Servant of God Joseph Dutton (1843-1931)

March 1, 2025

By Columbia staff

March 1, 2025

Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum

In the early 20th century, U.S. presidents and others took notice of the selfless witness of Joseph Dutton, a Civil War veteran who spent half his life serving lepers in Hawaii. A layman, Dutton was dubbed “Brother” by St. Damien of Molokai because, he said, “you are like a brother to everyone here.”

Born Ira Dutton in Stowe, Vermont, and raised Protestant, he joined the 13th Wisconsin Infantry in 1861 at age 18. When the Civil War ended four years later, a failed marriage and a job searching for the bodies of lost soldiers drove him to the bottle and a period he’d call his “degenerate decade.”

Dutton swore off alcohol in 1876 and, desiring to atone for his sins, entered the Catholic Church on his 40th birthday, taking the name of Joseph, his favorite saint. He spent 20 months at the Trappist monastery in Gethsemani, Kentucky, but discerned that God was calling him to a life of penitential action rather than contemplation. After learning of Father Damien de Veuster’s leper colony ministry in 1886, he left for Molokai.

Dutton’s words upon arriving were simple: “I’ve come to help, and I’ve come to stay.” Working with Father Damien and later Mother Marianne Cope, another future saint, Dutton spent the next four decades caring for the colony’s patients, especially children afflicted with leprosy.

His prolific correspondence, including with several U.S. presidents, spread word of the colony’s needs and drew universal esteem. President Warren Harding, for example, called Dutton “a well-nigh perfect example of … sacrifice and service.”

Joseph Dutton died March 26, 1931, at age 87, and was buried next to Father Damien. The Diocese of Honolulu opened his cause for canonization in 2022.

Servant of God Joseph Dutton (1843-1931)

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