Blessed Joseph de Veuster
![[Blessed Joseph de Veuster]](saintjct.jpg "16kb jpg photograph of Blessed Joseph de Veuster, date unknown, photographer unknown; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
-
Damian de Veuster
Father Damien
- Memorial
- 10 May
- Profile
- Son of a small farmer.
Studied at the College of Braine-le-Comte.
Joined the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Picpus Fathers) on 7 October 1860, taking the name Damien.
Seminarian in Paris, France.
Volunteered for missionary work while still in seminary, and was sent to Hawaii.
Ordained in Honolulu on 24 May 1864.
Missionary on islands where his single parish was the size of all of his native Belgium.
Resident priest in the leper colony on Molokai where for years he worked alone to minister to the patients' spiritual and medical needs.
His work turned a wretched dump for the unwanted into a real community with the best treatment of the day, and patients who lived strong spiritual lives.
He contracted leprosy in 1885, and though severely crippled by the disease, Father Damien worked until the end.
- Born
- 3 January 1840 on the family farm at Tremeloo, Belgium
- Died
- 15 April 1889 at Molokai, Hawaii from leprosy;
buried next to Saint Philomena Church, Molokai, Hawaii;
interred in the cathedral at Antwerp, Belgium in 1936
- Name Meaning
- whom the Lord adds (Joseph)
- Venerated
- 7 July 1977 by Pope Paul VI
- Beatified
- 3 June 1995 by Pope John Paul II
- Canonized
- pending;
if you have information relevant to the canonization of Blessed Joseph, contact
Damiaancentrum
Sint-Antoniusberg 7
3000 Leuven, BELGIUM
- Additional Information
-
New Catholic Dictionary
Catholic Encyclopedia
Catholic Online
Find A Grave
Heroes Every Child Should Know
Kalaupapa National Historial Park
Kirken i Norge - norwegian
Saint Michael's Center
Saints Alive
The Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Brunson
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