Born in Belgium in 1840, his birth name was Joseph and he was the youngest son of a farmer. 

He was forced to leave school at the age of 13 to work on the farm but in his early 20s he left to join his brother, Pamphile, entering The Congregation of The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and, there, he took the name Damien. 

His brother was due to be sent as a missionary to Hawaii but he became ill, so Damien went in his place, and in 1864, he was ordained a priest in Honolulu. 

Eleven years later he was assigned to a team of Chaplains who were sent, for three months a year, to a leper colony on the island of Molokai but, once there, Damien volunteered to stay permanently. 

The island was in a state of disarray. Fr. Damien began by caring for the people’s physical, medical, and spiritual needs, and advocating for the government support that had been promised but not delivered. Before long there were new houses, a new Church, a school, orphanage, and local morale improved dramatically. 

A few years later, Fr. Damien convinced the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by Mother Marianne Cope, to help staff the leper colony there. 

For the next 12 years, Fr. Damien would tend to the needs of the lepers while continuing to build up the community but, in 1885, he contracted leprosy himself. 

He worked continuously for the next four years while spending a great deal of time in the presence of The Eucharist and praying The Rosary in the cemetery. 

But, in 1889 he at last succumbed to leprosy. 

St. Damien of Molokai, please pray for us.