Saturday, February 14, 2009

Honolulu bishop to attend Damien announcement

Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu is to travel to Rome this coming week to attend an announcement on when Father Damien will be canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

The date is expected to be announced Feb. 21.

Silva was invited to Rome by the Rev. Alfred Bell.

He's a member of Damien's order, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Damien arrived in Hawaii from his native Belgium in 1864.

Nine years later he began ministering to leprosy patients on Molokai, where thousands had been banished amid an epidemic in Hawaii.

After contracting the disease, he died April 15, 1889, at age 49.

Damien was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

Last July, Pope Benedict XVI recognized a second miracle attributed to Damien's intercession. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce

(Source: KPUA)