The relic of Saint Damien has been celebrated on the Big Island, Maui and Lanai most of the week. Today it is on Kauai and tomorrow it will make its first visit to Molokai, the place where Father Damien de Veuster ministered for 16 years before succumbing to Hansen’s disease in 1889.
The relic is a bone from the right heel of Saint Damien. Bishop Larry Silva received the relic from the pope during the October 11 canonization ceremonies at the Vatican. The relic has already toured the American cities of Detroit, San Francisco and Oakland.
Silva will accompany the relic while on Molokai as it visits Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Kalua’aha for a 12:30 p.m. mass Friday. At 3 p.m. a prayer service with the relic will be at St. Joseph Church in Kamalo. At 6 p.m. it arrives at St. Sophia Church in Kaunakakai. There will be a procession to and from the Kaunakakai Ball Field, followed by personal prayer and devotion.
On Saturday at 7 a.m. the relic will be carried down the Kalaupapa trail by Sacred Hearts Father Clyde Guerreiro, Molokai youth and Damien Memorial School students. At 9 a.m. the relic will be greeted by the National Park Service in Kalaupapa. A special mass and celebration is planned for Kalaupapa Saturday.
Filed under: Kalaupapa and Father Damien
