St. Damien of Molokai
Patron of people with leprosy, outcasts, people with HIV and AIDS, Hawaii
Saint Damien (1840–1889), a Belgian member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, volunteered in 1873 for the leper colony of Kalawao on the Hawaiian island of Molokai — a settlement to which the kingdom's lepers had been forcibly exiled and where the death rate was almost total. He built churches, coffins and water systems, dressed sores, organized choirs and schools, and after twelve years contracted the disease himself. He continued to work for four more years and died at forty-nine, beloved of his people and known around the world. Mahatma Gandhi cited him as the moral hero of his youth. Benedict XVI canonized him in 2009.