Leuven (Relics of St. Damien de Veuster of Moloka’i)

The Story

St. Anthony's Chapel (Sint-Antoniuskapel), on the small square now named Pater Damiaanplein in the university city of Leuven, Belgium, holds in its crypt the remains of St. Damien de Veuster of Moloka'i, the missionary priest known throughout the world for his service to people suffering from leprosy. Born Jozef De Veuster in nearby Tremelo in 1840, he entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (the Picpus Fathers), taking the religious name Damien. Sent to the Hawaiian Islands, he was ordained in Honolulu in 1864, and in 1873 he volunteered to serve the settlement at Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka'i, where those afflicted with leprosy (Hansen's disease) had been exiled. For sixteen years he built chapels and homes, dressed wounds, organized the community, and buried the dead, until he contracted the disease himself and died among his people on April 15, 1889. In 1936, at the request of the Belgian government, Father Damien's remains were brought home to Belgium with great solemnity and laid in the crypt beneath St. Anthony's Chapel, a church of his congregation in Leuven. When he was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1995, a relic of his right hand was returned to his original grave at Kalaupapa, so that the saint rests both in his homeland and among the people he served. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009. Today the crypt is a quiet place of pilgrimage. Visitors from Belgium, Hawaii, and around the world come to pray at the tomb of a saint whose radical charity toward the outcast has been honored well beyond the Catholic Church, and whose life continues to speak of Christ's presence in the sick and the abandoned.

Church Recognition

St. Damien de Veuster was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1995 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009; the crypt of St. Anthony's Chapel in Leuven is the principal resting place of his bodily relics.

Catholic Teaching

The veneration of the relics of the saints is a longstanding expression of Catholic piety (CCC 1674), and St. Damien's life embodies Christ's teaching that whatever is done for the least of His brothers and sisters is done for Him (Matthew 25:40).

Plan Your Visit

Open only what you need. Expand all

Practical

1 Additional Information ▾

Pilgrims may pray at Father Damien's tomb in the crypt beneath St. Anthony's Chapel and view displays recounting his life and mission; devotion peaks around his feast on May 10 and the anniversary of his death on April 15.

Go Deeper

The Damiaan Vandaag heritage centre in Leuven and the city's visitor services document the chapel and crypt; see also Pope Benedict XVI's canonization homily of October 11, 2009, the Catechism on the veneration of relics (CCC 1674), and biographies such as Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai by Gavan Daws.