Keaukaha hosts
Saint Damien relic

By T. Ilihia Gionson / Ka Wai Ola Loa

On October 22, an interfaith celebration was held at at Malia Puka O Kalani Catholic Church in Keaukaha to receive the relic of St. Damien.

Paul Neves of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I was one of the first to speak at the event that was filled with song and praise from keiki and kūpuna and everyone inbetween. His great-grandmother and great-grandfather were sent to Kalawao. His grandfather was born there, and later sent away because he didn't contract leprosy.

"There are three people in my family named Damien. … Back in the day, Hawaiians named a lot of their children Damien so that Damien would never go away," Neves said. "Damien meant a lot to our people – not just Hawaiian people and Catholic people, but Mormon people and Buddhist people, anyone who had … the separating sickness. It separated the skin from the bodies, and it also separated families."

"My mother always told me … that Damien saved our family. Many of us would not be here had that crazy man from Europe not come here and fought on our behalf."

Video: Courtesy of Wendell Ka'ehu'ae'a, Nā Leo O Hawai'i Community Television