Of all forms of disease leprosy is perhaps the most terrible. The
lepers of whom we read in the Bible were obliged to dwell alone
outside the camp; and even king Uzziah, when smitten with leprosy,
mighty monarch though he was, had to give up his throne and dwell by
himself to the end of his days.
In the far-off Sandwich (or Hawaiian) Islands in the Pacific Ocean
there are many lepers; but the leprosy from which they suffer is of a
more fatal kind than that which is spoken of in the Bible.
So as to prevent the spread of the disease, the lepers are sent to one
of the smaller islands, where there is a leper village, in which those
who are afflicted remain until their death.
When a shipload of these poor creatures leaves Honolulu for the little
Isle of Molokai there is great wailing by the relatives of those sent
away, for they know the parting is final.
The disease is not slow in running its course. After about four years
it usually attacks some vital organ, and the leper dies.
Until the year 1873 the lot of the lepers on their help them, that all
hearts were turned in love towards him.
He first made the discovery when he had been at Molokai about ten
years. He happened to drop some boiling water on his foot, and it gave
him no pain. Then he knew he had the leprosy.
Yet he was not cast down when he became aware of the fact, for he had
anticipated it.
"People pity me and think me unfortunate," he remarked; "but I think
myself the happiest of missionaries."
In 1889, sixteen years after landing at Molokai, Father Damien died.
When he was nearing his end, he wrote of the disease as a
"providential agent to detach the heart from all earthly affection,
prompting much the desire of a Christian soul to be united--the sooner
the better--with Him who is her only life".
During his last illness he suffered at times intensely; yet was
patient, brave, and full of thoughtfulness for his people through it
all, and looked forward with firm hope to spending Easter with his
Maker. He died on the 15th April, 1889. "A happier death," wrote the
brother who nursed him in his illness, "I never saw."
There, far away amongst those for whom he gave his life, lie the
remains of one of the world's great examples, whose name will ever be
whispered with reverence, and who possessed to a wonderful extent "the
peace which the world cannot give".