Saint Damein de Veuster
Priest, religious, Missionary

Two thousand miles off the coast of California lay the Hawaiian Islands.  In 1778 Captain James Cook was the first European to reach the island.  Unfortunately the native people had no resistance to the diseases Europeans were so familiar with: smallpox, influenza, cholera and tuberculosis.  Leprosy (now called Hansen’s disease), was the most terrifying of the diseases.  It quickly became an epidemic.

By the 1870’s, the king of Hawaii and his government were desperate to stop the spread of the disease.  They ordered anyone with leprosy, regardless of age or gender to be taken to the island of Molokai.  Spouses were separated and children torn from their parents.

Joseph de Veuster was born in Belgium in 1840.  Joseph and his brother Pamphile joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts.  When he received the habit of his community, he became known as Brother Damien.  The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts decided to send more missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands. Pamphile was chosen to go.  Shortly before he was ready to leave, Pamphile became ill.  Damien volunteered to take his brother’s place even though he was not year ordained a priest.

The journey took four months. Once in Hawaii, Brother Damien was ordained a priest.  For the next eight years he cared for the people of three districts. He often had to travel on horseback or by canoe to reach his flock.

During this time, the appalling conditions on Molokai were coming to light. The small group of Catholic lepers asked the bishop to send someone to care for the spiritual needs.  Once again, Father Damien stepped forward and volunteered to go to Molokai.

Beginning in 1873 until his death, Father Damien worked on Molokai. When he arrived on the island there was a small chapel but no place for the priest to live. So he took up his residence under a Pandanus tree.

 In a short time, Molokai went from being a place of despair to a place of joy. With the help of the lepers, he enlarged the chapel and built a rectory.  They built coffins, cared for the sick, planted flower gardens, opened a hospital and an orphanage, built roads and organized musical bands.

Leprosy can cause terrible disfigurement and a horrible smell.  Father Damien realized that if he were really going to help the lepers he had to overcome his fear of contagion.  He cleansed the wounds, he ate from the same dishes they ate from, he gave them Holy Communion – in other words, he touched them. 

In December of 1884, Father Damien realized that he had contracted Leprosy.  Now he really did share everything with the lepers, even their disease.   In 1886 Joseph Dutton arrived on Molokai to help. Mother Marianne Cope and her sisters arrived in 1888 to care for the female residents.  Until his strength failed him, Father Damien continued to work.  He died during Holy Week, on April 15, 1889.  He was beatified in 1994 and canonized in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI.

 

For more information see

"Heroic Catholics of the Twentieth Century"

by Sister Elizabeth Ann Barkett, SJWNew Hope Publications, New Hope, Ky

or

 Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker

www.ssjw.org

 

 

Anna Schaffer
Mystic, laywoman

Anna Schäffer was born on February 18, 1882  in Mindelstetten, Bavaria.   Her father died at the age of 40.  Without the income he earned by working as a carpenter, the family became desperately poor. At the age of 14, Anna had to drop out of school and began working as a maid to help the family’s financial situation.  Anna hoped that one day she would be able to enter the convent.  However, even with her income, the family barely could make ends meet. 

Things took a turn for the worse when she was involved in a terrible accident while at work. In 1901, Anna was working in a laundry when she slipped and fell while attempting reattaching a stovepipe that had come loose.  When she fell, her legs went into the washing machine full of boiling hot water. She was taken to the  hospital.  In the early 20th century, there was very little effective treatment for burns. For centuries people with severe burns were bandaged and left to heal on their own. Often they died or were hideously disfigured. Surgeries were sometimes attempted but were not always successful. Up until the late 1930’s, it was thought that a person would probably die if they were severely burned.  

Anna endured more than thirty surgical operations in an attempt to heal her legs. The wounds had to be carefully dressed, which caused much pain. Dr. Waldin, her physician, gave her constant care but the skin grafts did not succeed. Anna became completely immobile and had to give up her dream of entering religious life.  Her mother cared for her until the end of her life.

Despite the terrible pain cause by the burns and the surgeries, Anna never lost her optimism or her faith in God. She had a great love of Christ and a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  She especially had a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In Anna's writings she talked about  three ‘keys’ that helped her draw closer to God.  These ‘keys’ were her suffering, her writing and knitting clothes for her friends. Because of her optimism and her faith she was loved by people in her hometown.  Many would visit and listen to her talk about God. Her brother did not share in her faith.  Eventually after witnessing her cheerful attitude in the midst of suffering, her never failing patience and kindness toward others, he supported her.

Beginning in 1910, mystical phenomena occurred around her. This included the stigmata, which she did her best to conceal from the public . Few people knew that she bore the marks of the passion of Jesus on her body. These phenomena did not change her attitude or make her proud. She remained selfless and patience.  She promised prayers and letters for anyone who asked.

She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1925.  As her condition deteriorated, she lost the ability to speak and write. She died on October 5 after she had received Holy Communion.  

Her grave quickly became a pilgrimage site. Since 1929, more than 15,000 miracles attributed to her intercession have been reported. She was beatified in 1999 by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.