This Day in History: Father Damien Canonized

A year ago today Father Damien of Molokai was canonized at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. 

Damien was just 33 years old when he began his ministry to leprosy patients such as Pia, the character in my historical novel, Healing Water.

Sixteen years after his arrival Father Damien died from complications related to the disease. 

In the following clip Max Lucado tells Saint Damien's story.



Healing Water lends itself superbly to integrated learning experiences. You can find suggested learning activities here.

REMEMBERING FATHER DAMIEN

Today citizens of Hawaii and many others are remembering Father Damien of Molokai. It is the 137th anniversary of his arrival in Hawaii's leprosy settlement.

In honor of the day I want to share a story from one of the primary resources I used while researching Healing Water. News from Molokai is an exchange of letters between Peter Kaeo, a leprosy patient and his cousin, Queen Emma. Peter arrived in the settlement just 2 months after Father Damien did.  His letters were rich with amazing details I needed for my story.

"I rode Home and passing the Store, I heard the Natives saying that the Catholic priest was weeping.

"On inquiring I learned that Father Damien, for that is the name of the Reverend Gentlemen, had lost some checks which belong to the Natives, and which he Damien had taken the responsibility to take from Mr Rose and give it to the poor Natives that belongs to his church, and are too weak to appear personally to Mr Rose. The poor Man was so confused that he was picking [up] strips of Paper that was scatrered on the floor, asking the Natives whether they had seen any checks, and whether he had given checks to the Natives by mistake, and all sort of questions, and actually Crying."

Finding this passage was such a thrill. It demonstrates so powerfully the compassion of Father Damien and also reveals a flaw in his personality - he could be careless at times. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that he was simply juggling too many responsibilities. Or that he was quick to drop whatever he was doing to answer a cry for help and in the process would lose track of what he'd set out to do.

Here's the account from Healing Water - from the viewpoint of Pia, my protagonist.

Father Damien was there, too, talking happily to the storekeeper until he realized he’d lost the checks he was holding for some of the patients. “Wait a minute,” he said. “I had them right here. I know I had them. Where could they be?”

He asked everyone in the store if we had seen them. I don’t know if someone else had, but I hadn’t. And everyone told him they hadn’t either.

By this time, Father Damien knew about the crime that went on in this place. “Who could have taken them?” he asked.

One of the children grabbed the priest’s hand and pointed to me. “Pia is a thief,” he said.

The priest came to me then and gripped my shoulders. “Have you seen those checks?” he asked. His eyes were filled with tears.

“No,” I said. I was ashamed for the Father to know that I had been one of the criminals in this place. “Please believe me. I do not steal anymore.”

Ah Loy came to my defense then. “Pia speaks true,” he said. “He is not Touch Hands now.”

After Father Damien turned away, he saw some paper lying on the floor. He grabbed it, hoping that it was one of the checks, but it was not. He searched in every corner of the store. “What will my poor children do without their allowance?” He rushed out the door and went to see the luna.

That’s how Father Damien was. He cared about every single one of us, and he knew we needed much more than our six dollars would buy.

THE MAKING OF A SAINT

Artwork created by children to honor Father Damien. This hangs in his birthplace museum in Tremeloo, Belgium.

A saint is someone whose life makes it easier to believe in God.

Perhaps this quote by William Barclay sums up why I wrote Healing Water.

I was inspired by Father Damien, a Catholic priest who in 1873, chose to live among Hawaii's leprosy patients. The Kalawao leprosy settlement was filling with people who were taken from family and friends in hopes of protecting others from their disease.

The outcast leprosy patients did not have their basic needs provided so they went into survival mode. Then Damien arrived and his compassion helped transform the settlement from a place of hopelessness to a real community.

Eventually Damien himself contracted leprosy. And while leprosy itself, doesn't kill a person, its complications do. In 1889, after 16 years of sharing his skills and compassion with Hansen's Disease patients, Father Damien died.

After decades of consideration, the Vatican has decided that Damien is indeed a saint. This means his life has been scrutinized and 2 miracles have been attributed to his intervention.

On October 11, 2009 Damien will be canonized.

Not to argue with the Vatican, but as far as I'm concerned, Father Damien was a saint simply because of the life he lived in Kalawao. Everything I've read, indicates that his presence there led many to believe in God.

ANOTHER HISTORIC DEATH

This seems to be the week for me to write about the deaths of great men. First FDR and now Father Damien of Molokai. My book Healing Water was initially inspired by Father Damien. He was the Catholic priest who chose to live among Hawaii's leprosy patients. As I researched, I realized the story was so much bigger than this one man. But still, he was such an incredible man. Pia, my protagonist gives us a glimpse of him.

