Lot 507
Father Joseph De Veuster Damien, Autograph Letter Signed "J Damien" and reading in full "Dr. Emerson, Dear Sir, If you perhaps go to day at Honolulu I take the liberty for asking you to send me a good provision of Dr. Wrights and James pills - Canadian pain destroyer - and castor oil for the lepers in my neighborhood. With my aloha nui to his Exc. S. G. Wilder, Yours Truly, J. Damien cath pr.", and postscript "Feb. 7, 1879, The above request of Pere J. Damien is approved of and respectfully conferred to S.G. Wilder Minister Dept. of Interior, N.B. Emerson, Med. Spt. L.A., Kawawao, Molokai", Very Fine.Estimate $10,000 - 15,000.
A RARE AUTOGRAPHED LETTER SIGNED BY FATHER JOSEPH DE VEUSTER DAMIEN, WHO WAS ANOINTED A SAINT IN 2009.
Father Joseph De Veuster Damien was born in Belgium and came to Hawaii in 1864. At his request sent to the leper colony on Molokai in 1873. In 1881, the King conferred on him Knight Commander Royal Order of Kalakaua I. He labored under terrible conditions until his death from leprosy in 1889. His body was removed from Molokai at the request of the Belgium Government in great ceremony in 1936. A statue of him is at the State Capitol in Honolulu and also in Washington D.C. He was anointed a Saint on October 11, 2009.
Realized: $12,500