Damien The Priest Of Molokai example essay topic

Summary on Father Damien of Molokai's LifeWho was Father Damien? " Father Damien was formally known as Joseph de Veuster " He was born on January 3rd 1840 " Damien was born to a farming couple on Treme loo Belgium". He attended college at Brine-le-Comte". He entered the congregation of the sacred Hearts of Jesus". He Became a Pic pus Brother on October the 7th 1860".

Damien followed his brothers dream, now his as well and went into a mission aboard" On the 19th of march 1864, he landed at Honolulu Harbour". He was ordained to the priesthood on may 24th 1864 at the cathedral of our lady of peace". Damien believed that the Lepers at the very last needed a priest". On may 10, 1873 Damien arrived at the secluded settlement at Kalaupapa". King David Kalakaua bestowed on Damien the honor Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kalakaua". !

SSI'm willing to devote my life to leprosy victims! ", in the end he spent 16 years with the lepers". Damien's name was spread across the United States and Europe". American Protestants raised large sums of money for the missionary " In September 1881, the Hawaiian Princess Liliuokalani visited Molokai". In December 1884 Damien went about his evening rituals of soaking his feet in boiling water, he became worried as he could not feel the heat. It was at this point that confirmed he had contracted leprosy". He was a roman Catholic missionary of the congregation of the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary".

Father Damien was a spiritual leader / patron of lepers, outcasts, and those with HIV / AIDS within the catholic society". In 1995 pope John Paul II beatified him and bestowed the official title of Blessed Damien Of Molokai! V servant of humanity". On April 5, 1886, about four in the afternoon, Catherine De Veuster, Damien's mother, bowed her head in the direction of the phot of her son and the Blessed Mother and died calmly and peacefully". On December 20, 1999 Jorge Medina Cardinal Estevez, Perfect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, confirmed the November 1999 decision of the United States conference of Catholic Bishops to place Blessed Damien on the liturgical calendar with the rank of optional memorial. His official feast day is on may 10 each year".

The blessed Damien could now be canonized and receive the title of Saint Damien of Molokai". Damien provide 25 years of service to the people of Hawaii". He died at the age of 49 during holy week, on April 15, 1889, 16 years after his arrival to Molokai. " At the request of the Belgian government, his body was exhumed in 1936 and returned to his homeland where it is entombed in a shrine at Louvain".

Father Damien was one of two outstanding citizens of Hawaii recognized by the state legislate in 1965 to be worthy of commemoration in the national Statuary Hall in Washington, DC". In 1989, Hawaii played a central role in commemorating the 100th anniversary of Damien's death". The Bishop, Louis Maigret, and Father Modest's, the religious superior of the sacred Hearts Fathers, had selected Damien to begin the mission". Damien the priest of Molokai soon became front page news". Damien had selected the precise spot for his gave amid the two thousand lepers buried in Molokai cemetery. Coffin bearers laid him to rest under his pandanus tree.

It was the same tree that had sheltered him the day he read those fateful words! SS you may stay as long as your devotion dictates! K! " When he first came to Kalaw ao, Damien was careful to take precautions against the disease, nevertheless, as he lived among his people he showed no fear of the disease or revulsion of his patients".

Damien dug graves, built coffins and said funeral masses". It is estimated that he built more than 1,600 coffins during his years at Molokai " Damien never sought publicity" Damien served nine years on the big island of Hawaii, he was renowned for his enthusiasm and cheerfulness. He often helped people by farming and rating livestock. Summary on Father Damien of Molokai's LifeDescribe the experiences of Lepers on Molokai " Native Hawaiians became afflicted by disease inadvertently introduced to the Hawaiian islands by foreign traders and sailors".

Thousands died of influenza, syphilis and other ailments which had never before affected Hawaiians". King Kamehameha IV segregated the lepers of the kingdom and moved them to a settlement colony on the north side of the island of Molokai". The royal board of health provided them with supplies and food but did not yet have the resources to offer proper healthcare". There were six hundred lepers living at Kalaupapa". These people were forced to fight each other to survive". At kohala, the scourge of leprosy (Hansen's Disease) was keenly felt, claiming many of his parishioners who were sent to the newly- founded leper settlement on Molokai".

In 1865, a permanent quarantine area was established when the legislature passed the Act to Prevent the spread of the disease". The first boat load of patients departed form Honolulu Harbor for the settlement in 1868, the arrival at Kalaupapa bought more hardship and despair". Abandoned by society and the medical profession, the patients were left without hope in a hostile environment". Conditions at the seetlement became notoriously bad. New arrivals were greeted with! SS A ole kana wai ma rei a wah i! " translated it meant!

