Damien of Molokai

Henry Lyman Chase (1878) (link)

Feast Day May 10

Patron of Lepers, Outcasts, People with HIV/AIDS, Hawaii

Situations Illness, Isolation, Leprosy, Stigma

Professions Healthcare Workers

Saint Damien of Molokai was a Belgian priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts who devoted his life to caring for lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Born Jozef De Veuster in 1840, he volunteered to serve the isolated colony and spent sixteen years building houses, churches, and a hospital. He eventually contracted leprosy himself and died in 1889.