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The Congregation of the Causes of Saints took the vote following verification of two medical miracles and decades of investigation into the life and work of Damien De Veuster, the TV station said. All that is left to elevate Damien -- also known as the Martyr of Molokai -- to sainthood is the signature of Pope Benedict XVI.

Investigators in Belgium are searching for a relic to be presented to the pope, the TV station said. A relic can be a body part of the saint or something touched or worn by the saint.

Damien was buried in Leuven, Belgium, but a grave in Kalaupapa contains his right hand, which was re-interred after he was beatified in 1995, the report said.

Plans call for the canonization to take place in Rome, with celebrations in Belgium and Hawaii, perhaps sometime during 2009.

Damien went to Hawaii in 1864 and served leprosy patients for 12 years before he died of Hansen's disease at 49.

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