www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Canonization of Saint Damien of Molokai

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, today canonized five saints of the Catholic Church, including Jozef Damiaan de Veuster, better known as Father Damien [en.wikipedia.org] (source [212.77.1.245]).

Saint Damien of Molokai, pray for us!

At least the Holy See has some sanity. Instead of congratuating BHO they should have stuck to what they do best, cononising saints who desevre the recognition thy should receive.
Stephanos I
Indeed: St Joseph Damien De Vuster, Priest of Molakai, Apostle to the Lepers, pray for the conversion of our souls to Christ our God and deliver us from tyrrany.Be gracious to us oh God and bless us, let your face shed its light upon us and we shall be saved, through the prayers of the Mother of God, St. Damien, priest of Molakai and Apostles to the Lepers, O Savior save our souls.[/b]

I rejoice in Fr. Damien's canonization but feel badly for the sisters of st. francis (Syracuse) who provided most of the medical attention given to the leper community. They should also be recognized for their contribution to what happened at Molokai.

In the episcopal church we honor Constance and her companions.
She and her other sisters stayed in the city of Memphis to minister to all the cholera victims. (I understand that there was a RC community of sisters that did the same. In future it would be nice if the church discernment committee for canonizations would dwell more deeply into those who might be recognized as saints ---- and see if they were assisted by others.



Fr. Mike

Mother Marianne Cope was beatified on May 14, 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Marianne_Cope


EWTN had a documentary on the life of St. Damien today. It included a segment on his efforts to get better medical care to the exiles on Molokai.

Mother Marianne and hes sisters responded and continued to serve for many years after St. Damien's repose.

Glory to Jesus Christ!
I'm so excited and humbled to be able to venerate a relic of our much beloved St. Damien this Th. and Fri. here, in SF and in Alameda.

A clip of a play about St. Damien which is also being presented in many locations here this week is available here [caseygroves.com].

I also recommend the film Molokai: The Story Of Father Damien [amazon.com], available to rent many places. His isolation from the Sacrament of Reconciliation was to me especially movingly portrayed when no other priests were permitted to join him on the island. The added features on the DVD are also very interesting. Survivors of Hansen's Disease living there today were members of the cast.

The saints of God are found in all places and times. (One of my very favorite hymns as a child growing up in the Episcopal Church was "I Sing a Song for the Saints of God!" [subtuum.blogspot.com]* which I hope is still sung. )


The "the church discernment committee for canonizations" initiates nothing re the process of who might be recognized as capital S Saints. The process is initiated by anyone in the world who feels a particular person should be recognized as a saint and so he/she/they begin working on their cause for canonization [en.wikipedia.org]. (Martyrs are automatically Saints.)

* "... They lived not only in ages past,
There are hundreds of thousands still;
The world is bright with the joyous saints
Who love to do Jesus' will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,
In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea;
For the saints of God are just folk like me,
And I mean to be one too."

No one ever becomes a saint on his own. But that does not mean that we should never single out some people for canonization and liturgical commemoration. And, as has been pointed out, Blessed Mother Mary Anne Cope is a wonderful example of the service of the religious sisters to the lepers.

Nice tune, but oh my, isnt it a tad bit revisionist?
Shepherdess indeed? What hidden agenda are they driving?
Stephanos I

Hee hee!

My personal favorite line growing up was "And one was slain by a fierce wild beast!" How much hymns change in 80 years... I'd like to see if it's even in the contemporary American Episcopal hymnal and if so which what revisions. I suspect songs that speak about meeting saints "in lanes, or at sea... or in shops, or at tea" would be deemed out of date I don't think Catholics are much for children singing about wanting to be a saint any more, either .

Yes--it's still in the Hymnal 1982. We sang it last All Saints Day.

Stephanos I--you have to remember it was written for Sunday School children in 1929--by Lesbia Scott. So much for an agenda.

Praise God! Same words? Kids here in the US can thus learn not only about saints, but also what "lanes" and "tea" are, as well as "shepherdess on the green"


I reckoned he was teasing us, thus my "hee hee".

Now pray that the badly needed rain we have finally gotten will dry up Th afternoon in time for the Saint Damien relic's arrival here.

I have a little factoid I'd like to share.

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Protestant writer who supported and defended Father Damien against anti-Catholic Protestants. One particular anti-Catholic Protestant with whom Stevenson is known to have had a lively exchange in defense of Father Damien was a clergyman by the name of Hyde.

The name of Hyde was immortalized in Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.

St. Damien of Molokai, ora pro nobis!

Alexis

However, the character in Stevenson's novella was not named for the clergyman. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde was published in 1886, about 3 years before Stevenson's open letter to Rev Mr Hyde.

Many years,

Neil

I'm still floating from the veneration services on Th at St. Mary's SF and Fri. at St. Joseph Basilica, Alameda. I've upload a photo of the statue in the gathering space at St. Joseph Basilica.

Portions of Casey Groves' one man play about Saint Damien [caseygroves.backpackit.com] were interspersed within the prayer service at St. Mary's, which was very effective. At the Basilica the play was performed in full before the service.

The services were very different befitting the difference between a Cathedral and a community parish. A large Halau offered stunningly beautiful classical Hawai'ian chant and dance at the Cathedral while a single dancer (parishioner/staff member) performed (hardly the right verb) beautifully at St. Joseph's.

The first priest, who gave a wonderful homily, and the last priest of the much loved Sacred Hearts priests who for many years pastored at the Basilica, were there, as were many other clergy including the bishops. At the Cathedral there were bishops from as far away as Sacramento, and a wonderful number of clergy and religious were at both services.

Casey is performing [caseygroves.backpackit.com] the one man play tonight 10/17, and next Tu., Wed and Th 10/20,21,22 locally for anyone who might still catch that.

Our Lord God who led Damien in his "Call within a Call", as he spoke of it, was truly glorified in these liturgies. As the homilist insisted last night, we are all called by our Baptism to become saints and to be about that work daily. Thanks be to God this relic of our beloved Saint is returning to his people.