St Damien of Molokai
Feast Day
May 10

Patron of the Hopeless

In the example of Father Damien who searched for and found hope for the hopeless souls on the remote island of Molokai we find the love of Jesus ready to bind up our wounds, to heal our broken hearts and restore hope to our lives. May we here in the Marian Mantle Group follow St Damien and turn to the Blessed Sacrament and strength for our own journey. Through his intercession may our hearts and the hearts of those prodigals we love be softened so that Jesus may enter and dwell in them.

Who was Saint Damien of Molokai?

Born in Belgium in 1840, Damien entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts at age 19. When his brother became ill Damien volunteered to take his place for a mission in the Hawaiian Islands. There, he was ordained to the priesthood.

Those abandoned in the leper colony on Molokai, begged for a priest to come and minister their spiritual needs. When the Bishop asked for volunteers, Damien was the first to go. After arriving, he requested to be assigned indefinitely to Molokai. His compassion and encouragement, his caring for both their spiritual and also their physical needs, brought hope to hopeless people. Through his efforts, a place deep in the hell of despair became one wrapped in love. Damien wrote, “It is at the foot of the altar that we find the strength we need in our isolation…." the Eucharist became the strength of the people. St. Damien eventually contracted the disease himself and died 16 years after he arrived to serve the lepers.

"In Father Damien, the Church proposes an example to all those who find sense for their life in the Gospel and who wish to bring the Good News to the poor of our time." ~from the diocesan website established in honor of St Damien

Diocese of Honolulu Website in honor of St. Damien

Prayer to Saint Damien

Damien, brother on the journey, happy and generous missionary, who loved the gospel more than your own life, who for the love of Jesus, left your family, your homeland, your security and your dreams, teach us to give our lives with a joy like yours, to be in solidarity with the outcasts of our world, to celebrate and contemplate the Eucharist as the source of our own commitment. Help us to love to the very end and, in the strength of the Spirit, to persevere in compassion for the poor and forgotten so that we might be good disciples of Jesus and Mary. Amen.

Through his great love for God and his abandoned brothers and sister, St. Damien transformed Kalawao into a community of respect and dignity.
~Bishop Silva, Diocese of Honolulu

Statement by the President of the USA
on the Canonization of Father Damien