The Reverend Joseph Damien de Veuster is one of Hawaii's most illustrious citizens.

Father Damien's voluntary sojourn among the lepers of Molokai, ministering to their physical and spiritual needs, has shown him to be one of the great-hearted humanitarians of all time.

His compassion for these sufferers - forcibly banished to a lonely island - is a profound example of devotion to one's fellow men. His death from leprosy (Hansen's disease) at the age of 49, after many years in the "living graveyard that was Molokai," continues to inspire men and women throughout the world in their fight to eradicate forever this disease.

Born in Belgium, Joseph entered the Sacred Hearts Congregation at Louvain in January 1859. When his brother, who had been ordered to join the Sacred Hearts Mission in Hawaii fell ill, Joseph begged to be allowed to take his brother's place.

He arrived in March 1864, was ordained to the priesthood in May, and shortly thereafter sent to the Big Island where he stayed until he moved to Molokai in May 1873. He was to stay at Kalaupapa until his death in 1889.

He once said, "This is my work in the world. Sooner or later I shall become a leper, but may it not be until I have exhausted my capabilities for good."

He was buried in the shade of the puhala tree under which, 16 years earlier, he had spent his first night on Molokai.

In 1936, at the request of the Belgian government, his body was exhumed and returned to his homeland. His statue, along with Kamehameha's, has been placed in Statuary Hall in our nation's Capitol. It was created by artist Marisol Escobar.