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Joseph Damien (1840 - 1889)
Joseph Damien (1840 - 1889) - Find A Grave Memorial
he arrived and was ordained a Catholic priest in Honolulu with an assignment to the leper colony located on the Kalaupapa peninsula, a site chosen because it is surrounded by ocean on three sides and cut off from the rest of the island by steep cliffs-accessible only by boat. Father Damien had been at Kalaupapa for twelve years, touching the bodies of dying lepers as he administered the last rites, hugging small, sick children, while seeking physical and financial aid when he discovered, he too, had leprosy. During this time he built cottages for the lepers, roads, a wharf, and an orphanage. He installed a water system still in use. And, of course conducted 6,000 funerals while personally constructing some 2,000 coffins. Father Damien made no changes in his life. He became terribly disfigured but continued his work.
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