Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
government not quite cruel enough to simply drown them at sea. Soon he had the
residents helping him construct more than 300 houses, plant trees and much
more. He taught himself medicine and gave his flock the care they desperately
needed. In 1888 he installed a water pipeline over to the sunny western side of the
peninsula and the settlement moved from Kalawao to where it remains today.
Father Damien contracted Hansen's disease in 1885, 12 years after he arrived,
and died four years later at age 49, the only outsider ever to contract leprosy on
Kalaupapa. The Vatican has recognized two miracles attributed to him. Both were
people diagnosed with terminal illnesses decades after his death, who attributed
their recoveries to their prayers and faith in Father Damien.
Meanwhile, in Syracuse, New York,
Sister Marianne Cope
was running a public
hospital. In 1883 at age 45 she accepted a plea to treat leprosy patients in Hawaii
after 50 other institutions had said no. After establishing hospitals in Oʻahu and
Maui, she moved to Kalaupapa to care for Father Damien and the other patients.
She remained here until her death from natural causes in 1918.
Excitement over Molokaʻi's saints is widespread locally, although an expected
massive windfall in visitors has failed to materialize. But the number of pilgrims
and otherwise interested is growing slowly. Father Damien's feast day, May 10, is
sparking festivities. Sister Marianne, whose feast day is January 23, was made a
saint in 2012.
History
Ancient Hawaiians used Kalaupapa as a refuge when caught in storms at sea. The penin-
sula held a large settlement at the time of early Western contact and the area is rich in ar-
chaeological sites currently under investigation. A major discovery in 2004 indicated that
Kalaupapa heiau had major ritual significance, with possible astronom-ical purposes.
In 1835 doctors in Hawaii diagnosed the state's first case of leprosy, one of many dis-
eases introduced by foreigners. Before modern medicine, leprosy manifested itself in
dripping, foul-smelling sores. Eventually patients experienced loss of sensation and tis-
sue degeneration that could lead to small extremities becoming deformed or falling off
altogether. Blindness was common. Alarmed by the spread of the disease, King Kame-
hameha V signed into law an act that banished people with leprosy to Kalaupapa Penin-
sula, beginning in 1865.
Hawaiians call leprosy
mai hoʻokaʻawale,
which means 'separating sickness,' a dis-
ease all the more dreaded because it tore families apart. Some patients arrived at the pen-
insula in boats, whose captains were so terrified of the disease and the rough waters they
would not land, but instead dropped patients overboard. Those who could, swam to
shore; those who couldn't, perished.
