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Sunday 29 May 2011

Men to Remember - Sunday Stamps

As Viridian had already posted Einstein, I picked the first three stamps from my world album and came up with these:

Fr Damien
Fr Damien, the Leper Priest of Molokai, was born in Belgium in 1840. In 1873 he went to work in the leper colony on Molokai, one of the Hawaiian Islands. His life among the lepers led to an intensive study of Hansen’s disease and eventually to a cure. He died from leprosy in 1889. Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995, he was named a saint in October 2009.

Hans Christian Sonne (150th anniversary of his birth)
 Dean Hans Christian Sonne was a Danish theologian and pastor who became parish priest in Thisted in 1864. There, he founded the Thisted market town Workers Association, later known as the Thisted Workers Association. This was the beginning of the Danish cooperative movement.

Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer was the German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician and medical missionary born in 1875 in Alsace Lorraine. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of “Reverence for Life.” As a missionary in Lambaréné in French Equatorial Africa he was interned by the French in WWI, but returned there in 1937. At Lambaréné, (now in Gabon), he founded and sustained The Albert Schweitzer Hospital.

One of Schweitzer quotes is well worth remembering, “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.” Many owe their subsequent good health to him.

For more famous people please visit  Viridian's Sunday Stamps 21

12 comments:

Ana said...

hmm, thats an interesting post....i ashamedly have to admit that I havent heard about any of these 3 men until now....so it is great to learn something new...and I agree with the Schweitzer's quote...and the bad memory...as Russel had said, 'blessed is the ignorant' :)

happy Sunday!

Joy said...

The only one I had heard of was Schweitzer, but that is the wonder of stamps, people worth celebrating.

shelly said...

Nice tidbits of history.

Postcardy said...

The only one I heard of before was Albert Schweitzer, but I hadn't seen that quote of his before.

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

They all give me pause for thought. Great stamps and great men.

Lisa B said...

Yes, from the three, I'd only heard of Albert Schweitzer. An interesting post, thanks.

Marcie said...

I love Schweitzer's quote!

Sreisaat said...

Interesting post! Of the three you featured, I am only familiar with Fr. Damien. They are all worth the honour.

Postcards Crossing

Ann said...

Very interesting, I really enjoyed learning about the work of Fr. Damien, the leper priest.

♥♥ Willa ♥♥ said...

Your post is another reason why I love this Sunday Stamp,I always learn something new. :)

Here is my Sunday Stamp

Rosalind Adam said...

I don't know a lot about stamps but a book that I really enjoyed a while ago is called The Island by Joanna Hislop and is about the Leper island of Spinalonga. It's hard to believe that people were still being sent there in living memory.

viridian said...

Learning about people like these is why I am happy I started Sunday stamps!