CNS STORY: Saints' courage, love still make mark on 21st century, say pilgrims

SAINTS-PILGRIMS Oct-12-2009 (990 words) With photos posted Oct. 11. xxxi

Saints' courage, love still make mark on 21st century, say pilgrims

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Fifty thousand pilgrims, young and old, healthy and infirm flocked to St. Peter's Basilica and Square to show that the courage, love and influence of the newly proclaimed saints from the 19th century were still alive today.

Most who came from the United States for the Oct. 11 canonization ceremony were there for two of the five new saints: Belgian St. Damien de Veuster, who dedicated his life to those afflicted with leprosy in Molokai, Hawaii, and French-born St. Jeanne Jugan, foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor.

"We do not canonize saints to put them in a kind of Catholic hall of fame, but we canonize them so we can imitate them, grow in our love for God and dedicate ourselves to those who are most in need," said Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu, who led a group of more than 500 pilgrims from Hawaii.

Bishop Silva said St. Damien's heroic work with the outcast of Kalaupapa has inspired many people over the past 120 years and "I think, with the canonization, people will still be inspired by him in perpetuity."

The international reach of the new saints was evident by the colorful scarves and flags identifying pilgrims from Belgium, Poland, Spain, France and the United States. Some wore rainbow-colored leis.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who grew up in Hawaii, sent an official government delegation to attend the ceremony and help honor "Father Damien's extraordinary life and witness," as Obama put it in a statement Oct. 9. U.S. Rep. Donald M. Payne of New Jersey was part of the six-person presidential delegation.

Payne told Catholic News Service that Obama "felt the work that Father Damien did exemplifies that he wants the United States of America to be seen again as a leader of humanitarian concerns."

"The fact that Father Damien sacrificed his life for others I think is a new tone that President Obama is trying to send around the world," Payne said.

Another presidential delegate was Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association. She told CNS that St. Damien is a heroic figure for all those who work in the field of health care.

"He went to the people who were the most vulnerable, most despised, most everybody wanted to get away from ... and most likely to (cause infection) if you took care of them. So he's clearly one of the most heroic health figures the United States has ever had," she said.

About 4,000 pilgrims representing the Little Sisters of the Poor in the United States attended the canonization Mass. The sisters operate 31 residences in North America for people age 65 or older, emulating their founder's ministry and spirituality.

Eleanor Dunne, 86, who lives at the Jeanne Jugan Residence in Somerville, Mass., said it was "a real celebration and an honor to be here." At her residence, she said, the sisters "welcome the elderly; they're so caring and everyone feels it's a privilege to be with them."

Theresa Saxton of Newark, Del., who has volunteered for the Little Sisters for 37 years, said they held bake sales and rummage sales and found sponsors so they could offer some of the residents an all-expenses-paid trip to Rome.

Saxton, who drives a bus to take residents on outings five times a month, said she loves "uplifting their spirits" by taking the elderly on adventures on the road.

"They've all lived a life, raised a family and sacrificed. They should be able to do the things they couldn't do when they had no time or money, to enjoy the last days of their life," she said.

Mary O' Donnell from Pawtucket, R.I., said she has been affiliated with the Little Sisters for 52 years.

She started volunteering for them when she was 11 years old and said she was attracted to their kindness and devotion to the elderly. The sisters make St. Jeanne's presence felt, she said, and the saint's same "spirituality, kindness and charism is there in every home around the world."

Sister Diane Shelby, one of the Little Sisters at the congregation's home in Washington, said St. Jeanne showed that the lives of the elderly still have value and that God loves them.

The pilgrim contingent from Hawaii included Audrey Toguchi, the woman whose cancer cure was declared by the Vatican to be the second miracle needed to make Father Damien a saint.

She told CNS that she feels his canonization "is a stamp of approval" for the way he gave up his own life to help others.

"Anybody who is going to take somebody, lift them up and make them feel good about themselves, give them a reason for living, is really worthy to be canonized," she said Oct. 8.

Norbert Palea, a pilgrim from Hawaii with leprosy, or Hansen's disease, told reporters that while it's easy to take things for granted in life St. Damien "teaches all of us here that we are our brother's keeper."

Another Hawaiian pilgrim with Hansen's disease, Elroy Makia Malo, said St. Damien tried to make the world look differently at people with Hansen's disease. "Now we are proud of who we are," he said.

"In the movie world they would call this payback time, and so I am here just because I admire this man immensely, and I am here to support him," said Malo.

Among the multitude in St. Peter's Square was a group of 48 Polish-American pilgrims from Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Copiague, N.Y., who excitedly spoke Polish while carrying tiny U.S. flags.

They were there for the canonization of St. Zygmunt Felinski, who founded the Congregation of Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, and to pray at the tomb of Pope John Paul II, said Miranda Zimnoch.

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Contributing to this story was John Thavis in Rome.

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