Saint of the Day

01 · Read · A life to discover

St. Damien de Veuster of Molokai

Joseph de Veuster entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts and took the name Damien. He traveled to Hawaii in place of his sick brother and was ordained there in 1864. In 1873 he volunteered to serve people forcibly isolated because they had Hansen's disease on the Kalaupapa peninsula of Molokai.

Born in Belgium in 1840, Damien began religious formation in 1859 and reached Honolulu in March 1864. Bishop Louis Maigret sought volunteers for Molokai rather than assigning men through obedience. Damien was the first of four priests who offered to go, and remained at the community’s request and his own.

His collaborators included people of different religious convictions. The Vatican account names a Lutheran superintendent, an Anglican supporter, and a Japanese Buddhist physician among those connected with his work. These relationships complicate any picture of the settlement as merely a setting for one man’s achievements.

He remained with the community, celebrating the sacraments while helping build homes, churches, and other needed facilities. His work depended on residents and other helpers, not on a solitary rescue narrative. After contracting the disease himself, he continued serving until his death in 1889. Canonized in 2009, he is remembered in the United States on May 10, the anniversary of his arrival at Kalaupapa.

This saint is included on this recurring date in the U.S. Roman Rite calendar published by the USCCB. This reading guide gives U.S. calendar saints priority; the Mass celebrated on a particular year’s date can differ because of Sundays, seasons or higher-ranking celebrations.