Lepers of Molokai by Charles Warren Stoddard

The story of The Lepers of Molokai and of the Roman Catholic missionary, Father Damien, who ministered to those who languished in that desolate place, waiting for death to release them from a most intense form of physical and mental suffering. Fr. Damien, born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a missionary religious order. His charity and care for the lepers was what turned the island into more of a home and refuge for the poor lepers, who had previously been abandoned to live out their days in desolation, unloved, and forgotten by the world. St. Damien won recognition for his ministry to people with leprosy (Hansen’s disease), who had been placed under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine on the remote island of Molokai in the Kingdom of Hawaii. He, himself, contracted and died of this dreaded disease after caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of the people in the colony for sixteen years.

The author visited Molokai several times, and was quite struck by the holiness and relentless work of Fr. Damien. It was Stoddard, actually, who helped establish Father Damien’s position in public esteem.

1 Hour and 52 Minutes.

 

You can purchase Lepers of Molokai by Charles Warren Stoddard here.

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