DAMIEN MUSEUM Ceremonies will celebrate the feast day of Father Damien DeVeuster, marking the day he arrived on Molokai.

Oahu Catholic schools
to join in Capitol
celebration of Damien

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Star-Bulletin staff

The contributions of Father Damien DeVeuster, who served leprosy patients at Kalaupapa until his death from the disease in 1889, will be celebrated Friday with a procession and ceremony at the state Capitol.

Students from Oahu Catholic schools will join members of the Sacred Hearts religious congregation in the 10 a.m. march from Thomas Square along Beretania Street. A program at the Damien statue at the Capitol will include hula by Sacred Hearts Academy students and remarks by Honolulu Bishop Francis DiLorenzo and the Rev. Clyde Guerrero, provincial of the religious order.

The feast day of Father Damien, which marks the date of his arrival at the Molokai leprosy settlement, was established in the Catholic Church's worldwide liturgical calendar by Pope John Paul II. The pope beatified the Belgian missionary priest -- the second of three steps to sainthood -- in 1995.

Artifacts and memorabilia of the priest are displayed at the Damien Museum, on the grounds of St. Augustine Church in Waikiki. The museum will commemorate the feast day with an open house from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. next Saturday.

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