Leper Priest of Moloka'i: The Father Damien Story (Latitude 20 Books) [Hardcover]

Richard Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Series: Latitude 20 Books | Publication Date: August 2000

Leper Priest of Moloka'i traces the life of Father Damien from his boyhood in rural Belgium to his death at the leper settlement after sixteen years of remarkable accomplishments. Damien overcame major obstacles to become a Catholic priest and serve as a missionary in Hawai'i. To his spiritual ministry he added the practice of medicine and the skill of a master builder of chapels, churches, and houses, both professions that he taught himself. He decried human suffering, and in his medical practice he emulated the example of his patron saint, Saint Damien the physician, who led many to Christianity by the example of the Good Samaritan.

This biography presents and analyzes much new information about Damien and his years in Hawai'i. The correspondence between Damien, his colleagues in the Catholic church, his Protestant supporters, and agents of the Hawaiian Board of Health gives a fuller understanding of the extent of Damien's work at the settlement and the tensions underlying his relations with Church bureaucrats, who were both impressed by his energy and zeal and irritated by his willfullness and independence. But even his detractors could not deny that he was almost singlehandedly responsible for tremendous improvements to Kalaupapa in the face of overwhelming odds. This is the story of one humble man with faith in God and in himself, who faced gargantuan challenges and triumphed.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In 1883, Father Damien De Veuster, a courageous 33-year-old Belgian priest, chose to minister to a sadly neglected flock: the lepers of Moloka'i, Hawaii. Frustrated and frightened by the leprosy epidemic that plagued the islands in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Hawaiian government had adopted a strict segregation policy, establishing a bleak leper colony on the northern coast of Moloka'i. When Father Damien arrived at the settlement, living quarters were primitive, food was scarce, and medical care was usually unavailable. Within a few short months, the dedicated Sacred Heart priest had assumed the exhausting roles of spiritual advisor, physician, and master builder. Eventually contracting leprosy himself, the remarkable Father Damien continued to serve and to advocate for a steadily increasing population of outcasts until his death in 1889. Rather than portraying his subject as a plaster saint, Stewart provides a full-bodied portrait of an inspirational, yet admittedly flawed, human being. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Richard Stewart is a semi-retired professor of The Medical College of Wisconsin who continues as an active teacher. His interest in the influence of medicine and disease in the lives of famous people led him to a fifteen-year investigation into the life and career of Father Damien De Veuster.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 444 pages
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824822323
• ISBN-13: 978-0824822323
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,410,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing and inspiring biography, September 9, 2002

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Janis Stonehocker "jstoney" (Roy, UtahUnited States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leper Priest of Moloka'i: The Father Damien Story (Latitude 20 Books) (Hardcover)

Although this book was hard to read at times, I feel like I am a better person for having read it. Father Damien is truely a remarkable individual and his Christlike devotion to the lepers of Hawaii is what made this book so compelling for me. I loved reading about this wonderful,humble man. He loved these people with all his heart and soul. He absolutely changed everything for them, and he not only built churches for them with his bare hands, but he also was their doctor their priest and their friend. When no one would go to the lepers and give them the just the bare necissities of life, Father Damien was a willing and humble servant. I loved this book and know you will come away from reading it, amazed as I was at what this great man accomplished in his short life.