This morning I received a phone call from my mom telling me some pretty cool news. On my mom’s side of the family, I have a loooooong list of priests in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Church. Apparently, my grandmother’s first cousin was one of these priests.
This past Sunday, October 11th, my 3rd Cousin was named a true, straight-up Saint from the Vatican by Pope Benedict XVI. Jozef De Veuster, later known as Father Damien, did some pretty amazing miraculous things on an island in the Hawaiian islands (obviously, when this was going on they weren’t part of the US). Saint Damien (or, as I like to now call him, Saint Cousin Jozef) set up a mission to those suffering from Leprosy and other serious diseases. Pope John Paul II beatified Saint Cousin Jozef in 1995, and he was officially made a Saint this weekend! Read this wikipedia article or here for more information… or just search it out on Google.
Think I can get a ticket into the Vatican now?
people are my art 