The Irish standard., 1886-09-11
FATHER DAM|EN'S CROSS.
The Generous Priest Who Has Spent the
Greater Part of His Life Among
Iepers is at Last Stricken Down
WITH THE LOATHs0ME DISEASE.

/
! WITH THE LOATHS0ME DISEASE
How it is that Even Rigid Psotestants az
Forced to Admire the Noble
Catholic Priesthood.
Charles Warren Stoddard has made
the world aware of the existence OF tllt
most e1alt: q Christian sacrifice Of mod
err times--the heroic devotion O.
| Father Damien to the lepers OF Molo
kai. His narrative is written with al
the warmth of q Catholic heart. 'Vt
have already quoted from it. Now WE
find Protestant. in the London Daily
News, rendering merited praise to one
whom he styled a "Romish priest.
His account is full Of pathos. lie says
that there is no later news OF ,Eathe'
Damien, but the brief announcement
that he has at length been stricken with
leprosy will touch chord OF sadness
in the hearts Of all who know anything
of this heroic man and his work.
Father Damien is a Catholic. aud what
is peculiarly repugnant to the average
Protestant mind, Jesuit.
Nov and again the world has wit
messed deeds Of sublime self-sacriice in
the dazzling radiance Of which all dis
tiuctioll of churches and creed and
others have been obliterated. Such q
deed did this Jesuit perform when,
twelve years ago, in the early prime of
his manhood, highly cultured, and with
prospects Of speedy promotion in his
Church, he quietly turned his back
upon the world and all it had to offer,
and volunt arily entered upon the OBJ
seare career which must now newt
ably terminate in the lingering. loatll-
sonas death Of a leper. Nowadays we
in this country happily know nothing
Of tlais dread maZady. at least in its
more virulent forms, though to what
We owe our immunity is a point upon
which science is. not yet able to speak
very positively. We are apt to regard
leprosy as a disease OF ancient times,
an Old World malady. lingering here
and there in odd corners of Oriental
lands. III an article of painful interest
in the Nineteenth Century. q year or
two back, Miss Agnes Lambert pointed
out that not only was this dreadful
scourge terribly prevalent in China and
throughout the East generally, butthat
there was hardly any part of the
Qneen's possessions abroad in which
leprosy is not more or less rife, whale in
some OF our colonies--the Cape. for in
stance-it appears to be alarmingly On
the increase.
:'But if there are any spots on
the face of the earth in which
one would be disposed confident
ly to predict that the foulest OF disease
would be unable to find any permanent
footing, the Elysian fields of the Paci-
tic should certainly be among them.
Those who have visited the Sandwich
Islands describe them as presenting
scenes of the most enchanting beauty.
They have exhausted all the articles
of language in depicting the bewitehing
combinations Of coral sands and blue
seas, sparkling cascades, and all the
blaze and brilliancy OF tropical foliage
and flowers. Blue waters. says one Of
them, stretched to the horizon, the
LEAKAGE was almost dazzling to the eye,
the mountainous island Of Molokai
floated like a great blue morning glory
on the yet bluer sea; a sweet, soft
breeze rrstled through the palms; the
lazy ripples sp]asl,ed lightly on the
sand; humanity basked hower~clad in
sunny Incidence; everything was re-
lundant, feryid, beautiful Nowhere
On earth is life more easy, pleasure
more fairly distributed, or nature more
enchanting than in some Of these Paci-
fic islands, and nowhere on earth is
there more forlorn and pitable COM
munity than is to be found among
than. 'Mo]okai,' continues the writer
lust quoted, lis only enchanting in the
distance. for its blue petals enfold 400
[epers doomed to endless isolation,'
and then follows quotation from an !
official announcement made that day
some time during 1873 it must have
been-that all lepers not already con-
signed to the settlement appointed for
chem were required to report to the i
health officer within
fourteen days for inspection and final
|,anisbment to Molokai. An attempt |
had been made in 1865 to carry out a
system of complete isolation Of those
smitten with this fearful disease, but
Lhey concealed themselves in the woods
and caves. or friends hid them in one
vay or another when Government in
QUESTION was being made, and though |
it was pretty well known that there
must be some 800 afflicted persons up
and down the islands, only about 400
had been banished. But in 1873 more
stringent measures were taken. There
are parts Of the world in which thel