Saint John of Avila & Saint Damien de Veuster

Easter Weekday Saint John of Avila, Priest and Doctor of the Church; Saint Damien de Veuster, Priest Acts 15:1-6/Jn 15:1-8 (287).

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/damien-of-molokai-539
CATHOLICISM SAINTS ST. DAMIEN OF MOLOKAI

*John of Ávila (Spanish: Juan de Ávila; 6 January 1499–10 May 1569) was a Spanish priest, preacher, scholastic author, and religious mystic, who has been declared a saint and Doctor of the Church by the Catholic Church. He is called the “Apostle of Andalusia“, for his extensive ministry in that region.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_%C3%81vila

**St. Father Damien of Molokai.

This is an antique photograph of Saint Damien of Molokai, born Jozef De Veuster, the Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who served and gave his life at a leper colony in Hawaii.

***St. Damien de Veuster of Molokai, SS.CC.

Missionary to the lepers of Molokai, Hawaii
St. Damien of Molokai was born in Belgium in 1840 to a poor farmer and his wife. At the age of 13, he quit school to help his parents on the farm; when he was nineteen, he entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.  Damien’s older brother, Pamphile, was also a priest in this congregation, and had offered his service to the care of the lepers on the Island of Molokai. When he fell ill and couldn’t go to the mission, Damien volunteered to take his place. The saint offered to stay in the leper colony permanently – he built schools, churches, hospitals and coffins. He was later joined in his work by the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by St. Marianne Cope. St. Damien contracted the disease himself, but continued to serve the mission until his death in 1889 .

****Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai, SS.CC. or Saint Damien De Veuster (Dutch: Pater Damiaan or Heilige Damiaan van Molokai; 3 January 1840 – 15 April 1889), born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a missionary religious institute. He was recognized for his ministry, which he led from 1873 until his death in 1889, in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi for people with leprosy (Hansen’s disease), who lived in government-mandated medical quarantine in a settlement on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Molokaʻi. During this time, he taught the Catholic faith to the people of Hawaii. Father Damien also cared for the patients and established leaders within the community to build houses, schools, roads, hospitals, and churches. He dressed residents’ ulcers, built a reservoir, made coffins, dug graves, shared pipes, and ate poi with them, providing both medical and emotional support.

After eleven years caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony, Father Damien contracted leprosy. He continued with his work despite the infection but finally succumbed to the disease on 15 April 1889. Father Damien also had tuberculosis which worsened his condition, but some believe that the reason he volunteered in the first place was due to his illness of tuberculosis.

Father Damien has been described as a “martyr of charity“. Damien De Veuster is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. In the Anglican Communion and other Christian denominations, Damien is considered the spiritual patron for leprosy and outcasts. Father Damien Day, 15 April, the day of his death, is also a minor statewide holiday in Hawaii. Father Damien is the patron saint of the Diocese of Honolulu and of Hawaii.

Father Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 October 2009. Libert H. Boeynaems, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, calls him “the Apostle of the Lepers.” Damien De Veuster’s feast day is 10 May.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Damien

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!  

Ps 14:7