Holy Man and his disease

It was about 18 months ago that historian-author Gavan Daws and his charming wife sat on our lanai overlooking the sea at Haiku... and discussed leprosy. Not the usual cocktail hour chit-chat, but then Daws was launched on a most unusual project. He was researching a biography on the life of Damien De Veuster—Father Damien, the controversial martyr of Molokai. I had admired Daws' earlier workThe Shoal of Time— a scholarly, brightly documented, flowing history of the Islands. While visiting mutual friends on Maui he learned that I had worked at Kalaupapa, the Hansen Disease Settlement on Molokai. And so we met. For many years I have maintained a peripheral interest in leprosy—whetted by several trips to the settlement in the mid-60s. And so, long into the night we explored aspects of leprosy, recent therapeutic developments, its mysterious pathophysiology, the psychosocial environment of Kalaupapa, and the historical impact