Saint Damien of Molokai is the riveting
account of how a humble Congregation of the Sacred Hearts priest found a vocation in caring for lepers that led him to his
canonization in October 2009.
Hawaii normally brings idyllic scenes of blue skies and white beaches to mind. But Hell invaded Paradise when the incurable
disease leprosy was discovered there. An 1865 law segregated lepers by forcibly exiling
individuals--even children--to the island of Molokai. It was onto these forlorn shores that
Father Damien de Veuster stepped in the
spring of 1873.
In an age in which an increasing number
of people suffer their own personal exile on account of illness, handicap, or emotional
distress, the shining example of Father
Damien shows the true power of one person
and how, when anchored in God's love, one person can impact the world--even among the horrors of decay and slow death. In so doing,
he brought hope to the hopeless, ironically
losing his own life for serving theirs.
