Wednesday, October 14, 2009

St. Damien Relics to Tour California


St. Damiens relics will be in San Francisco and near Oakland. For those that can attend please say a special prayer for our State.


Ask St. Damien to intercede on our behalf.




The nineteenth century Belgian priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary ministered to those isolated to the Molokai leper colony in Hawaii. After sixteen years in service to them, he died of leprosy at the age of 49.
His canonization took place on Sunday.
"Not without fear and loathing," Pope Benedict XVI remarked at the canonization, "Father Damien made the choice to go on the island of Molokai in the service of lepers who were there, abandoned by all. So he exposed himself to the disease of which they suffered.
“With them he felt at home. The servant of the Word became a suffering servant, leper with the lepers, during the last four years of his life."
"To follow Christ, Father Damien not only left his homeland, but has also staked his health so he, as the word of Jesus announced in today's Gospel tells us, received eternal life."

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