Archive Record

Images

1 of 1977

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Metadata

Title

Father Damien De Veuster, ss.cc., to Father Modeste Favens, ss.cc., Kaluaaha, July 24, 1872

Creator

De Veuster, Damien

Dates of Creation

July 24, 1872

Object ID

2023.1.35

Object Name

Letter

Other number

2028

Scope & Content

V.C.J.S. Kaluaaha, July 24, 1872 [1]
Dear Reverend Father,

I am sorry to report that the bell I just received is not worth being installed in the nice tower; it has a large crack and sounds like a broken pot. I am thinking of sending it back to you unless you tell me it is unnecessary. Will you please send me another one (only the bell, not the other gadgets)? Since our church is more beautiful than anything the Calvinists have around here, we should not have a bell inferior to those of the others.

Our Komohale [2] is set for the Feast of the Assumption [3]. Many people from Maui are coming. I have started fixing the old house. I will do it as I can. It is a kapulu [4] and after a lot of expenses, it would still be a kapulu. I am fixing it as best I can; I will only be spending about $20. If 2 cans of paint are not on their way yet, then as soon as possible please; otherwise the work will be unfinished. There is only one side on the exterior that has clean paint. Inside we still have to do the kala [5] above the door. To have something to offer the numerous guests, I will need a bag of flour, rice, and a supply of coffee. Pau loa kekope vahi ake kuke [6].

Since he cannot come to perform this ceremony, will you please ask the Bishop to assign the oldest Father to come to bless the chapel? And who would that be?

Your very humble servant,

Brother Damien ss.cc.
Missionary Priest
__________

[1] Arriving on the Island of Moloka`i in May 1873, the date 1872 conflicts with what Damien wrote in 1874 when he was in Kalua`aha (Moloka`i) to build a church. Because of the significance that undertaking held for Damien, this letter, which is geographically correct, appears at this point and out of chronological order.
[2] Dedication.
[3] August 15th.
[4] Mess.
[5] Gable.
[6] We are all out of coffee, says the cook.

Admin/Biographical History

Jozef De Veuster was born on January 3, 1840 in the village of Tremelo, Belgium. He was the seventh of eight children born to Frans and Anne-Catherine De Veuster. His father intended for Jozef to take over the family farm someday. However, Jozef felt drawn to the religious life, like two of his sisters and a brother before him. At age 19, he entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary at Leuven. For his religious name, he chose Damien after a third-century physician-saint and early Christian martyr.
In 1863, Damien's older brother, Father Pamphile, was headed for the Sacred Hearts Mission in the Hawaiian Islands. A case of typhus prevented him from going. Brother Damien, with missionary zeal and unbridled enthusiasm, asked and received permission to take his brother's place. After a sea voyage of nearly five months, Brother Damien arrived in Honolulu on the Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, 1864. For the next two months he studied the Hawaiian language and prepared for ordination to the priesthood at Ahuimanu College.
The ordination of Brother Damien and two others took place at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, on May 21, 1864. His first assignment was to the island of Hawaii, where he labored for nearly nine years - first in the Puna district, and then in an area encompassing the districts of Kohala and Hamakua.
In May of 1873, Bishop Maigret blessed the first stone church of Saint Anthony in Wailuku, Maui. To the assembled priests, he expressed the dire need to provide spiritual help for the people of the Kalaupapa leprosy settlement. Realizing the risks and sacrifice that this would entail, the bishop asked for volunteers on a three-month rotating basis. Father Damien was the first to volunteer and accompanied the bishop to Kalaupapa. After seeing the paltry living conditions and despair of its residents, he decided to remain there. With no house to shelter him, he slept under the canopy of a pandanus tree for several days after his arrival. The tree stood next to the small Catholic chapel of Saint Philomena at Kalawao. This chapel was built a year earlier by Sacred Hearts Brother Victorin Bertrand.
Father Damien cared for the spiritual and physical needs of the residents of Kalaupapa. In addition to celebrating Mass and hearing their confessions, he built houses, an orphanage, and other structures. He constructed churches, both in Kalaupapa and on top-side Molokai. For those who died, he made their coffins and dug their graves.
His acts of compassion and advocacy for the patients of Kalaupapa earned Father Damien the respect and admiration of people around the world. In 1881, the Princess Regent Liliuokalani met Father Damien during her visit to Kalaupapa. She later made him, on behalf of her brother, King Kalakaua, a Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kalakaua.
A medical examination in 1884 confirmed that Father Damien had contracted leprosy. In the face of this adversity, he stoically stated: "I have accepted this malady as my special cross." Despite his failing health, Father Damien continued to work up until a few days before his death. He died on April 15, 1889. He was buried beneath the pandanus tree that first sheltered him nearly 16 years earlier.
King Leopold III of Belgium later wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt requesting the return of Father Damien's remains to his homeland. On January 27, 1936, Father Damien's remains were exhumed from his grave at Kalawao. Much pomp and circumstance heralded the arrival of Father Damien's remains in Belgium on May 3, 1936. His remains now rest in Saint Anthony's Chapel in Leuven where Damien first entered religious life.
Public acclamation of Father Damien's sanctity was heard even during his lifetime. But, it would take 120 years after his death before he was officially recognized as a saint. Official acknowledgment began on July 9, 1977 when Pope Paul VI accorded Father Damien the title of Venerable. Pope John Paul II declared him Blessed on June 4, 1995. Finally, on October 11, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed Father Damien a saint of the Church. His feast is celebrated on May 10, the first day of his arrival on the island of Molokai. A relic of Saint Damien is enshrined in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. His right hand, the hand of blessing, has been reinterred within his original grave site at Kalawao.

Language of Material

French / Hawaiian

People

De Veuster, Damien
Favens, Modeste

Subjects

Bells
Church dedications
Churches
Food
Paints & varnishes

Search Terms

Sacred Hearts religious

Legal Status

All rights of reproduction and photography reside with Congregation of the Sacred Hearts United States Province.

Notes

Translation #97 found in Father Damien's Letters (Rome: General Postulation of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts SS.CC., 2017), pp. 268-269. Reprinted with permission.

Copyrights

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LITERARY RIGHTS NOTICE FOR ORIGINAL LETTERS

All requests for permission to publish, quote, or exhibit from Father Damien's original letters in this collection must be submitted in writing to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts USA Province. Permission is given on behalf of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts USA Province as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must be obtained by the user.

LITERARY RIGHTS NOTICE FOR TRANSLATIONS

All requests for permission to publish, quote, or exhibit translations of Father Damien's original letters in this online collection must be submitted in writing to the General Postulation of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts SS.CC.in Rome. Permission is given on behalf of the General Postulation of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts as the copyright holder.