File:FatherDamien1889.jpg

Summary
Father Damien, the Belgian priest who came to Hawaii to minster to approximately 8,000 people on a Molokai island leper colony, Kalaupapa, Hawaii, 1889.

He died two months after the photo was taken after having contracted the disease himself.

Born Joseph de Veuster in 1840, moved to Hawaii in 1864, was beatified in 1995 by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI set his canonization date for October 11, 2009.

Blessed Damien of Molokai (as he was called on the island) was a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Hawaii State Archive, AP, found at: DayLife.com, All contents © copyright 1999-2009 Getty Images, Inc. All rights reserved.