One of my heroes

Today we are celebrating the feast day of one of my very favorite saints - Saint Damien of Moloka'i, the Apostle to the Lepers. At Mass this morning our retired Bishop said that Saint Damien was "one of my heroes." I think he is one of mine as well. It would be wonderful if many young men and women would adopt Father Damien as their hero as well in place of some of the more questionable heroes and heroines that we find in today's culture.

Here is a very comprehensive link to a biography of Father Damien. http://www.answers.com/topic/father-damien

I would greatly encourage you to find a good biography of the newly canonized saint and devour it. Men and women become canonized saints in the Catholic Church if they have lived lives of heroic virtue. There is no one who fits that description better than Saint Damien who went by choice to the island of Moloka'i to minister to the forgotten lepers there in spite of his fear and revulsion at the sight of this suffering humanity. He stayed on this Hawaiian island and became afflicted with the disease himself. He died there five years later. In a recent reflection on the Gospel I read again that the way we show our love for God is by loving and caring for His people. St. Damien loved God very much; otherwise how could he have done what he did. St. Damien of Moloka'i, pray for us.

Here is another link that is brief but very clear: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2817