Editing Father Damien (section)

===Illness and death===
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Father Damien worked in Hawaii for 16 years, providing comfort to the lepers of Kalaupapa. In addition to giving the people faith, he built homes for them and he treated them with his medical expertise. He prayed at the cemetery of the deceased and he also comforted the dying at their bedsides.

In December 1884, while he was preparing to bathe, Damien inadvertently put his foot into scalding water, causing his skin to blister. He felt nothing and realized that he had contracted leprosy after working in the colony for 11 years.<ref name="Tayman" /> This was a common way for people to discover that they had been infected with leprosy. Despite his illness, Damien worked even harder.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/blogs/hawaii_today/2009/10/10/Damien_Hawaii_Saint_Molokai_Kalaupapa_canonization|title=Hawaii's Father Damien: From priesthood to sainthood|date=10 October 2009|website=Hawaii Magazine}}</ref>

In 1885, [[Masanao Goto]], a Japanese leprologist, came to [[Honolulu]] and treated Damien. He believed that leprosy was caused by a diminution of the blood. His treatment consisted of nourishing foods, moderate exercise, frequent friction to the benumbed parts, special ointments, and medical baths. The treatments relieved some of the symptoms and they were very popular with the Hawaiian patients as a result. Damien had faith in the treatments and said that he only wanted to be treated by Goto,<ref>{{Cite news| title = The lepers of Molokai| newspaper = The New York Times | page = 13 | date = 26 May 1889 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1889/05/26/103189050.pdf | access-date =2010-07-21 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last = Daws| first = Gavan| title = Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | year = 1984| page = 162 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ycb1yBq7SYQC| isbn =978-0-8248-0920-1 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last = Edmond| first = Rod| author-link=Rod Edmond| title = Leprosy and Empire: A Medical and Cultural History| publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2006| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=15U9YIr1masC| isbn = 978-0-521-86584-5}}</ref> who eventually became a good friend of Father Damien.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staugustinebythesea.com/Damien_of_Molokai.htm |work=St. Augustine by-the-sea Roman Catholic Church |title=St. Damien of Molokai: Servant of God – Servant of Humanity |publisher=St. Augustine-by-the-Sea |access-date=2010-07-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713022835/http://staugustinebythesea.com/Damien_of_Molokai.htm |archive-date=13 July 2010}}</ref>

Despite the fact that the illness was slowing his body down, Damien engaged in a flurry of activities during his last years. With his remaining time, he tried to advance and complete as many projects as possible. While he was continuing to spread the Catholic Faith and aid the lepers during their treatments, Damien completed several building projects and improved orphanages. Four volunteers arrived at Kalaupapa to help the ailing missionary: a Belgian priest, Louis Lambert Conrardy; a soldier, [[Joseph Dutton]] (an [[American Civil War]] veteran who left behind a marriage which had been broken by his [[alcoholism]]); a male nurse from [[Chicago]], James Sinnett; and Mother (now Saint) [[Marianne Cope]], who had been the head of the [[Franciscan]]-run St Joseph's Hospital in [[Syracuse, New York]].<ref name="damien">{{cite news|title=Hawaii's Father Damien: From priesthood to sainthood|publisher=Hawaii Magazine|url=http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/blogs/hawaii_today/2009/10/10/Damien_Hawaii_Saint_Molokai_Kalaupapa_canonization/4|access-date=2012-08-02|first=Sherie|last=Carr|date=10 October 2009|archive-date=13 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313001726/http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/blogs/hawaii_today/2009/10/10/Damien_Hawaii_Saint_Molokai_Kalaupapa_canonization/4|url-status=dead}}</ref> Conrardy took up Damien's pastoral duties. Cope organized a working hospital. Dutton attended to the construction and maintenance of the community's buildings. Sinnett nursed Damien during the last phases of his illness.

With an arm in a sling, with a foot in bandages, and with his leg dragging, Damien knew that his death was near. He was bedridden on 23 March 1889, and on 30 March, he made a general confession.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/DAMIEN.HTM |title=Damien the Leper|publisher=The Franciscans of St. Anthony's Guild|location= Paterson, New Jersey|date=1974}}</ref> Damien died of leprosy at 8:00&nbsp;a.m. on 15 April 1889, at the age of 49.<ref>PBS, 23 January 2009, [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2009/01/23/january-23-2009-father-damiens-legacy/2030/ Father Damien's Legacy], Retrieved 11 September 2015</ref> The next day, after the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] was said by Father Moellers at St. Philomena's, the whole settlement followed the funeral cortège to the cemetery. Damien was laid to rest under the same [[pandanus]] tree where he first slept upon his arrival on Moloka{{okina}}i.<ref>{{cite web|title=Damien The Leper|publisher=EWTN| url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/DAMIEN.HTM|access-date=2012-08-02}}</ref>

In January 1936, at the request of King [[Leopold III of Belgium]] and the [[Politics of Belgium|Belgian government]], Damien's body was returned to his native land in Belgium. It was transported aboard the Belgian ship ''[[Mercator (ship)|Mercator]].'' Damien was buried in Leuven, the historic university city which is close to the village where he was born. After Damien's beatification in June 1995, the remains of his right hand were returned to Hawaii and re-interred in his original grave on Moloka{{okina}}i.<ref name="starbulletin.com">{{Cite news| title = The Life of Father Damien| newspaper = The Star-Bulletin| location = Honolulu, Hawaii| date = 7 October 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | url=http://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10524/12254 |title = Letters for Damien|year = 2010|last1 = Demers|first1 = Daniel J.|website=evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu}}</ref>