LOUVAIN, Belgium — "We pray we will never create a Kalaupapa for others," Honolulu Diocese Bishop Larry Silva said at a sermon yesterday for Hawai'i pilgrims, who packed the chapel above Father Damien's tomb in the same city where, 150 years ago, the 19-year-old son of a Belgian farmer became "Brother Damien."

He would later be ordained to the priesthood in Downtown Honolulu and volunteer to work in Kalaupapa, Moloka'i, a remote settlement for Hansen's disease patients banished by the government for the remainder of their lives.

"We are called to be like Father Damien," Silva said, "to be like the Good Samaritan, to go and open our eyes."

More than 350 Hawai'i residents, including 11 Hansen's disease patients, on a pilgrimage for Father Damien's canonization Sunday packed into St. Anthony's Chapel for the Mass before heading to Father Damien's tomb for chants and singing and to leave flowers and lei. At one point, a choir on the pilgrimage led a stirring rendition of "Hawai'i Aloha."

Hansen's disease patient Elroy Makia Malo, 74, was wheeled up to the tomb so he could share private words with Father Damien in Hawaiian. Malo said he was congratulating Damien on his elevation to sainthood, and he added that the visit to the tomb moved him far more than it did in 1995, when he visited before Damien was given the title "blessed."

"Now, it has struck me ... the commitment he made to Kalaupapa," Malo said.

Damien ministered to the sick of Kalaupapa for 16 years, before succumbing to the disease himself in 1889.

Patient Barbara Marks said she felt uplifted after visiting the black marble tomb, which sits on a raised platform.

"I just feel so good," she said.

Audrey Toguchi, the 'Aiea woman whose cure from lung cancer after praying to Father Damien was the second miracle attributed to the priest, assuring his canonization, visited the tomb with a halau on the pilgrimage and with the bishop. She laid her hands on the tomb, placed a flower there and prayed for people who had asked for her help.

A SECOND RELIC

Father Damien's remains were moved from Kalaupapa to the Louvain chapel in 1936, by request of the Belgian government. The Louvain tomb was opened in 1995, so a relic — Damien's right hand — could be returned to Moloka'i.

For the Mass yesterday, a second relic bound for Hawai'i was positioned near the altar where Silva spoke.

The relic, Damien's right heel, was not in the tomb but was recently found in an archives room at the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, to which Damien belonged.

Belgian priests will bring the relic to the Vatican, where Pope Benedict XVI will present it to Silva.

Honolulu Catholic Diocese officials will then take it to several stops on the Mainland, Neighbor Islands and O'ahu, including an interfaith celebration Nov. 1 at 'Iolani Palace, before it is placed in a permanent reliquary at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Downtown Honolulu. Yesterday, the relic was placed in a protective case inside a wooden box.

Father Christopher Keahi, provincial superior of the Sacred Hearts order in Hawai'i, walked the relic around the Louvain chapel yesterday so parishioners could take a glimpse. Patients were given the chance to get a closer look.

Marks, who is 78, said she touched the box containing the relic and whispered a special message.

"I said, 'Aloha, Damien,' " she said.

The pilgrimage of 351 people arrived in Belgium on Saturday for visits to Damien's tomb and his hometown.

The group will grow to 528 people when they convene in Rome today, where several Masses and other events are planned leading up to the canonization ceremony. Father Damien will be one of five elevated to sainthood on Sunday.

Father Damien, born Joseph de Veuster in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, came to the Islands in 1873 and was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Downtown Honolulu. He spent a decade serving the Big Island before volunteering to go to the Hansen's disease settlement. This weekend's canonization will be in Saint Peter's Square before thousands.

Silva, speaking at the Mass, said Damien's message is one of compassion and caring for the most vulnerable.

"We all have our little Kalaupapas," he told parishioners, when scorning others or not coming to their aid.

"Below us lies the mortal remains of Father Damien," said Silva, who is also traveling on the pilgrimage.

"We come together to honor him, to be inspired by him."

Advertiser Staff writer Mary Vorsino is following 11 Hansen's disease patients from Kalaupapa and hundreds of other Hawai'i residents as they travel to Father Damien's birthplace in Belgium before heading to Rome for the canonization Sunday of Hawai'i's first saint.