ASSISI, Italy — Hawai'i pilgrims gathered yesterday in the basilica where the most famous native son of this picturesque Umbrian town is entombed for a prayer service to honor a man who, much like St. Francis, tried to ease the suffering of the sick and give hope to the hopeless.

Father Damien "was the one who took care of the outcasts," said Kalihi resident Sulieta Sakaria, before the service at the Basilica of St. Francis, which sits on a hill overlooking pockets of olive trees and miles of green farmlands. "I have been looking forward (to his canonization) for so long."

More than 500 Hawai'i residents in Italy for the canonization of Father Damien tomorrow took the two-hour journey to Assisi from Rome for the private service, which was punctuated by Hawaiian songs and a performance by a hula halau also on the pilgrimage. They danced in two rows in the basilica, spurring lots of interest from dozens of onlookers outside of a cordoned-off area for the service.

During the gathering, Sister Patricia Burkard, the general minister of the Sisters of St. Francis, reminded attendees that Father Damien isn't the only Catholic who did good works in the Islands and is headed for sainthood. Damien's canonization is just around the corner, and Mother Marianne Cope's might take years more.

But Burkard said she did have good news: A Catholic tribunal is investigating the attribution of a second miracle to Cope and is working hard to move the process forward.

The tribunal investigation is meant to gather information that will be presented to the Vatican.

Two miracles must be attributed to someone before they are elevated to sainthood.

Cope, a Franciscan nun from upstate New York, lived in Kalaupapa for 30 years, working to help patients in the Hansen's disease settlement. She went to Moloka'i in 1888, one year before Damien's death. Cope tended to Damien as Hansen's disease wracked his body and finally took him, at age 49.

Cope died in 1918, at age 80.

"Mother Marianne, like Father Damien, had a great heart, a compassionate heart," Burkard told attendees at the Assisi basilica prayer service. "The church raises up people like Blessed Marianne for our example. In the spirit of Damien and the spirit of Mother Marianne, let us ... make our lives like theirs."

MOVED TO TEARS

The service in the basilica, which dates to the 1200s, rounded out a moving day for the Islanders who have been in Rome for three days. Before heading to Assisi, they spent the morning at St. Peter's Basilica, where Honolulu Diocese Bishop Larry Silva celebrated Mass at the altar of the chair of St. Peter. The Mass — in such a beautiful place and for such a long-awaited occasion — left many in tears.

St. Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world, and it features some of the great masters — Bernini and Michelangelo among them. The Basilica of St. Francis is also an important church to Catholics, and a popular site for pilgrimages, because it includes the tomb of St. Francis. Though the group didn't have a chance to see it, Assisi is also home to San Damiano Church, named after St. Damien, a third century physician and martyr. Father Damien took St. Damien's name when he joined the Sacred Hearts.

St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order, is one of the best-known saints in Catholicism who worked to help the sick and the poor. Damien has long been compared to St. Francis.

HAWAI'I CHOIR SINGS

Pope Benedict XVI will canonize Father Damien tomorrow morning, along with four others.

The ceremony before thousands starts at 10 a.m. in Saint Peter's Square.

During the St. Peter's Mass yesterday, the basilica filled with songs from the Hawai'i choir.

Some of the songs, including "Iesu no ke Kahuhipa," were in Hawaiian.

Several said hearing Hawaiian words being sung in St. Peter's Basilica — considered the "mother church" for Roman Catholics — gave them chicken skin. Sister Helene Wood, provincial of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts in Hawai'i, said before the ceremonies that allowing the Hawai'i contingent to celebrate Mass in the religious and political seat of the Roman Catholic Church was an honor.

"It's a joy," she added.

During the Mass, Silva told attendees that Damien should be celebrated and emulated for his compassionate personality to the sick of Kalaupapa, despite criticism from people who accused him of seeking personal fame or contracting Hansen's disease through relationships with Kalaupapa residents.

"Just as Jesus was criticized for casting out devils, so Damien was criticized," Silva said.