St. Damien of Molokai

Patron Saint of People with Leprosy

Originally born in Belgium, in May 1864 Damien was ordained a priest in Honolulu and assigned to the Big Island of Hawai'i. In 1873, he went to the Hawaiian kingdom's leper colony on the island of Molokai. Damien volunteered to remain permanently, caring for the people's physical, medical and spiritual needs and eventually contracting leprosy himself.