I looked at Father Damien, and for the first time I thought about his family. It must have been a long time since he had seen them—it was now nearly ten years since that day when I first saw him get off the ship in Honolulu. That was before the government had even created this leprosy prison.

Why had he come to Hawai‘i? And especially to Moloka‘i?

"Did that bishop send you here?" I asked him.

The Father stopped digging and looked at me then. "The bishop asked several of us to take turns," he said. "And so I volunteered."

"Oh." I wondered if that meant he would be leaving after all. "When will it be someone else’s turn?" I asked. "Will you go back to Kohala?"

Father Damien shook his head. "I cannot leave my children in these conditions."

"But you don’t have leprosy. What if you never get to leave?"

Damien turned away from me then, and I saw his eyes moving about, looking over the scattered cottages of Kalawao. "If I never leave this place," he said softly, "I will be the happiest missionary in the world."

Happy? In Kalawao? Never seeing his family again? Never traveling to Honolulu or Kohala? How could anyone love God that much? How could anyone love me that much? I just didn’t understand.

"Pardon me for the questions, Father, but, but … do you plan to die here?"

Damien looked up to the pali then, and I could see that he was remembering something. "I died before I came," he said. "When I took my religious vows, I prostrated myself before the altar and my brothers placed a funeral shroud over me. On that day I died to my own will. God’s will became my will."

These words from my novel are based on a letter Damien wrote to his brother soon after his arrival.

"So remembering that on the day of my profession I had already put myself under the funeral pall, I offered myself to his lordship to meet, if he thought it well, this second death."

The truth is, Father Damien did contract leprosy. And then, some time after he knew he had leprosy, he wrote home again.

"The joy and contentment of heart... make me consider myself the happiest missioner in the world. Consequently, the sacrifice of my health...appears after all but a slight affair, and even profitable for me."

On April 15, 1889 Father Damien died of complications related to leprosy.

On October 11, 2009 he will be canonized. From that day on he will officially be Saint Damien.

FATHER DAMIEN AND MIRACLES

I learned about Father Damien of Moloka`i back in 1998 and was hooked immediately. Inspired by this compassionate priest, I began researching and plotting a story about Hawaii’s leprosy settlement

A friend gave me a newspaper article which said that Robin Williams would be playing Damien in a feature film and that Father Damien was close to being canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church (pending verification of a miracle performed through his intercession).

So naturally, as I began marketing my manuscript, I was quick to point out these two items of interest. (Surely they would help me land a publishing contract!)

However, as far as I could tell, editors were not impressed. Rejections rolled in. (Hmmmmm – perhaps movie stars and saints are not enough to sell a story – perhaps one has to write well also!)

Fortunately I met Editor, Carolyn Yoder who nurtured my storytelling over a several year period. She offered me publishing contracts – first for Blue and then for Healing Water.

All along, I watched the Blue Ryder Pictures website to see how the movie prospect was coming along. But apparently Robin Williams had other things to do…

In the end, he did narrate a documentary - An Uncommon Kindness about Father Damien. It’s very well done, of course. As far as I can tell a feature film, with Robin Williams playing the lead, is not in the offing.

And as for Damien’s sainthood?

Last July, just 3 months after Healing Water was published, the Vatican announced that the final miracle needed for Damien’s canonization had been verified.

Yesterday, the Vatican announced the date. On October 11, 2009 Damien DeVeuster will become a saint.

As it turns out - miracles really do happen!

HAPPY BLIZZARD

We don't have many snow storms in North Carolina and it's not snowing now. But I feel like I'm in the midst of a happy blizzard - good things in my writing world.

For starters, the last day of 2008 included a coveted review of Healing Water at Fuse # 8's School Library Journal blog. I really didn't think I could be so lucky! But whatdaya know!?

BTW - Fuse 8 is a NYC librarian by the name of Elizabeth (Betsy) Bird and her book reviews are packed with insight, critical thinking, and personality! All her reviews (whatever the genre) help to inform my writing. Read an interview with Betsy here.

Now I'm in the midst of outlining my next novel. Which is so not-me. But if a grant application calls for an outline, I can be disciplined! I'm having a blast reading primary source material and getting a grasp of the history to create the plot.

I have some exciting author events coming up and now that it's January 2nd, the coordinators are contacting me and oh boy, that just makes me want to get on with some other projects. Like a new blog I want to start. Which I don't have time for. But I figure I can't afford not to, either. More on that soon. If I get around to it.

I'm feeling a little snowed under. But, as a few of my favorite rocks said to me on a trip to Molokai, Hawaii,

I have a lot to smile about. Fingers crossed that I get the long awaited memoir in the mail today. When it comes, I might stop breathing. But I will not stop smiling.