VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI elevated Father Damien of Molokaçi to sainthood today, 120 years after his death from Hansen’s disease in the Kalaupapa settlement.

At 10:30 a.m., the pope read a passage in Latin that officially adds Father Damien to the Canon of Saints in the Roman Catholic Church.
More than 550 Islanders made the 12,000-mile trek to Rome for the canonization of Hawaiçi’s first saint, which comes 120 years after Father Damien’s death in Kalaupapa from Hansen’s disease and follows a decades-long push to see the hero that the isolated Hansen’s disease settlement gave the world recognized for his tremendous sacrifice.
The canonization was moved from St. Peter’s Square to St. Peter’s Basilica because of wet weather.
Sitting in the front row at St. Peter’s Basilica facing the pope were 11 of the last remaining Hawaiçi residents sent to Kalaupapa after being diagnosed with Hansen’s disease when the state still imposed quarantine restrictions on those with the sickness.
Today, those patients are mostly in their 70s and 80s.
At the ceremony, many of them wept.
Kalaupapa resident Elroy Makia Malo said Father Damien is his hero.
“He caught the disease and he died,” Malo said. “To have given his life for what he believed in. Oh, it makes me feel small.”
The Rev. Christopher Keahi, the provincial superior for the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in the Islands, said the canonization cause took lots of hard work — and prayer.
“It is just a miracle,” he said.
The pontiff emerged into the piazza about 10 a.m., where an estimated 50,000 people braved a wintry Roman thunderstorm to see the canonization of Father Damien and four others. Among the diplomats seated near the pope were the royal couple of Belgium, where their native son Father Damien is a national icon and beloved hero.
Also seated in a VIP section was çAiea resident Audrey Toguchi, whose cure from an aggressive cancer after refusing medical treatment and praying to Father Damien instead 11 years ago was the second miracle attributed to the priest, assuring his elevation to sainthood.
Hanging on the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica were five huge tapestries — one for each saint — that measured about 14 feet long and 12 feet wide. The image used for Damien’s tapestry is one of the most well-known photos of the priest, taken near the end of his life, where the tell-tale signs of Hansen’s disease were evident on his face and his hands.