SSin this place there is no law! " Catholic lepers on Molokai begged for a priest " The first authenticated case of leprosy appeared in Hawaii in 1840". Authorities, helpless and ill-equipped adopted the only policy they knew, the policy of segregation". Molokai became a island of sorrow in the wild beauty of the Hawaiian chain". ! ".

Sexual immorality, brawling, drunkenness, robberies, and orgiastic dancing, fuelled by liquor made from tree roots, characterized the lives of lepers". Nobody cared. When lepers died, their poor bodies were thrown into graves so shallow that pigs and dogs grew fat feasting on their flesh". Between 1866 and 1873, seven hundred and ninety-seven lepers arrived at Molokai. Almost half died".

Public indignation mounted. The board of health, which was now dubbed the! SS board of death! " The press kept up a drum-fire of complaints about the ill-treatment and disorder of Molokai".

In April 1873, Walter Gibson, a colourful and clever politician, wrote in Nuh ou, a Hawaiian newspaper! SS if a noble Christian priest, preacher or sister should be inspired to go and sacrifice a life to console these poor wretches, that would be a royal soul to shine forever on a throne reared by human love. Summary on Father Damien of Molokai's LifeDescribe the experiences of Lepers on Molokai " Suffers of leprosy bodies were in ruins, their faces ravaged and smashed by the coracious bacillus of leprosy". Molokai was a colony of shame, people by lost souls and smashed bodies. Medical care was minimal " Life was grotesque on Molokai".

Leaving a sick man lying there helpless. After a while the dying man raised and pushed himself in the doorway; with his body and his legs stretched out, he lay there face down". Molokai was a chamber of horrors" The board of health chose Molokai because its geography was ideal for enforcing isolation and segregation policy". There is no way to leave the peninsula except to plunge into the ocean or climb up the huge vertical precipice surrounding the peninsula on three sides". The board of health knew that the peninsular was a natural prison". Molokai's fist lepers lived on, died on and where buried in their mats".

Authorities expected these poor people, weakened and crippled by their disease, to till the rich soil, raise cattle, and feed themselves". Abandoned lepers perished from hunger and cold". Many of the lepers are weakened and lay there in the wind and rain with their blanket and wet clothing". Drinkers and dancers met in a remote area of the leper seetlement called the! SS crazy pen! " " His disciplinary measures did nit hurt church attendance".

The disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves mucosa of the upper respiratory tract and also the eyes, apart from some other structures". Leprosy has struck fear into human beings fro thousands of years and was well recognized in the oldest civilisations of China, Egypt and India". Since ancient times, the community has regarded leprosy as a contagious, mutilating and incurable disease". It is estimated that there are between one and two million people visibly and irreversibly disabled due to past and present leprosy who require to be cared for by the community. Summary on Father Damien of Molokai's Life What did Damien believe was the nature and purpose of humans? " At the outset of his mission, Damien aimed to restore in each leper a sense of personal worth and dignity".

To show his poor battered flock the value of their lives, he had to demonstrate to them the value of their deaths". Father Damien is the Patron of lepers outcasts, those with HIV / AIDS and the sate of Hawaii". Bishop Maigret present Damien to the colonists as! Stone who will be a father to you, and who lives you so much that he does not hesitate to become one of you; to live and die with you! " Because of his closeness to his people, and his lack of regard for any personal precautionary measures". Damien began to approach lepers one by one" Father Damien was deeply moved by leper children".

Damien continued to minister to the sick, bringing the sacraments of confession and holy Communion and anointing bedridden lepers". He encouraged lepers to help him in all of his activities. Damien taught his people to farm, raise animals, to play musical instruments, to sing". He watched with pride as the leper bands he organized marched up and down playing the music Hawaiians love so well". Damien's cheerful dispositions and desire to serve touched the lepers' hearts without patronizing or bullying them". little by little their accomplishments restored the sense of dignity their illness threatened to destroy". In all things his lepers came first.

Damien was not blind to their defects". Leprosy was in his throat, his lungs, his stomach and his intestines. After ravaging his body outwardly, it was now destroying him from within.! SSI am a leper. Blessed be the good God. I only ask for one favour of you".

And now he had to show them belief, regardless of the price. Thus, somewhere during the first part of his stay he made the dread decision to set aside his fear of contagion". He touched his lepers, he embraced them, he dined with t.