Pater Damiaan

Damien of Molokai, born Jozef De Veuster, 3 January 1840 in Tremelo, better known as " Pater Damiaan " and in Hawaii as Father Damien, was a Belgian Father of the Contegration of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and missionary, who became known for his work for leprosy patients. He is the patron saint for lepers and AIDS patients. His feast day is celebrated on 10 May.

Jozef De Veuster wanted to become a priest at 15 "for Our Lord and God Jesus Christ". He attended the college of 's-Gravenbrakel, and then entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Leuven, choosing the brother name Damien, after the saintly doctor Damianus. He became a Friar Picpus on 7 October 1860 in imitation of his brother.

After his studies, Damien was given permission to work as a missionary in the Hawaiian Islands. He arrived in Honolulu in 1864 and was ordained a priest. While he travelled around the district of Puna and Kohala-Hamakua as a missionary and worked in several parishes on the island of Oahu, lepers from Hawaii were gathered in a leper colony on a headland in the north of the island of Molokai. They were given food and other provisions, but there was no medical help. Father Damien felt they were entitled to a priest and hereby asked permission to go to Molokai as well.

In 1873, he arrived on Molokai where 816 lepers were staying at the time, completely cut off from the island by a steep cliff. He reorganised the feral community there, began building a church and roads. Besides his work as a priest, he also fulfilled the role of doctor, carpenter, caretaker of the sick, undertaker, and he even made coffins and dug graves. His arrival was a turning point for the colony: laws were obeyed, decent houses were built, he built two leper villages and a school. Hygienic and material living conditions improved and he established a centre of flourishing Christianity there by founding the parish of Saint Filomena.

In November 1884, Damien was also found to be infected with leprosy. With the help of four others, he continued to work until a fortnight before his death. Finally, Father Damien died on 15 April 1889 at the age of 49. He was buried under the pandanus tree that had served as his shelter during his first weeks on the island. In 1936, his remains were transferred to Leuven and solemnly interred there in the crypt of the Saint Anthony Chapel on the square that subsequently became Father Damien Square.

Eager to continue Father Damien's work, we founded the Damien Foundation in Brussels in 1964. This is a Belgian medical aid and development organisation that was founded as a grouping of several associations working for leprosy patients. The Damien Action works towards a world without leprosy, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. The organisation tracks down affected people, treats them and makes sure they regain their place in society. It is also committed to research, training and informing and sensitising the population. Every year, they sell pens during the Damien Action.