WASHINGTON — The word "saint" isn't used much on Capitol Hill.

But it was yesterday among Hawai'i's lawmakers and a bishop from the Aloha State, who gathered to honor the recently canonized Saint Damien. The Catholic missionary spent his adult life caring for people with Hansen's disease on Moloka'i more than a century ago.

Damien died of the disease in 1889 at age 49.

Lawmakers and guests gathered for a prayer service and to place plain green lei at the feet of Damien's bronze statue, which stands in the U.S. Capitol.

"Now we have a saint and a king here," said Sen. Daniel Akaka, referring also to the statue of Hawai'i's unifying King Kamehameha, which also stands in the Capitol.

Damien was declared a saint on Oct. 11 in Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI.

He is the first saint from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and he was the ninth person elevated to sainthood for good works on what is now American soil.

"He's an inspiration for us to serve those most in need," said Bishop Larry Silva of the Honolulu Diocese, who attended the prayer and lei ceremony. "Father Damien reminds us to act, to do something."

Damien arrived in Hawai'i in March 1864 as a missionary, and was ordained into the priesthood two months later. He ministered to the people sent to Kalaupapa on Moloka'i, a remote area once reachable only by mule track. More than 8,000 people were sent to Kalaupapa from 1866 to 1969, and some patients still live there.

Sen. Daniel Inouye said people on Hawai'i had been talking about Damien's potential sainthood for decades before it happened.

"It's about time," Inouye said.