MOLOKAI: THE STORY OF FATHER DAMIEN

MOLOKAI: THE STORY OF FATHER DAMIEN

Molokai is the true story of a Belgian priest, young, healthy and devout, who single-handedly changed the lives and fates of the lepers of a Hawaiian leper colony in the nineteenth century. Damien De Veuster sacrificed himself for exiled lepers on Molokai, but there is a lot more to his life. He was a rebel when it came to helping his afflicted flock. Helping meant, to him, creating as normal a life as possible in the asylum, and demanding basic human rights for the community. He actively sought both a spiritual and a medical cure for leprosy. In both these endeavors he made great advances and many modern treatments of leprosy and palliative care can be traced back to him in origin. He realized that he would not gain the confidence of the lepers unless he risked contagion. This aroused intense hatred from his church authorities who felt he was breaking too many taboos but Damien, even when grossly disfigured from the leprosy which inevitably killed him, continued to work all the time for the needs of his people. He never lost his commitment or his sense of humor. This new biography, containing previously undisclosed material, makes a dramatic and fascinating story. Molokai is also a major feature film, directed by Paul Cox, with a screenplay by John Briley, and starring David Wenham, Peter O'Toole, Tom Wilkinson, Kris Kristofferson, Sam Neill and Derek Jacobi.

About the Author: Hilde Eynikel, a former war correspondent and prominent Belgian journalist and historian, has authored many books and is well-known in Europe as a regular guest on radio and TV. She collaborated in the making of the motion picture based on her book starring David Wenham, Peter O'Toole, Kris Kristofferson, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sam Neill, Tom Wilkinson, Leo McKern, Alice Krige and many others. After having written an initial best-seller on the life of Damien de Veuster, she was given unprecedented access to the as yet undisclosed archives kept in a concrete vault in the basement of the Picpus Fathers (Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary) in Louvain, Belgium for this second, definitive biography. The Catholic University of Louvain granted her a Ph.D. "magna cum laude" for her exceptional work. She is also the recipient of the Monsignor Declercq prize of the Belgian Academy of Arts, Literature and Science for the best religious book of 1998.