Paperback: The world can boast of very few heroes who compare with Father Damien of Molokai. - Mohandas Gandhi
Azure skies, lush vegetation, and sugar-white beaches: Hawaii brings such idyllic scenes 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.
Saint Damien of Molokai: Apostle of the Exiled (2009) is the riveting account of how a humble Congregation of the Sacred Hearts priest found his vocation in caring for these outcasts. The poorly educated son of a hardworking, religious Belgium farm family, Damien was thought to be ill suited for the priesthood. However, the desire to serve God burned so fiercely in him that he took his vows at the age of twenty.
A missionary to Hawaii, Damien soon volunteered to become the permanent chaplain to Molokai. There, victims of horrible disfigurement with the promise of a lingering death, the lepers led a harsh existence. Father Damien became their caregiver, companion, and champion. Through his selfless ministry, he brought hope to the hopeless, ironically losing his own life to leprosy.
In an age in when an ever-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 individual lives - and indeed the world.
About the authors: Margaret R Bunson and Matthew E Bunson have co-authored many authoritative reference works, including Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopaedia of Saints and John Paul II's Books of Saints. Apostle of the Exiled: St Damien of Molokai is dedicated to Stephen M Bunson, 1962-2008.
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