Margaret Bunson, Matthew Bunson St. Damien of Molokai

Annotation

Saint Damien of Molokai is the rivetingaccount of how a humble Congregation ofthe Sacred Hearts priest found a vocation incaring for lepers that led him to hiscanonization in October 2009. Hawaii normally brings idyllic scenes ofblue skies and white beaches to mind. ButHell invaded Paradise when the incurabledisease leprosy was discovered there. An1865 law segregated lepers by forcibly exilingindividuals--even children--to the island ofMolokai. It was onto these forlorn shores thatFather Damien de Veuster stepped in thespring of 1873.In an age in which an increasing numberof people suffer their own personal exile onaccount of illness, handicap, or emotionaldistress, the shining example of FatherDamien shows the true power of one personand how, when anchored in God's love, oneperson can impact the world--even among thehorrors of decay and slow death. In so doing,he brought hope to the hopeless, ironicallylosing his own life for serving theirs.