The role of a saint in the Roman Catholic Church is to serve as a model to emulate, an inspiration and example for others.

But the Islands' fervent embrace of Damien de Veuster, "the leper priest of Molokai" now known as St. Damien, speaks to his extraordinary intimacy with ordinary life. While the grandeur of the canonization rites conferring that sainthood doubtlessly enthralled the large contingent of Isle residents in attendance, it was Damien's humble service to the most needy that made him a child of this land, someone immersed in Hawaii's real problems and lovingly entwined with its people.

And this is the true power of Damien's exemplary work: The most ordinary among us can, in our own small way, follow his example by helping the needy all around us.

It's hard to imagine attaining the same level of selflessness, of course. Even Mahatma Gandhi counted Damien as an inspiration. But upon the start of his life's work, the simple priest himself felt friendless and utterly alone in his mission.

Kalaupapa was a remote peninsular colony for those diagnosed with Hansen's disease, which was many decades from a cure. It was a hellish dumping grounds when Damien landed in 1873.

The patients left there could hardly be called patients at all, since authorities had abandoned them to die. That inhumane treatment reverberated in the inhumane way they treated each other.

Damien's response? He met them with love, became not only their priest but their teacher, champion and helper. No task was too menial if it meant his people could find a little happiness and comfort.

And in the end, when he was diagnosed with Hansen's disease, he bridged the final gap. That Sunday he began his sermon not with his customary "my brothers and sisters" but addressed the flock as "my fellow lepers."

It was the ultimate devotional sacrifice that can be celebrated by all people, regardless of faith.

There is surely great pride in the hearts of Belgians for their native son, but ample reason for people of Hawaii to honor Damien de Veuster as one of our own. Consider the values held in high regard in the host culture of the Islands — among them love and generosity, both the earthly and spiritual kind. Damien, the only saint who spoke Hawaiian, understood these ideals well.

And there have been few people who fulfilled these ideals, throughout the history of Hawaii, as fully as St. Damien of Molokai.