FATHER DAMIEN OF MOLOKAI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19142, 7 October 1925, Page 9

FATHER DAMIEN OF MOLOKAI.

Sir,—lt h;id always seamed to me that anyone could writ# «t Molokai wi-thout mentioning the name of that heroic Belgian priest, ¥atfae? Damieu. Yet someone has wwcsaeeeo m achieving the impossible In #« article, published yesterday, it is stated that Mr. J. D. McVeigh was "the firai aita who gave bis undivided aMieatioa to ths lopef settlement of Molokai, Sadi a statement makes one gasp and stare J What, then, one ?nav aak, wa* Father Daraiea doing in Molokai from 1373 to 1 839 ? For 16 long years—a quarter of a century before Mr. McVeigh appeared on the scene—Father Dam>.en worked practically single-handed. With tha help of his poor lepers, he erected 600 cottages; with his own hands, h;a bioayapher states, he made over 1000 coffins: with the money he received from Englishmen and Americans, irrespective of creed, he built a vast leper hospital, wherein he ■ gathered the most advanced and revolting cases. For the sake of these poor brothers of his. the heroic priest became a carpenter, joiner, engineer, doctor and undertaker, all in one. And he crowned his noble work when he died a leper himself! Ther® are msny of us- who have not vet forgotten the thrid of horror, mingled with admiration, which ran through the listening world, when from Honolulu on April IS, 1889 ; the news was flashed abroad: "Father Damieu is dead." In England a meeting was held by his thousands of admirers. At that meeting, presided ever by the late King Edward VH.» it was decided to erect at the foot of the sullen cliffs of Molokai, a granite monument, attesting the admiration of England for this noble Belgian priest- A few years later came a nobler monument, Robert Louis Stevenson's "Letter to Dr. Hyde," in which hj» vindicated the memory of Father Danders,- and which will remain for all time a' classic ol our languajr?. Can it be that thic tale of sr perhwnan heroism has already been 3O that comparative newcomers get the credit of the noble work oi; which Father Damien laid the foundations? A similar case happened a few days ago, when a New Zealand doctor returned from Mokogai. to which settlement we now send our New Zealand lepers. He described that settlement as "the finest in the world," and yet not a single mention was made of the Marist nuns, who, under the direction of a skilful doctor, do nli the nursing and all the dispensing in that new "Molokai." These noble French ladies, who, without earthly reward and without the hope of ever seeing again their native land, devote their lives to this noble work, received not one word a? commendation from the New Zeal and ars who confided our leperr- to their charge. Is the age of chivalry then really dead, and can we no longer find it in our hearts to "give honour where honour is due?" B. J. GoNDaiNGEa, S.M. Mount Albert, October 6, 1925.