FATHER DAMIEN

Hokitika Guardian, 4 March 1931, Page 7

FATHER DAMIEN

HEROIC WORK AMONG LEPERS. HIS LIFE AND MESSAGE. CHRISTCHURCH, March 2. “Father Damien, of Molokai, is one of a noble company who endured and suffered in the cause of humanity, which is the cause of Christ,” asid the Rev. J. R. Hervey, continuing his series of sermons on great lives at St.Stephen’s Church, Shirley, last evening. “Without compulsion or persuasion hut as a voluntary act of self-sacrifice,' lie flung himself into surroundings fraught with the most ghastly perils. In doing so, his underlying motive was the Cross of Christ. He, too, would walk to the shadows of Gethsemane ; he, too, would mount the Cross and bear the unseemly scars; but he would do it all for the sake of that love which kept nothing back, but gave all in one immortal sacrifice.”

Josef de A r euster, better known as Father Damien, was born in Belgium, near Brussels, in 1840. The family into which he was born was large and poor. He especially loved to walk home alone in the fields with the sheep, and became known as “the little shepherd.” Later he loved to hear his mother read aloud from the lives of the saints and the ancient hermits. He early practised austerities, and it was quite by accident that his mother discovered a plank of wood which ho kept hidden beneath his bed and slept on at nights. His sister had entered a convent, and his brother was preparing for the priesthood. Josef, however, was intended by his parents for the commercial life. His own inclinations, however, were towards religion. At a mission service he seemed to hear a clarion call from God. H > asked for his parents’ consent, saying: “God called me to quit the world and embrace the religious state. T know you will consent because it is God who called.”

WORK AT MOLOKAI. The consent was given, and Josef Immediately entered upon his novitiate a 1 a Parisian monastry. There he took the name of Damien. His time was devoted to toil and quiet study; hut suddenly his peaceful days were broken by a crisis. His brother, who was to have gone to the mission fields, fell sick. Damien offered to go in his stead, and was accepted. He made his final farewells, and, as it proved, he was not to see his kindred again. He Arrived in Honolulu on March 19th, 1864 while in his 24th year. On ordination to the priesthood he was put in charge of the volcano district of Hawaii. His physical strength enabled him to accomplish wonders in journeying over the mountainous regions. While he was happy in his work, the prevalence of leprosy among the natives caused him sorrow. On many occasions ho saw the sad partings between husband nnd wife and mother and children when the little steamer carried away the doomed victims to the island of Molokai, Ho heard the Bishop dep’ore the shortage of clergy which prevented him from sending a resident pastor to this island, Father Damien in the simplest way immediately offered his services. In introducing him to the lepers, the Bishop said: “My children, you have been left alone and unenred for. You shall ho so no longer. Behold I have brought you one who will be a father to you—one who loves you so much that he does not hesitate to come and live among von.”

Father Damien was then 33 years of age. Strong as he was, he never doubted that lie would himself ultimately take the leprosy. Nevertheless, he faced the inevitable with a resigned and cheerful heart. So rapidly were the lepers dying that there was no time to build even a but. He lived in constant contact with them, dressing their sores, washing their bodies, and digging their graves, He found them living under shocking conditions, herded together in flimsy, filthy shelters. In their despair they had given themselves to vice, distilling alcohol and indulging in native dances and drunken orgies. They had lost all sense of decency. Damien’s first work was to have timber sent from Honolulu, and with his own hands he assisted in the building of proper houses. He did not rest until he had obtained doctors and nurses for a hospital. He himself made coffins and dug graves.

HTS INFECTION AND DEATH. Before 1879 Fatehr Damien had buried 1600 lepers. He built chapels and through his ministry fought the sins of the settlement. He enforced the law forbidding alcohol, although this won for him much hitter hostility. He had lived on the island for t-en v A ars before he became infected with leprosv. On discovering the symptoms he wrote to the Bishop: “The good God knows what is best for my sanctification, and' I say daily ‘Thy will lie done.’ ” He died on March 21 st, 1889, expressing great happiness that he had been able to fellow in tile footsteps of his Master.