COMMENTARY: Robert Louis Stevenson and Princess Diana each found themselves transformed by encounters, direct or indirect, with St. Damien of Molokai and St. Teresa of Calcutta.
Influencers. They’re the newest type of celebrity in our day and age, and they often influence how we think and act in various areas of our lives.
In the past, influencers came in all shapes and sizes: they were writers, great speakers, activists, artists and even people of privilege. We often think of them paving the way for the rest of us and apparently impervious to other people’s opinions.
However, even celebrities can be influenced. Some of them were impacted by the lives of the saints they met in person.
St. Damien of Molokai and Robert Louis Stevenson
The first of such saints is St. Damien of Molokai. Father Damien de Veuster heroically offered his life to the service of the lepers of Molokai. When he arrived on Molokai, he found poor conditions and even greater spiritual poverty. He worked not only to bring the suffering people the sacraments, but also to build homes, chapels and hospitals. In his words, he worked to “make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ.” He said, “I am the happiest missionary in the world.”
Though Father Damien worked tirelessly for the marginalized lepers, there were some who criticized him. Reverend Dr. Charles McEwen Hyde, a Congregationalist missionary, wrote letters criticizing Father Damien’s work, calling him a “coarse, dirty man, headstrong and bigoted.” The doctor went on to even suggest sinful, even scandalous, behavior of Father Damien. However, when this letter was published in an Australian newspaper (admittedly, without Dr. Hyde’s permission), an unlikely celebrity came to the aid of Father Damien: the famed writer Robert Louis Stevenson.
The 40-year-old writer, best known for his books Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, employed his pen to defend Father Damien’s character and work. Though Stevenson had never personally met Father Damien, he did visit Hawaii in 1889 and learned of the Belgian priest’s missionary work, becoming what we might call “his biggest fan.” Stevenson was outraged by Hyde’s letter, going so far as to say, “I think (to employ a phrase of yours which I admire) it ‘should be attributed’ to you that you have never visited the scene of Damien’s life and death.”
Though Stevenson was not Catholic — in fact, he was rather suspicious of religion — he recognized the heroic virtue of Father Damien. One particular paragraph of Stevenson’s open letter highlights the heroic virtue of the leper missionary:
But, sir, when we have failed, and another has succeeded; when we have stood by, and another has stepped in; when we sit and grow bulky in our charming mansions, and a plain, uncouth peasant steps into the battle, under the eyes of God, and succours the afflicted, and consoles the dying, and is himself afflicted in his turn, and dies upon the field of honour — the battle cannot be retrieved as your unhappy irritation has suggested.
In sum, while they never met, Stevenson recognized the unusual and heroic virtue with which Father Damien acted during his service with the Hawaiian leper colony. We can hope that Father Damien’s sacrificial life continued to be a radiant inspiration as Stevenson continued his own search for truth.
St. Teresa of Calcutta and Princess Diana
One may be familiar with the story of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, the beloved princess-saint who cared for and befriended the poor. But have you heard the story of the nun living with the poorest of the poor who befriended a princess?
St. Teresa of Calcutta — Mother Teresa, as she is affectionately called even today — and Princess Diana of Wales were beloved in their own right, but they also formed an unlikely friendship. They met in 1992 in the Vatican and quickly formed a strong fondness for each other. Mother Teresa is said to have called Princess Diana her “daughter” and Princess Diana attempted to “track her down” again over the years. The two would have several meetings in person, but perhaps the most impactful “meeting” may have been the time Mother Teresa was unable to meet her.
Princess Diana flew to Calcutta to meet Mother Teresa, but Mother Teresa was too ill to make their meeting. In spite of this, Princess Diana witnessed the works of Mother Teresa by touring the convent and hospital. Her butler shared that Diana experienced what he called a “spiritual awakening.” As a result of this meeting (or lack thereof), the Princess of Wales donated a house to the Missionaries of Charity in Washington, D.C. — a home where unwed, pregnant mothers could find refuge and help.
The princess and the nun’s bond would last even in death, as they both died within days of each other. While it was evident that Princess Diana was greatly impacted by the saintly nun, Mother Teresa also considered their friendship very mutual, saying upon Princess Diana’s tragic death, “She was very concerned for the poor. She was very anxious to do something for them, and it was beautiful. That is why she was close to me.”
Robert Louis Stevenson and Princess Diana each had a profound encounter with future saints. Though it is impossible to know the full impact, we see glimmers of a divine influence in the actions that followed these meetings. St. Damien and St. Teresa of Calcutta’s examples reveal to us that our holiness matters, even if we never see the full effects of it in our lifetime. May we aspire to become better “influencers” — not in the popular sense, but by being truly present to those around us.