"Holy Man" 50 Years On: A Brief Review

Father Damien of Molokai was one of the first American saints, and yet it is a rare occasion in which we hear about him. No, he perhaps was not a "proper" American saint, being born in Belgium, educated in Rome, and first served as a pastor back in his home country. When he did come to America, he went to the most far-flung portion of it - Hawaii. At the time of his death, Hawaii was still an independent kingdom. But his spirit is American. His travels to the west conjure images of America's own westward travels, all in the name of making the land a better place, serving a higher purpose. His good works are innumerable, and a statue of him resides in Statuary Hall at the Capitol complex, standing alongside Hawaii's other state hero, King Kamehameha I. Such is Father Damien's impact on the state and nation as a whole.

In his 1973 biography of Saint Damien, author and Hawaiian historian Gavan Daws does a beautiful job to show readers the many remarkable deeds and the holy presence of this man, the "Apostle of the Lepers," according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. Daws, in coming from a secular perspective (as he readily admits in his introduction) makes the story of Damien even more remarkable. There is no presentation of opinion in Daws' work. He approaches the biography as a journalist would - straight to the facts, without the frills or fluff, the opinions or ideas. Father Damien is the main character of this story.

Daws begins his biography where every good story starts: at the end, with Damien on his death bed. Quickly, however, Daws establishes the reason for coming to Molokai in the first place: "Damien went to Kalawao not as a diseased man under constraint, but as a priest, ready... to save their souls if he could--eventually, as matters turned out, to take the mortal afflictions of others upon himself. In this he was a rare man, rare for Hawaii, rare for the world; but still not unique. The Christian tradition of succor for the outcast was as old as Jesus, who showed a special compassion for the disease" (5). Damien's arrival at Molokai was not planned originally: when his brother, also a priest, could not accept the missionary commission to Hawaii, Damien had asked to take his place. It had been a dream of the future saint to go on a mission: he allegedly prayed to St. Francis Xavier, the patron of missionaries, for a commission. In Daws' work, Damien is portrayed as a man eager to make an impact on the world - he had no use for politics, he did not read the newspaper. Instead, he waited for "my turn" to serve (21). Having been under the shadow of his brother all his life, Damien finally saw this mission, given while his brother was ill, as an opportunity to make his own name as a priest of the people.

After seven years of relative peace and prosperity in his mission, Damien volunteered to take a further mission trip, this one to the island of Molokai. He was going to a leper colony. From here, Daws' depiction is harrowing; disease is obviously the main culprit for suffering, but Damien also fights against the politicization of the cause, as well as balancing multi-denominational responses to the leprosy mission. He coordinates supplies, communicates with church superiors and mainland operators, none of which understand the plight of the souls' blighted skin. In all of this, Damien himself contracts the disease, effectively becoming one with his parishioners. Daws does not shy away from this fact, nor does he perpetuate any false pretenses regarding this disease.

Moving beyond just a biography of Damien, Daws also works to construct a social history of the Hawaiian Islands in the late 1800s, including examining other key players of the era and area. More than that, Daws' work is still seminal in understanding the cause of leprosy in human existence. By examining this specific case study, Daws shows readers how to extrapolate the information and perception of the disease into a broader, more worldly context. This microhistory is truly expansive, something only the most talented historians are capable of accomplishing.

Still, more than 50 years on from its original publication, Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai shows itself to stand up to the test of time. While there have been a few biographies of Father, rather Saint, Damien, since Daws' work teaches readers that even the most secular of works can show the presence of a good and active God, just as He was in Damien's life.