security for standing on the bottom of the steps to take a picture looking back out on the square. Vatican security means business.”
Audrey Toguchi, center in white and pink muumuu, presents a relic of Father Damien accompanied by Sacred Hearts general su-perior Sister Maria Rosa Ferreiro, standing to Toguchi’s left, and her physician, Dr. Walter Chang, standing to her right. (HCH file photo)
Miraculous healing
One of the highlights of the canonization was witnessing the woman who was miraculously healed through Father Damien’s intercession: Audrey Toguchi walked up the altar and placed the new saint’s relic in the hands of the pope.
Toguchi’s miracle was the turning point for Father Damien to be named a saint.
She was battling an aggressive cancer that had spread through her body.
Dr. Maria Devera, who met Toguchi on the canonization pilgrimage, said Toguchi was given a few months to live.
That’s when family and friends gathered and asked Father Damien to intercede. Afterward, Toguchi was cured of her cancer with no possible scientific explanation.
Dr. Walter Chang, her physician who is not Catholic, confirmed the healing and attended the canonization alongside Toguchi and her husband, Yukio.
Weaver recalled reporting on Toguchi’s story, a privilege that she will never forget.
“It was in the early days before she’d become known to the larger public. I think I was one of her first media interviews, and she just was amazingly sweet,” said Weaver.
Devera — who is president of the Joseph Dutton Guild, a group advocating for Servant of God Joseph Dutton to be canonized — did not know Toguchi until she ran into her in their hotel lobby during the trip.
“We locked eyes as if we knew each other for years,” Devera said.
The rest was history; the two have since become close friends. They see each other nearly every day and attend the 6 a.m. Sunday Mass at St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea.
“She has so much wisdom. She’s 96 now and just gone through some things and, you know, suffers. But she says, ‘Christ suffered more than me,’” said Devera.
Belgian hometown
Devera was not able to attend the first half of the pilgrimage which included a visit to Father Damien’s hometown of Tremelo, Belgium. But she was able to hear how wonderful it was.
“Audrey shared with me the beauty when they went to Belgium that, you know, everybody came together. The Belgian people were amazing, and welcoming everybody from Hawaii,” Devera said.
This part of the pilgrimage was a favorite for many.
“For the actual canonization trip, I think I enjoyed being in Belgium a little more than I did being at the Vatican,” Weaver said.
Sister Lau recalled several moving moments during the pilgrims’ time in Belgium.
She remembered what it was like “to actually be in his house and actually see the altar that he had built for St. Philomena (Church in Kalaupapa), because when they exhumed his remains in 1936, they ended up taking the altar from St. Philomena’s Church back to Belgium.”
Another emotional event came when “one of the patients had taken some of the Kalaupapa salt that her husband had hand-picked from the rocks of Kalaupapa. … (All of a) sudden she slowly started going all the way around the crypt to where the burial monument was and just started sprinkling the salt around like she was bringing Kalaupapa to (Father Damien).”
Saint’s legacy endures
St. Damien’s story of mercy, service and sacrifice touched the lives and hearts of many — not only during his ministry in Kalaupapa in the 19th century, but also in modern times.
While baby names are an imperfect indicator of a person’s influence on society, state Department of Health records nevertheless show scores of children were named Damien or Kamiano (the Hawaiian version of Damien) from 1994-2023. (Father Damien was beatified, the first step to becoming a saint, in 1995.)
Living in Kalaupapa
Since entering religious life in 1965, Sister Lau has been in and out of Kalaupapa. (Her religious order, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, is the congregation to which Hawaii’s second saint, Mother Marianne Cope, belonged.)
Whether it was helping the aging sisters who lived there, opening her own health care consulting business or helping manage the only bookstore in town, something or someone would call her back.
“At the end of December of 2019, I closed my business and just started packing up my things and came here full time,” Sister Lau said.
She now spends time with patients like Watanuki, who is affectionately known as Auntie Meli.
“I think it’s a privilege to be here and to have known as many of the patients that I have and, you know, continue to feel their spirits here,” Sister Lau said.
Watanuki was sent to Kalaupapa in 1969, when she was 26 years old. That’s where she met her husband Randall, who worked for the National Park Service.
They got married on April 15, at the time recognized in Hawaii as Father Damien Day to commemorate the day he died. His feast day was later changed to May 10, the day he landed on Molokai.
When asked if she could feel St. Damien’s presence with her, Watanuki confidently said yes, and added that she also feels St. Marianne.
Watanuki turns 90 on Oct. 26. With all the years she’s lived, she has faith that she still has a purpose until her last days.
