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 Raoul Follereau: 110th Anniversary of Birth 60th World Day of Leprosy Scott 1541 (2013) World Leprosy Day was commemorated this past Sunday, January 25. The awareness day falls on the last Sunday in January and is closest to January 30 (the date which coincides with anniversary of the death of India’s Mahatma Gandhi). The French journalist Raoul Follereau (1903-1977) was responsible for bringing attention to efforts to combat leprosy (Hansen's Disease). In 2013, Vatican City issued a single €2,00 stamp recognizing Follereau's lifelong efforts to increase understanding about leprosy and to raise funds for combating the disease. That year marked the 110th anniversary of Follereau's birth and the 60th World Leprosy Day. During his Angelus recitation this past Sunday, Pope Leo XIV called on increasing awareness for those afflicted with and those treating people with leprosy, and called for an end to leprosy-related stigma and discrimination by stating: “I express my closeness to all those affected by this disease. I encourage the Italian Association of Friends of Raoul Follereau and all those who care for people with leprosy, working to safeguard their dignity.”During his life, Raoul Follereau helped shine a light on this terrible affliction. The stigma of leprosy comes from the unfounded belief that it is an incurable disease, when in fact it is a bacterial infection which can be treated and cured. Today, leprosy is found in more than 120 countries, with more than 200,000 new cases reported every year. Two Catholic saints who worked to combat the stigma of leprosy in Hawaii during the 19th century stand out: Father Damien of Molokai and Sister Marianne Cope. To date, no stamps have been issued by Vatican City to honor these two Saints.  Father Damien of Molokai Statue at the Hawaii State Capitol Honolulu, Hawaii From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain Father Damien, or Saint Damien of Molokai, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a religious missionary order. His ministry led him to the Kingdom of Hawaii, where he served from 1873 until his death in 1889. He worked with people with leprosy who lived in government-mandated medical quarantine in a settlement on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Molokai. During his time in Hawaii, he preached the Catholic faith, cared for patients, and established a community which built houses, schools, roads, hospitals, and churches. He eventually contracted leprosy and died on April 15, 1889. Called “the Apostle of the Lepers”, he was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009. His feast day is celebrated on May 10.  Mother Marianne Cope Statue in Honolulu, Hawaii Photo by billsoPHOTO From Wikimedia Commons, used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license Sister, or Mother, Marianne Cope was a German-born American religious sister who was a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse, New York. After having served as a founder of the order’s St. Joseph's Hospital in the city, in 1883 she relocated with six other sisters to Hawaii to care for persons suffering from leprosy. After four years on the island of Oahu, in 1887, a new government came into office and asked Mother Marianne to establish a new facility on Molokai. The sisters relocated in November 1888, where they met and cared for the dying Father Damien. They began to take over his ministry and worked to develop additional medical and social infrastructure on the island. Despite direct contact with leprosy patients over many years, Mother Marianne never contracted leprosy. She stayed on the island until her death in 1918 at the age of 80. She was beatified in 2005 and was canonized in 2012, both by Pope Benedict XVI. Sister Marianne Cope is the 11th Catholic Saint who was active in the United States to be canonized by the Church. Her feast day was celebrated last week, on January 23. REFERENCES: |
