St. Damien of Molokai was born in 1840 in Tremelo, Belgium. As a young man, he joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and later volunteered to serve as a missionary in Hawaii. In 1873, he offered to minister to the remote leper colony on the island of Molokai, where people with Hansen’s disease (leprosy) were forcibly isolated. Father Damien moved into the colony, building homes, hospitals, and churches, and providing spiritual and physical care. He lived alongside the residents, treated them with dignity, and worked to improve their harsh living conditions. Eventually, he contracted leprosy himself but continued his ministry until his death in 1889. His life remains a powerful witness to self-sacrificial love, compassion, and solidarity with the marginalized.
Practical Lessons:
- Serve Where You Are Needed Most: Like St. Damien moving to Molokai, we are called to step outside our comfort zones. Look for opportunities to serve the sick, lonely, or outcast in your local community, even if it’s inconvenient.
- Treat Everyone With Dignity: Father Damien didn’t see patients as burdens but as beloved children of God. In everyday life, this means treating all people — coworkers, strangers, the poor — with kindness, respect, and patience.
- Persevere When Work Feels Thankless: St. Damien’s work was exhausting and often met with indifference or opposition. If your efforts at work, home, or ministry seem unnoticed, remember that faithfulness matters more than recognition.
Prayer:
St. Damien of Molokai, you who served the forgotten with love and gave your life in solidarity with the suffering, pray for us. Help us to recognize Christ in those who are marginalized, to serve with joy even when the road is hard, and to live lives rooted in compassion and courage. May your example inspire us to carry hope to those most in need. Amen.
Quote:
“I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all for Christ.” — St. Damien of Molokai
Other Saints We Remember Today
- St. Antonius (1459), Archbishop of Florence
- Sts. Gordian and Epimachus (362), Martyrs
- St. Solange (880), Virgin, Martyr, invoked in time of drought
image: Father Damien, taken in 1889, either late February or March, weeks before his death by William Brigham at a side wall of the St. Philomena Catholic Church on the settlement. William Brigham, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
