( CNN ) -- Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints Sunday , including a 19th-century priest who worked with ostracized leprosy patients in Hawaii before contracting the disease himself and dying from it . Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints Sunday in a Mass at St. Peter 's Basilica in Vatican City . Jozef De Veuster , better known as Father Damien , was elevated to sainthood along with the four others in a solemn Mass that was moved indoors from St. Peter 's Square to the St. Peter 's Basilica in Vatican City because of an early morning thunderstorm . Thousands attended , including the woman whose cure from cancer was attributed to her praying to Damien . The church counts her cure as one of two miracles the priest performed -- a key requirement for sainthood . The others who were canonized Sunday are : . -- Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski , a Polish bishop who kept championing Catholicism after Russia shut down Polish churches in retaliation for the Polish uprising against Russia in Warsaw in 1861 . -- Jeanne Jugan , a French nun who set up an order that runs homes for destitute around the world . -- Francisco Coll y Guitart , a Spaniard who founded an order of Dominicans in the 19th century . -- Rafael Arnaiz Baron , another Spaniard , who wrote extensively about spirituality before his death at age 27 . Damien was born in Belgium and went to Hawaii in the 1870s in place of his ill brother . At the time , the kingdom of Hawaii banished its leprosy patients to Kalaupapa , a 5-square-mile village on the island of Molokai . Because of the stigma attached to the disease , doctors refused to treat patients and society ostracized them . Damien volunteered to serve as pastor there , and did so for 16 years . He died at age 49 after contracting leprosy , which is now called Hansen 's disease . Today , Kalaupapa is a national park and home to 25 residents , there because of the disease . All of them are cured , but have chosen to stay because it is their life-long home . Hansen 's disease is a bacterial disease characterized by skin sores , nerve damage and gradual debilitation . Though it was once feared as highly contagious , it is not particularly transmissible and is easily treated with antibiotics . The Catholic Diocese of Honolulu had long sought canonization for Damien . Sainthood is bestowed only after a thorough examination of the person 's life and requires two documented miracles . In Damien 's case , the church considered the overnight healing 100 years ago of a French nun who was on her deathbed from an intestinal ailment . It also considered the case of Audrey Toguchi , a public school teacher , who fully recovered from liposarcoma in 1999 after she prayed to Damien , she said .
Five new saints canonized by Pope Benedict XVI . Priest who worked in a leprosy hospital among new saints . Four others included French nun , Polish nun , and Dominican .