Vatican to Canonize Priest Who Aided Lepers

By the Associated Press

Posted Feb 21, 2009 2:16 PM CST

(AP) – A 19th-century Belgian priest who ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii will be declared a saint October 11, the AP reports. In July, Pope Benedict XVI approved a miracle attributed to Rev. Damien de Veuster's intercession, declaring that a Honolulu woman's recovery in 1999 from terminal lung cancer was the miracle needed for him to be made a saint. De Veuster was beatified—a step toward sainthood—in 1995 by Pope John Paul II.

Born Joseph de Veuster in 1840, he took the name Damien and went to Hawaii in 1864 to join other missionaries. Nine years later he began ministering to leprosy patients on the remote Kalaupapa peninsula of Molokai island, where some 8,000 people had been banished amid an epidemic in Hawaii in the 1850s. The priest eventually contracted the disease, and died in 1889 at age 49.

Pope Benedict XVI, at center, meets cardinals in the Clementine hall at the Vatican today to confirm the sainthood of Rev. Damien de Veuster. (AP Photo)

Father Damien is seen in this portrait taken two months before his death in 1889 at the leprosy settlement in Kalaupapa, Hawaii. (AP Photo)

Pope Benedict XVI meets cardinals in the Clementine hall at the Vatican today. (AP Photo)

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Showing 3 of 8 comments

Guest

Feb 22, 2009 10:41 PM CST

I'm going to have to agree with you (again) riffran.

riffran

Feb 22, 2009 1:04 AM CST

I'm open to a Saint (john) Wayne...waaa ha!.....Well Let me heal ya pilgrim........Sorry I have a hard time taking organized faith seriously anymore.....But I do beleive in God and Christ.....I just beleive in doing my own talking and do not feel the need to have any one to act as an intermediary....."only God has the power to forgive me" is a phrase I agree with

Guest

Feb 21, 2009 9:38 PM CST

Does anyone else think that a freshly minted saint is the perfect distraction from the lifting of the excommunication of those priests? This looks like a move to gain political favor, to me.

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Pope Benedict XVI • Vatican • Hawaii • Pope John Paul II • beatification • sainthood • Catholic priest • leprosy

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John Paul II Speeding Toward Sainthood

Benedict expected to beatify him this year

'Saint Factory' Slows Down Production

New Vatican rules will make getting a halo a little harder

John Paul Deserves His Sainthood

He worked a political miracle against communism: Peggy Noonan

Pope John Paul’s Body Exhumed for Beatification

Rome in throes of 'beatification fever'

John Paul Is No Saint

Remember that whole pedophilia scandal he ignored?

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Pope Benedict XVI • Vatican • Hawaii • Pope John Paul II • beatification • sainthood • Catholic priest • leprosy

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

John Paul II Speeding Toward Sainthood

Benedict expected to beatify him this year

'Saint Factory' Slows Down Production

New Vatican rules will make getting a halo a little harder

John Paul Deserves His Sainthood

He worked a political miracle against communism: Peggy Noonan

Pope John Paul’s Body Exhumed for Beatification

Rome in throes of 'beatification fever'

John Paul Is No Saint

Remember that whole pedophilia scandal he ignored?

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Newser By Users

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