Fr Damien Of Molokai Essay

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Fr Damien of Molokai also known as Joseph or Jozef de Veuster or simply Father Damian was canonised October 11t, 2009 having a feast day on May 10 had devoted his life to missionary work on helping Hawaiians that have leprosy. He was born in a rural zone in Belgium and is the youngest of 7 seven children. As replacement for his brother known as Father Pamphile who was sick at the time had been sent as a missionary in 1863 to the Sandwich islands in Hawaii. Arriving in Honolulu one year later he became a priest the same year. Because Damian was a emotional person and understood the hardships of the people populating the islands, he was moved by the fact that they had leprosy and was forced to move because of the Hawaiian government he volunteered to take charge of the settlement and because of that, after his death many in the world knew about the disease. As mentioned before Fr Damien of Molokai or simply Joseph had gone on a missionary to help the Hawaiians that have the disease leprosy. He had offered to replace his …show more content…

This would lead to Damien becoming a strong voice for the Hawaiians as Father Damien had decided to stay permanently to help the lepers. At this time Leprosy was incurable and was thought to be highly contagious, regardless Damien had continued to help the population. As a team, Damien and four chaplains as well as the locals began to help rebuild themselves by providing housing, medical help and even created two orphanages. They had also created a new church and had created a fresh water system for them. Because this disease was thought to be highly contagious and the Hawaiians had no natural immunological defence, the Government and Hawaiian king agreed to isolate the infected. To spread the message that Leprosy is a dangerous disease, it was known that compassion can soften the severe damage of it because of