Saints celebrated on the 10th of May
SAINT DAMIAN DE VEUSTER, PRIEST
Saint Damian de Veuster (St Damian of Molokai) was born in Belgium in 1840 into a Flemish-speaking family of grain merchants. His parents wanted him to go into the family business but when he wanted to join the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, like his older brother, they did not stand in his way.
HE WENT TO THE MISSIONS
Damian’s older brother was meant to go to Hawaii to the missions, but when he became ill Damian arranged to take his place.
HE CARED FOR THE SUFFERERS
Once ordained and given his own parish, Damian was full of energy – evangelizing, building churches, farming, ministering to his parishioners, and debunking voodoo. Later he volunteered to be the resident priest on Molokai, a horrific leper colony, where he set about the physical and spiritual care of the sufferers, changing their lives until he himself died of the disease sixteen years later. He was beatified in 1995 and canonised in 2009.
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