{"id":101,"date":"2009-10-11T06:44:14","date_gmt":"2009-10-11T06:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/10\/it-is-just-a-miracle.html"},"modified":"2009-10-11T06:44:14","modified_gmt":"2009-10-11T06:44:14","slug":"it-is-just-a-miracle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/10\/it-is-just-a-miracle.html","title":{"rendered":"“It is just a miracle”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"r451801475.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>With a tapestry of the new saint fluttering outside St. Peter’s Basilica, thousands crowded inside the church to watch Hawaii’s most beloved citizen become a saint<\/a>:  <\/p>\n

Pope Benedict XVI elevated Father Damien of Moloka’i to sainthood today, 120 years after his death from Hansen’s disease in the Kalaupapa settlement.<\/p>\n

At 10:30 a.m., the pope read a passage in Latin that officially adds Father Damien to the Canon of Saints in the Roman Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

More than 550 Islanders made the 12,000-mile trek to Rome for the canonization of Hawai’i’s first saint, which comes 120 years after Father Damien’s death in Kalaupapa from Hansen’s disease and follows a decades-long push to see the hero that the isolated Hansen’s disease settlement gave the world recognized for his tremendous sacrifice.<\/p>\n

The canonization was moved from St. Peter’s Square to St. Peter’s Basilica because of wet weather.<\/p>\n

Sitting in the front row at St. Peter’s Basilica facing the pope were 11 of the last remaining Hawai’i residents sent to Kalaupapa after being diagnosed with Hansen’s disease when the state still imposed quarantine restrictions on those with the sickness.<\/p>\n

Today, those patients are mostly in their 70s and 80s.<\/p>\n

At the ceremony, many of them wept. <\/p>\n

 Kalaupapa resident Elroy Makia Malo said Father Damien is his hero.<\/p>\n

“He caught the disease and he died,” Malo said. “To have given his life for what he believed in. Oh, it makes me feel small.”<\/p>\n

The Rev. Christopher Keahi, the provincial superior for the
\nCongregation of the Sacred Hearts in the Islands, said the canonization
\ncause took lots of hard work — and prayer.
\n“It is just a miracle,” he said.<\/p>\n

The pontiff emerged into the piazza about 10 a.m., where an estimated
\n50,000 people braved a wintry Roman thunderstorm to see the
\ncanonization of Father Damien and four others. Among the diplomats
\nseated near the pope were the royal couple of Belgium, where their
\nnative son Father Damien is a national icon and beloved hero.<\/p>\n

Also seated in a VIP section was ‘Aiea resident Audrey Toguchi, whose
\ncure from an aggressive cancer after refusing medical treatment and
\npraying to Father Damien instead 11 years ago was the second miracle
\nattributed to the priest, assuring his elevation to sainthood.<\/p>\n

Hanging on the fa’ade of St. Peter’s Basilica were five huge tapestries
\n— one for each saint — that measured about 14 feet long and 12 feet
\nwide. The image used for Damien’s tapestry is one of the most
\nwell-known photos of the priest, taken near the end of his life, where
\nthe tell-tale signs of Hansen’s disease were evident on his face and
\nhis hands.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

St. Damien, pray for us…<\/p>\n

Photo: by Reuters <\/i> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n


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With a tapestry of the new saint fluttering outside St. Peter’s Basilica, thousands crowded inside the church to watch Hawaii’s most beloved citizen become a saint:  Pope Benedict XVI elevated Father Damien of Moloka’i to sainthood today, 120 years after his death from Hansen’s disease in the Kalaupapa settlement. 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}