Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai or Saint Damien De Veuster, 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 to people with leprosy, who lived in government-mandated medical quarantine in a settlement on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Molokaʻi.
A photograph of Father Damien taken shortly before his death
Father Damien in 1873 before he sailed for Hawaii
Father Damien, seen here with the Kalawao Girls Choir during the 1870s.
Father Damien on his deathbed
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary abbreviated SS.CC., is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for priests and brothers. The congregation is also known as the Picpus because their first house was on the Rue de Picpus in Paris, France.
Founder Pierre Coudrin depicted on a stained glass window in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu
Servant of God Henriette Aymer de La Chevalerie
St. Michael's Cathedral in Rikitea before renovation in 2006
The grave of Saint Damien de Veuster in the crypt of the church of the Congregation of Sacred Hearts in Leuven
