Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings | Page 124

April 15, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kamiano

The history of the Christian missionary movement that got underway in the nineteenth century and lasted well into the twentieth characterized the whole of Western Christianity at the time – Roman Catholic, Anglican and Protestant.

The missionary movement was part of the large-scale religious revival that followed the 18th-century Enlightenment thinking and the bloody French Revolution.

Joseph De Veuster was born in Tremeloo, Belgium, in 1840. Like his older brother Pamphile, Joseph studied to be a Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts.

Pamphile was to serve as a missionary in the far distant ‘Sandwich Islands,’ but when it came time for him to depart he was too ill to go. His brother Joseph went in his place. (NPS)

Joseph arrived in the Islands on March 9, 1864; he had the remainder of the schooling at Sacred Hearts Father’s College of Ahuimanu, founded by the Catholic mission on the Windward side of Oʻahu in 1846.

“The college and the schools are doing well. But as the number of pupils is continually on the increase, it has become necessary to enlarge the college. First we have added a story and a top floor with an attic; then we have been obliged to construct a new building. And yet we are lacking room.” (Yzendoorn)

Bishop Maigret ordained Father Damien de Veuster at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, on May 21, 1864. “Here I am a priest, dear parents, here I am a missionary in a corrupt, heretical, idolatrous country. How great my obligations are! How great my apostolic zeal must be!” (Damien to parents; Daws)

Early in June, 1864, Maigret appointed Damien to Puna on the east coast of the island of Hawai‘i; another new missionary, Clement Evrard, was appointed to Kohala-Hāmākua.

Damien learned the Hawaiian language (he had just previously learned English during his long journey to Hawai‘i. His Hawaiian was far from perfect, but he could manage to get by with it. Damien’s name became ‘Kamiano.’

Like most Catholic missionaries of that time, he saw his mission in intense competition with that of the Protestant ‘heretics,’ who did not kneel while praying and who distributed the local kalo (taro,) instead of bread for communion and even water instead of wine. (de Volder)

Shortly after arriving in Puna, in a letter to Pamphile, Damien wrote, “I regret not being a poet or a good writer so as to describe our new country to you.” Although he had not yet seen the active Kilauea volcano erupting, he added, “from what the other Fathers say it seems there is nothing like it in the world to give a correct idea of Hell.” (Daws)

A few months in Puna taught Damien at first-hand what he had heard in advance from the Maui missionaries: that life in the field was nothing like life as a novice in the religious order in Europe.

“Instead of a tranquil and withdrawn life, it is a question of getting used to traveling by land and sea, on horseback and on foot; instead of strictly observing silence, it is necessary to learn to speak several languages with all kinds of people …”

“… instead of being directed you have to direct others; and the hardest of all is to preserve, in the middle of a thousand miseries and vexations, the spirit of meditation and prayer.” (Damien in letter to father-general of the Sacred Hearts, 1862; Daws)

Father Clement Evard, his closest but distant neighbor, had an even more formidable area to cover: the double district of Kohala-Hāmākua, about a quarter of the Island. He was not as strong as Damien.

Damien carried his church on his back (a portable altar which he set up with four sticks pounded into the ground and a board balances on top with a cover cloth.)

His life was simple – with the help of the faithful, Damien began to do some small farming (keeping sheep pigs and chickens; bees for honey and wax for candle making; etc.) “The calabash of poi is always full; there is also meat; water in quantity, coffee and bread sometimes, wine and beer never.” (Daws)

Eight months after they arrived in their respective districts, Damien and Clement discussed exchanging posts; in early 1865, Damien left Puna for Kohala-Hāmākua.

Damien was a considerable builder of chapels. In the months he was in Puna, he and his Hawaiian helpers put up four small buildings where Mass was said; in the eight years he was in Kohala and Hāmākua, he almost always had one or another construction project in hand. (Daws)

Damien stayed in Kohala until 1873; then an impassioned plea appeared in a Hawaiian newspaper: “This we respectfully suggest. The presence of His Majesty (King Lunalilo) at Kalaupapa would have a most inspiring effect upon his unhappy subjects, who are necessarily exiled; and also upon all others throughout the Kingdom, on observing this evidence of a paternal care for the saddest and most hapless outcasts of the land.”

It went on to note, “If a noble Christian priest, preacher or sister should be inspired to go and sacrifice a life to console these poor wretches, that would be a royal soul to shine forever on the throne reared by human love.” (Nuhou, April 15, 1873; Report of Board of Health)

Maigret was aware the lepers needed stable spiritual support, but did not dare to permanently charge a priest to that assignment, fearing it was too much of a risk or too cruel. He asked, Who wanted to go, in rotation to Molokai, each for a period of three months?

