The lamenting rose from the ship Kilauea as fifty lepers, permanently distanced from their families, were taken to the secluded peninsula of Molokai. Despite the many blessings of the Hawaiian archipelago, leprosy plagued its people. By 1873, out of forty thousand islanders, two thousand were afflicted with the disease. Those on the ship were destined to join the ranks of the infected, resigned to a life of exile on the desolate peninsula of Molokai.

However, aboard the same vessel was Father Damien, a thirty-three-year-old Catholic priest and missionary. He declared, ‘I am prepared to be buried alive with those unfortunate souls,’ having volunteered to dedicate his life to Hawaii’s leper colony. On May 4, 1873, Bishop Monseigneur Maigret accompanied Damien to the shore. Damien, having never encountered individuals in the advanced stages of the disease, turned pale at the sight of their swollen and decayed features.

The bishop offered him one last opportunity to withdraw, but Damien remained resolute. He was committed to his promise. The living conditions were appalling. Long-time residents remarked, ‘In this place, there is no law.’ Damien aimed to rectify this situation. He later recounted, ‘Under the rudimentary roofs lived a chaotic mix of individuals, regardless of age or gender, all more or less strangers to one another, these unfortunate outcasts of society.

They spent their time playing cards, engaging in hula (native dances), consuming fermented ki-root beer, homemade alcohol, and dealing with the consequences of such activities. Their clothing was far from clean and respectable due to the lack of water, which had to be transported from a considerable distance. Many times, while fulfilling my priestly duties in their homes, I was compelled to step outside for fresh air.’

To mask the unpleasant odors, Damien began smoking tobacco. He also initiated a bucket brigade to transport water to the settlement and later installed a pipeline from a nearby perpetual pool to the settlement’s entrance.

Born to a Belgian farmer, he was robust, dynamic, and pragmatic. He set fire to the most dilapidated homes, cleaned the others, and constructed new ones. He organized farms and a cemetery, established a waste disposal site, and halted alcohol production. Most significantly, he educated the community about Christ. Individuals who had previously stolen from the dying or thrown others into ditches repented and sought baptism.

Twelve years after Damien arrived in Molokai, he realized that his feet had developed leprosy. Four years later, at the age of less than fifty, he passed away. Throughout his life, he faced criticism for his close association with the marginalized. However, upon his death, the entire world recognized the greatness of his character, which had sacrificed freedom and risked disease to offer hope to a despairing community.

Father Damien was canonized on October 11, 2009 and declared a saint to be venerated perpetually by the universal Church.

ALSO ON THIS DAY

1493 – Pope Alexander VI issues a line of demarcation dividing the New World between Portugal and Spain.

1521 – Traveling home from the Diet of Worms, Martin Luther is taken into protective custody by order of German ruler Frederick the Wise and held at Wartburg, where he will translate the Bible into German.

1677 – Death of Isaac Barrow, an eminent English divine, educator, mathematician, and classics scholar, whose sermons will be reprinted for two hundred years. He will, however, be most remembered by later generations for his influence on Isaac Newton.

1730 – Anna Nitschmann of the Moravians enters into a covenant before God which is observed as an annual Choir Festival, in which Moravian Sisters remember Nitschmann’s original covenant, renewed it for themselves, and initiated new members into the Choir.

1856 – A committee at Mount Vernon Church, Boston, reluctantly accepts Dwight L. Moody into church membership, having already rejected him once because of his complete ignorance of Christian truth. Moody will develop into an evangelist of international fame.

1923 – Sir W. Robertson Nicoll, author of The Expositor’s Bible and The Expositor’s Greek New Testament, died on May 4, 1923. Among his last words were, “I believe everything I have written about immortality!”

1970 – The United States Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of a New York statute exempting church-owned property from taxation.

Accessed ChristianHistoryInstitute.org 03 May 2022 and Rhemalogy.com.