AS SEEN ON TV: FATHER DAMIEN

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints Sunday, including a 19th-century priest whose work with leprosy patients on a Hawaiian island has been hailed by U.S. President Barack Obama as inspiring those helping AIDS sufferers in today's world. [Belgium-born Jozef De Veuster, more commonly known as Father Damien, who himself died from leprosy in 1889 after contracting the disease while working with leprosy patients who were living in isolation on Molokai island.]

The pontiff said the newly canonized had given of themselves totally without "calculation or personal gain."

"Their perfection, in the logic of a faith that is humanly incomprehensible at times, consists in no longer placing themselves at the center, but choosing to go against the flow and live according to the Gospel," Benedict said in his homily.

Official delegations for St. Damien included King Albert II and Queen Paolo of Belgium and, for the United States, Obama's new envoy to the Vatican, Miguel H. Diaz, and Hawaii Sen. Daniel Kahikina Akaka.

FATHER DAMIEN

AS SEEN IN:
"Father Damien: The Leper Priest"

AS PLAYED BY:
Ken Howard

For a long time, I've been hunting online for a good picture of Ken Howard in the role of Father Damien, but this was the only one I found. I was holding off until I could find a better one, but with this news, I thought it was time to celebrate his presence in the TV Universe....

BCnU!