Four candidates quickly volunteered: Gulstan Robert, Boniface Schaffer, Rupert Lauter and Damien de Veuster. Damien was chosen as the first to go; the reason for the choice is unknown. (de Volder)

At thirty-three years of age, he was as old as Jesus at the time of his passion. Damien was ready, more than ever. “Lord, send me!” (de Volder)

Damien spent the rest of his life in Hawaiʻi; he was diagnosed with Hansen’s Disease in January, 1885. He died April 15, 1889 (aged 49) at Kalaupapa. In 2009, Damien was canonized a Saint in the Catholic Church. The image is a portrait of Father Damien, attributed to Edward Clifford. (1868)

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Church of Waiapuka Kohala built by Father Damien

April 11, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sybil’s Rocking Chair

Some mission children seemed to have a sharper understanding of economics than either their missionary parents or the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM.)

Seventeen-year old James Chamberlain (1835-1911,) who worked in the mission depository for Samuel Castle and Amos Cooke, ridiculed the Board for sending out “a great many rocking chairs sent out all set up, while if they had been packed in boxes ten times the amount of freight would have been saved.” (Schulz)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the ‘Missionary Period,’) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands.

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company. Among them were Hiram and Sybil Bingham (he was the leader of the mission.)

The early missionaries had not brought much furniture (if any) with them, so boxes in which goods had been packed served as tables and chairs. There were no furniture stores and no lumber yards in Honolulu then.

Bingham, like most Yankees at that time, was handy with tools and with a piece of driftwood from the northwest, a stick of sandalwood given him, some Koa and seal skin for the seat, he managed to make a rocking chair. (Restarick; Forward in Sybil Bingham’s Diary)

“On our arrival at the Sandwich Islands … most of the missionaries, & Mrs B & myself in particular were destitute of chairs, as the Islands were so universally.”

“There were none in the market. Though tools and timber were scarce, & I had never made a chair, & enough else demanded my time & labor I undertook and constructed for Mrs B a rocking chair”. (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

“To-day I have been presented with what I may call an elegant chair, the labor of the same kind hands. A rocking-chair too. You smile. But with all my fondness for one, how do you think I have done without, with all my hard work?”

“A box or trunk has been our only seat. My husband, I believe, was never a chair-maker before, but happy for me and the Mission family, that he is every thing.”

“I think no workman would have made a seat more firm and comfortable, while the sandal-wood and young seal skin, with neat workmanship, render it elegant.”

“Our friend, Mr Green, is now looking at it – rates it at twelve dollars, comparing it with one for which he gave ten. I suspect you would not be purchasers if I should put my price upon it.” (Sybil Bingham, June 22, 1820)

On Sundays the rocker was taken to the old grass Kawaiahaʻo church as a seat for the pastor’s wife. (Restarick; Forward in Sybil Bingham’s Diary)

The rocking chair had its admirers, including Queen Kaʻahumanu.

“On seeing and trying Mrs B’s chair, the first, probably, ever made at those islands, Ka‘ahumanu, then in her haughty heathen state, wished me to make her one in every respect like it, for she said it exactly fit her.”

“Feeling no ambition to become chair maker to her Majesty, & having little or no time to devote to such purposes except as matters of necessity, I gave her little or no encouragement.”

“For a period of nine or ten years, she occasionally named the subject to me, but my time was demanded by what I thought more important work for the nation though I felt desirous to oblige her.” (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

Later, “I thought I might as healthful exercise & recreation, perform a good service for our cause by making the queen a rocking chair, in accordance with her continued wishes. But the difficulty which I felt originally, the want of tools & timber &c, I felt here in the wilderness.” (The Binghams were stationed in Waimea on the Island of Hawa‘ii at the time.)

“I easily constructed a rude lathe, the iron work of which consisted of a broken auger which I employed a native to cut in two with a small file, & with the parts inserted in head blocks, made the center points, on which I turned the parts of the chair which required turning, & that without a wheel.”

“They were made to revolve by a thong some yards in length from the hide of a wild bullock (taken in that region,) presented me by the friendly Mauae”.

“The dimensions, fashion and balance of the chair were made to correspond well with the one made for Mrs B in 1820. The hind posts are Koaia a Cloth Mallet wood which was hard to work. The ivory ferrules on the front posts are from the wild herds of those mountains.”

“The cloth was furnished by the queen; the brass nails and varnish were sent me by Mr Goodrich from Hilo about 100 miles distant. The side pieces arms and front posts are Koa a valuable wood, commonly selected for canoes, formerly, now used for various other purposes, as well as canoes.”

