FATHER DAMIEN, THE LEPER HERO. 



"Nothing is more delightful than the light of 

 truth.*' -Cicero. 



There are heroes and heroines, men and women, who 

 in limes of danger do not hesitate to sacrifice their 

 lives in attempts to save others. Heroism consists in 

 acts of unselfishness and courage of the highest type ; 

 under conditions of impending danger, or calling for a 

 degree of self-sacrifice from which the average mortal 

 instinctively shrinks. Untimely death and self-imposed 

 deprivation of the comforts of life for the benefit of 

 others who are in danger or distress exact from heroes 

 the highest and noblest qualities of man — undaunted 

 courage, unselfish charity and unconquerable love, and 

 boundless humanity toward mankind. Such a combi- 

 nation of the highest virtues is, indeed, rare, and when 

 found entitles the hero to the profound respect, highest 

 admiration and permanent gratitude of all nations, and 

 more especially the one benefited by his sacrifices. The 

 world looks to the battlefield as the arena for the exhi- 

 bition of heroism in its truest, grandest and noblest 

 sense. Military heroism has from time immemorial 

 been immortalized in song and prose. Heroism in war 

 signifies courage and patriotism, but lacks humanity 

 and the greatest of all virtues, charity. The soldier 

 knows that his bravery will be recognized, and that, in 

 the event of his survival, he may confidently expect 

 that a grateful nation will reward him for his valiant 

 services. 



Sudden, painless death in the heat and tumult of 

 battle is, in itself, an honor, a sufficient inducement 

 for many to seek it when imbued with the justness of 

 the cause for which they fight and stimulated by the 

 fire of a burning patriotism. Heroism in the cause of 



