View from the choir

I am a Catholic layperson and Secular Franciscan with a sense of humor. After years in the back pew watching, I have moved into the choir. It's nice to see faces instead of the backs of heads. But I still maintain God has a sense of humor - and that we are created in God's image.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Father Damien Canonization Date Set

Blessed Father Damien de Veuster, who served the lepers on Moloki, Hawaii, will be canonized October 11.

Pope Benedict XVI and cardinals meeting in Rome set the date today.

Last July, Pope Benedict approved a miracle attributed to him - a Honolulu woman's recovery in 1999 from terminal lung cancer.

Pope John Paul II had beatified Father Damien in 1995

Belgian born, Father Damien was sent to Hawaii where in the 1870s he began to minister to leprosy patients on Molokai island, where some 8,000 people had been banished amid an epidemic in Hawaii in the 1850s.

He eventually contracted the disease himself, and died in 1889 at age 49.

In 1987, the cure of a nun who had prayed to him was declared his first miracle.

Everything I've read about him makes it clear he is a saint. I've long admired him.

posted by A Secular Franciscan | 7:10 PM

2 Comments:

Blogger Laura said...

And guess who is going to Hawaii in June?
Moi!
I love Fr. Damien's story.

1:46 PM  
Blogger A Secular Franciscan said...

Gee - you should delay your tip until October 11!

Actually, I'm happy for you. If you go to Moloki say a prayer for me!

4:56 PM  

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