Honoring St. Damien’s Legacy

By Jack Kiyonaga, Editor
On May 10, 1873, Damien De Veuster, better known as St. Damien, arrived at Kalawao to minister to those suffering from Hansen’s disease. He would serve in the exiled settlement until he succumbed to Hansen’s disease himself in 1889. To honor his arrival on Molokai, May 10 is the feast day of St. Damien in the Catholic Church, and a day on which his legacy of charity is remembered. Last week on Molokai, one man continued this celebration of St. Damien with a unique project.
The plan, explained Mark Jechura who is organizing the Tree of Hope Tour project, was to begin a pilgrimage of relics of St.…