Appearances can be deceiving: Lessons from the life of Saint Damien de Veuster

Appearances can be deceiving: Lessons from the life of Saint Damien de Veuster

While Father Damien de Veuster had become somewhat famous by the time of his death, not everyone agreed that he was a holy man. His bishop scoffed at the suggestion that Damien should be declared [...]

A Word from Cardinal Dolan: St. Damien of Molokaʻi - The Good Newsroom

In his video today, Cardinal Dolan connects the life of St. Damien of Molokaʻi, whose feast we celebrate today, with the missionary work of Robert Francis Prevost, our new Pope Leo XIV.

Saint Damien of Molokai

Saint Damien of Molokai, or Father Damien as he is commonly known, was born Joseph de Veuster in Tremeloo, Belgium, on January 3, 1840. His father, a small farmer, sent him to a college at Braine-le-Comte, to prepare for a commercial profession; but as a result of a mission given by the Redemptorists in 1858, Joseph decided to become a religious. He entered the novitiate of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary at Louvain, and took i…

St. Damien of Molokai

St. Damien of Molokai was born in 1840 in Tremelo, Belgium. As a young man, he joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and later volunteered to serve as a missionary in Hawaii. In 1873, he offered to minister to the remote leper colony on the island of Molokai, where people […]