More than 700 Hawaii school students marched from Thomas Square to the state capitol in Honolulu on May 10 to honor Blessed Damien De Veuster on his feastday.

They joined parish groups and members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary gathered around the statue of Father Damien which fronts the capitol to honor the famed 19th century missionary who gave his life for the sufferers of Hansen’s disease on Molokai. The celebration was part of a yearlong commemoration of 175 years of Catholicism in Hawaii.

Blessed Damien was a member of the Sacred Hearts Congregation which first brought the Catholic faith to the islands.

Among the 14 marching units, were the Holy Family Academy band and the combined band of Damien Memorial and St. Francis High Schools. At the capitol, Father Clyde Guerreiro, provincial of the Sacred Hearts Fathers and Brothers, explained the significance of the day’s celebration.

Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo thanked the congregation for its work in the Islands, acknowledging the Blessed Damien contribution and also that of Mother Marianne Cope and her Franciscan community who have serve Kalaupapa for more than a century.

Actor Terence Knapp gave a dramatization of Damien from the Aldythe Morris play “Damien.”

Proclamations by Maui mayor James Apana, Honolulu mayor Jeremy Harris and Governor Ben Cayetano were presented to the Sacred Hearts Provincials followed by the presentations of floral lei and wreaths. The program concluded with a hula, “Kamiano,” performed by students from Sacred Hearts Academy.