Years ago I was watching a tribute to The Tonight Show with Jack Paar. There was one segment in particular that I never forgot. He discussed the time he and his wife, Miriam, went to Hawaii and came upon the island of Molokai. He went on to discuss the history of the island and a man named Father Damien de Veuster. His story stayed with me through the years and has fermented in my mind these past few days. I will unfold the tale for you now.
In 1866 a colony was established to hold and incarcerate victims of leprosy [now known as Hansen's disease] to keep them isolated from the rest of society. Leprosy, as you may well know, is a terribly disfiguring disease which afflicts the extremities; the hands, feet, nose, ears. It was not until 1873 that Father Damien went to Molokai to bring a sense of order to the more than 700 people abandoned there. Due to seven years of complete and utter despair, the colony was overrun with crime and immorality. People had been shipped to the island and left to fend for themselves, without food or shelter. Father Damien brought with him hope and spiritual comfort for those who had all but forgotten the existence of such things. He helped to build homes, bring food and water, as well as order, peace, and guidance to people who so desperately needed it. Life on the island was rarely pretty and Father Damien was there to dress open wounds, build coffins and dig graves. He was a priest, a doctor, and a friend to every person in the colony.
Jack Paar talked of how Father Damien would begin each sermon to the people of Molokai by addressing them as "My Dear Brethren." In 1885, the forty-five year old priest would instead say, "My Fellow Lepers, I am one of you now." After sixteen years of devoted servitude to the afflicted people of Molokai, Father Damien would die among them on April 15th, 1889. He is the spiritual patron of lepers, outcasts, and HIV/AIDS patients. At the start, he was just a thirty-three year old Catholic priest from Belgium and I doubt that he could have imagined the impact that this undertaking would have on the lives of so many. Not only those he dealt with on a daily basis, but those who would keep his work alive. People like Mother Marianne Cope, who joined Father Damien in 1888 and continued her work with the people of Molokai until her own death in 1918 at age eighty. Many years later, Mahatma Gandhi claimed that Father Damien was an inspiration to him and his work. It should also be noted that Gandhi in turn went on to inspire the great Martin Luther King. Father Damien was officially canonized by the Catholic Church on October 11th, 2009.
(originally published on coneyislandbaby may 3rd, 2006 by me! lisa star. it is as originally written; all but for the final sentence.)
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