"Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days," it is said of the "Suffering Servant" in this Sunday's reading from the Book of Isaiah. Father Damien of Moloka'i, a Belgian-born priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was elevated to sainthood Sunday for his ministry in Hawaii to those with Hansen's disease, otherwise known as leprosy. Saint Damien himself contracted and died from the disease in 1884 at the age of 49.

After being sent to Hawaii as a missionary, Damien volunteered to minister to those who, under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine, had been banished to Kalaupapa, a settlement on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i. He worked there for 16 years, sitting by the bedsides of the sickest, hearing their confessions, washing their bodies, and bandaging their wounds. People began calling for his elevation to sainthood shortly after his death.

Damien, said Pope Benedict XVI during the ceremony, "not without fear and repugnance," chose to go to Molokai and risked his health to serve the patients "who were there, abandoned by all," and went on to feel "at home with them."

For centuries leprosy was one of the most feared diseases, although doctors have since learned it is not easily transmitted and can be cured with antibiotics. Damien's image, vividly showing leprosy lesions on his face, was draped from the basilica's façade during Sunday's celebration.

Included as well among those added to the church's roll of saints was French nun Jeanne Jugan, who helped the elderly, including some abandoned by their families. Jugan, also known as Marie de la Croix, was "an authentic Mother Teresa ahead of her time," Vatican Radio said. Her Little Sisters of the Poor order of nuns today runs homes for older people worldwide. She died in 1879. A Polish bishop and two Spaniards were also canonized.

Source: Articles by Rose Ybarra for Catholic News Service, Frances D'Emilio for the Associated Press, United Press International, Wikipedia.org, and HonoluluAdvertiser.com