NEWARK, N.J. — The 12,000-mile trek to Rome for Father Damien's canonization won't be easy for the 11 Hansen's disease patients making the journey.

The two youngest are 68; the oldest is 84.

But they're determined to attend Damien's canonization, something many of them have been waiting a lifetime to see.

"For me, it's honoring the man who gave to the people at that time his all. The most delicate gift being his life," said Elroy Makia Malo, a 74-year-old Hansen's disease patient.

Malo, who is in a wheelchair and is blind, said he couldn't have made the journey without a caregiver.

All of the patients on the trip have their own aide to help them with documents and medications, push their wheelchairs or offer other assistance.

The patients, most of whom still live in Kalaupapa, Moloka'i, left Honolulu on Thursday and will arrive in Belgium today, as part of a pilgrimage with Honolulu Diocese Bishop Larry Silva and more than 300 Hawai'i residents.

The group will visit Damien's birthplace in Tremelo and his tomb in Louvain before heading to Rome to attend Damien's canonization on Oct. 11. Pope Benedict XVI will elevate Damien and four others to sainthood in a two-hour ceremony in St. Peter's Square.

Dr. Kalani Brady, physician for the patients, said the group is tight-knit and excited to be sharing this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"They are the last remaining. They have actually survived. They are like a family," said Brady, 53.

He said Damien's canonization is a "rallying point" for them.

"Even the ones who are not Catholic consider Damien to be their saint," he said.

As they waited at Newark International Airport yesterday during a long layover before heading to Belgium, the patients, their caregivers and others on the pilgrimage gathered in a room, talking story, playing harmonica and singing.

At one point, a few patients broke into a rendition of "Tiny Bubbles."

Later, the room belted out "Roll Out the Barrel," ending it with laughter and applause.

Brady said leading up to the trip, some patients were worried about how they would be able to make the journey. Some were also concerned that they would fall ill and be forced to stay home.

He pointed out that when patients attended Damien's beatification in 1995, when the Sacred Hearts priest was given the title "blessed" — the last step before sainthood — their average age was 65.

Today, their average age is 80.

About 10 patients attended the beatification ceremony in Brussels, which drew a crowd of some 30,000.

When Brady started working in Kalaupapa six years ago, there were 40 patients.

Today, there are 19.

Eight were unable to travel to the canonization.

The 11 traveling patients are expected to get plenty of attention from Damien devotees as they tour Belgium and Rome.

And the patients say they're ready for the spotlight.

"We are a living example of Father Damien," said patient Norbert Palea, 68.

He added, "We are a living history of it all."

Palea said he hopes the world learns a lesson from the history of Kalaupapa.

"I know what it's like to be an outcast," said Palea, who was sent to Kalaupapa in 1947, when he was just 5 years old. "Out of tragedy, there's always a silver lining."

Father Damien, born Joseph de Veuster in Belgium in 1840, arrived in Kalaupapa in 1873. He was 33, and would spend 16 years at the settlement, ministering to Hansen's disease patients who were wrenched from their families to live there after being diagnosed.

Damien died in 1889 of the disease.

Meli Watanuki, 77, said she has been waiting years for Damien's canonization.

"He's our saint," said the Kalaupapa resident, as she waited at the Newark airport. "Father Damien, his blessing, that's why we are here."

Advertiser Staff writer Mary Vorsino will be following 11 Hansen's disease patients from Ka- laupapa and hundreds of other Hawai'i residents as they travel to Father Damien's birthplace in Belgium before heading to Rome for the canonization on Oct. 11 of Hawai'i's first saint.