Pope recognizes miracles attributed to missionary in Hawaii, others

Published: 2008-07-03

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has authorized publication of a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Damien de Veuster of Molokai, clearing the way for his canonization. The decree was the first of 13 published by the Vatican July 3 after Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, met the pope at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome. Blessed Damien was a 19th-century Belgian missionary, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Born in 1840, he spent the last 16 years of his life caring for patients with Hansen's disease, or leprosy, on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Blessed Damien died in 1889 and was beatified in 1995. With the recognition of the miracle, the date for Pope Benedict's celebration of his canonization will be set later. Another of the decrees approved by the pope July 3 involved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Louis and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux. Louis lived from 1823 to 1894 and his wife from 1831 to 1877.

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