The miracle that led to the canonization of St. Damien De Veuster

CNA Staff, May 10, 2024 / 09:08 am

In 2008, the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints ruled that a Hawaiian woman’s cure from cancer was a miracle linked to her prayers to Father Damien De Veuster. This led to the missionary priest — renowned for working with leprosy patients on the island of Molokai, Hawaii — being canonized on Oct. 11, 2009, by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.

Audrey Toguchi, a retired schoolteacher from the county of Honolulu, became ill in 1997 with a lump on her left thigh that was discovered to be cancerous. She asked her sisters to accompany her to Kalaupapa to pray at Father Damien’s grave. 

“I prayed that he would ask God to heal me,” Toguchi told the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

After surgery in January 1998, Dr. Walter Chang told Toguchi that her rare form of cancer, liposarcoma, had spread to both lungs.

“He said, ‘I cannot do anything for you. No surgery is possible,’” she said.

“I went back to Kalaupapa,” Toguchi continued. “I went to Mass and received Communion and then I went to Damien’s grave. I said, ‘Please, ask God to cure this cancer.’

“Doctor Chang took pictures of my lungs and every month, it was less and less until after four months, the cancer was gone. He was flabbergasted.”

According to the Star Bulletin, Toguchi told no one besides her family about her cure. Instead, she wrote to Pope John Paul II about the cancer’s disappearance, and this began the investigation into the miracle.  

Father Damien was credited with his first miracle after the spontaneous recovery of a terminally ill French nun in 1895 was attributed to his intercession. He was beatified in 1995, but one more confirmed miracle was required for his canonization to be considered. The cure was documented in the Hawaii Medical Journal in October 2000. 

Toguchi’s life, faith, and medical history were also examined by Church authorities. She was interviewed by a local panel and by Monsignor Robert Sarno from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Sarno notified Toguchi of the congregation’s decision by email.

Toguchi’s identity had been shielded by her doctor and Church officials but was then made public by Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu in a statement.

The miracle paved the way for Father Damien’s canonization, which happened one year later. The saint of Molokai’s feast day is celebrated by the universal Church on May 10.

This article was first published on May 1, 2008, and has been updated.