Father Damien
19th century Belgian Roman Catholic priest and saint (1840–1889)
Damien De Veuster, popularly known as Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai (Dutch: Pater Damiaan or Heilige Damiaan van Molokai; born Jozef De Veuster; 3 January 1840 – 15 April 1889), was a Belgian Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He ministered to a leper colony in Molokaʻi, Kingdom of Hawaii, from 1873 until his death in 1889.
De Veuster taught the Catholic faith to the people of Hawaii. He also cared for patients of leprosy (lepers) and established leaders within the community to build houses, schools, roads, hospitals, and churches. He dressed residents' ulcers, built a reservoir, made coffins, dug graves, shared pipes, and ate poi with them, providing both medical and emotional support.
After 11 years caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony, De Veuster contracted leprosy. He continued with his work until finally succumbing to the disease on 15 April 1889. He also had tuberculosis, which worsened his condition, but some believe the reason he volunteered in the first place was due to tuberculosis.
De Veuster has been described as a "martyr of charity". De Veuster is considered the spiritual patron for lepers and outcasts.
The public source identifies “Father Damien” as 19th century Belgian Roman Catholic priest and saint (1840–1889). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Father, Damien and 19th.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q232785. VIAF identifies the subject as 97757847. The Library of Congress control number is n79056770. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1840, 1889 and 1873.
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This entry incorporates text from “Father Damien” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.