The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-04-12
APOSTLES OF THE LEPERs
HEROIC sELF-sAcRIFIcE OF A
POLISH AND A FRENCH PRIEST
AMONG THE LEPERs OF MAZDA
GASCAR.

The heroic devotion of Father Dam
len, the apostle of the 1epers, is we'll
know to English readers. Professionals
and Catholics alike duly recognized the
example of self-sacrifice that was given
to the world by one who cheerfully
faced a lingering and horrible death
in the service of his afflicted flock.
But Father Damien has had many dis
ciples. Although during their lifetime
they avoided notice and sought to be
forgotten, two Jesuits have lately at
tracted the attention of the French
Press by their generous devotion to
the lepers of Madagascar. Both, after
years of patient suffering, died of the
hideous disease some months ago.
The first was Pole, Father Bey-
zim, who arrived at Tananarive in
1898. He was then forty-eight years
of age, a gentleman by birth, and in
appearance tall and strong, who had
obtained his superior's permission to
devote himself completely to the worst
cases among the lepers, to those whose
condition was such that they were
separated from their companions. In
the lepers' hospital of Ambahivoraka
he was at once the sick nurse, the
cook, and the general servant of his
charges. His dream was to build a
new hospital for the lepers, where, if
they could not be cured, they might,
at any rate, be relieved and cared for,
soul and body, till death released them
from their sufferings. He found
suitable spot in the country of the
Betsileos, and, with the aims sent to
him by his, friends and relatives in
Poland, he began to build hospital,
large enough to receive two hundred
lepers, one hundred men and one hun
dred women. The chapel was to be in
the centre, and so keenly did Father
Beyzim long to see the work finished
that he helped the workmen with his
own hands to raise the walls of his
| lepers' future home But, in the mean
time, the disease insidiously laid hold
of the hig, strong, active Northerner.
At first no visible signs appeared, but
to visitor who congratulated him on
his escape, Father Beyzim replied by
pulling up his sleeve and pointing to
some dark stains on his arm. mo one
knows it yet,'' he said, "but look here"
Day and night he continued to live
among his lepers, caring for them, en-
couraging them, tending their wounds
A photograph represents him surround
lNl IL a1yr NNR
whose hideous deformities Pere Bey-
zim looked upon with infinite love
and pity. When his own condition be-
came more serious he was obliged to
sacrifice the society of his fellow re-
ligious and, except in cases of urgent
cate with the Fathers of the mission.
The lepers, to whom he had given his
life. became more than ever his con-
slant companions A bond of physical
suffering now united them more close
ly to one who had become leper for
their sakes. Father Beyzim died among
them on October 1st, 1912, and it was
touching sight to see with what rev.
erent love his leper children hon.
CURED him to the last.
1 They laid him out in the choir of
the church that he had built, and at
his head they placed crucifix and a
picture of the famous Polish Madonna
of Czestochowa; around him they laid
sheafs of fragrant lilies. They insisted
that he should be buried among them;
with their own hands they dug his
grave and laid him to rest in the shad-
ow of the big hospital built by him,
with which his memory will for ever
be connected.
Eight days after Father Beyzim, died
another Jesuit, Frenchman, Father
Isidore Dupuy During the campaign
of Madagascar, Father Dupuy acted as
military chaplain to General Voyron's
troops, and his valuable services
earned for him the Cross of the Legion
of Honour. But his mind was set on
a service less brilliant in the eyes
of men than that of military chaplain,
and, as soon as peace was signed, he
devoted himself to the lepers of Am
bohimohazo, where he soon caught the
malady. He knew he would die a
leper, and he cheerfully retired to a
little cabin, where he was visited only
by those who, being already touched
by the disease, had nothing to fear
from him. Instead Of complaining OF
his lot, he considered himself as singu-