“When I closed my missionary sojourn at Waimea at the end of the year 1830, I traversed the wilderness with my family about 60 miles, having the chair carried with us, to the head of Kealakekua Bay, where I presented it to our Christian Queen near the spot where Cook fell 50 years before.”

“She highly prized it, and had it conveyed to her residence on O‘ahu, where she often used it with pleasure in her subsequent life.” (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

The Ka‘ahumanu rocking chair, modeled after Sybil’s, is one of the earliest known pieces of koa furniture in Hawai‘i. At Kaahumanu’s death, the heirs returned it to Bingham and he gave it to the mission. (A reproduction of Ka‘ahumanu’s rocking chair is on display at the Hawaiian Mission Houses.)

Sybil’s rocking chair, “which a thousand times rested her weary frame & gave her much comfort … proved to be remarkably easy as to its form & balance, light, strong and durable having now been in use about 30 years”. (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

In 1840, the Binghams left Honolulu for the United States, Sybil’s rocking chair was taken with them, and when they reached Boston Sybil refused to part with it for a fine piece of upholstered furniture.

Sybil’s wish was that when the last summons came she might be found in that chair … and her wish was granted when she died in her rocking chair on February 27, 1848 in New Haven Connecticut. (Restarick; Forward in Sybil Bingham’s Diary)

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Sybil Bingham (L) Kaahumanu (R) Rocking_Chairs

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Hiram_(I)_and_Sybil_Moseley_Bingham,_1819,_by_Samuel_F.B._Morse

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Sybil Bingham (L) Kaahumanu (R) Rocking_Chairs-1821_House_in_background

April 6, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Calvin Ellis Stowe was born on April 6, 1802 in Natick, Massachusetts. His father died when he was 6; at 12, he apprenticed as a paper maker. But his passion was books.

Stowe graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, with highest honors; he then entered Andover Theological Seminary in 1825. He completed his theological studies with the Andover Class of 1829.

Stowe taught Greek at Dartmouth College and Biblical Literature at Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati. At Lane, Stowe met Harriet Elizabeth Beecher, daughter of the school’s renowned president, Lyman Beecher.

Beecher was born on June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut; her mother died when she was 5. She enrolled in the seminary run by her sister Catharine. At the age of 21, she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to join her father at the Lane Theological Seminary.

At Lane, Stowe married Beecher.

Harriet’s brother was Henry Ward Beecher, one of the era’s most celebrated clergyman and preachers. Her sister was the writer and reformer Catharine Beecher, a prominent champion for improved education for women and girls.

Convinced of his wife’s own talents, Calvin told Harriet she “must be a literary woman.” He remained one of her greatest supporters.

Starting June 5, 1851, she published installments of a story in the anti-slavery newspaper The National Era; she called it Uncle Tom’s Cabin; it originally had a subtitle “The Man That Was A Thing”, but it was soon changed to “Life Among the Lowly”.

Her writing of Uncle Tom’s Cabin was precipitated by two events: in 1849 her sixth child, Samuel Charles, died in a cholera epidemic in Cincinnati; then, the year following Charley’s death Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law.

The law required citizens to assist the sheriff in catching runaway slaves, stipulating fines and imprisonment for those who refused – it brought slavery home to the doorsteps of northerners.

Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin to encourage citizens to disobey what she took to be an unchristian law and to engage white parents, many of whom, she knew, had lost a child, in the deep question of what a slave parent feels. (Hedrick)

The weekly publications continued to April 1, 1852. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in book form on March 20, 1852, by John P Jewett with an initial print run of 5,000 copies. (People liked it; it sold 300,000 copies in the US in the first year of publication.)

While the book is focused on the slavery issue on the continent, she includes some reminders of her past, as well as passages on the Islands.

As noted, her family, birth and betrothed, come religious education backgrounds; she went to a seminary. Recall that her husband graduated from Andover Theological Seminary.

Dedicated September 28, 1808, the purpose of the Founders for the Seminary, according to their constitution, was to increase “the number of learned and able defenders of the Gospel of Christ, as well as of orthodox, pious, and zealous ministers of the New Testament ; being moved, as we hope, by a principle of gratitude to God and benevolence to man.” (Rowe)

In addition to ministers, the seminary also produced hundreds of missionaries. Two notable graduates were part of the Pioneer Company of missionaries to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiʻi.)

Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston were classmates at Andover Theological Seminary (completed Seminary courses 1819 – a decade before Stowe’s husband;) they were ordained on September 29, 1819 at Goshen, Connecticut. (Joesting)

Calvin Stowe returned to Andover Theological Seminary in 1852 as professor of sacred literature.

Harriet’s book exposed the brutal reality of slavery in the American South; but it did not leave many of those in the North off the hook.

One character in her writing, Miss Ophelia, “stands as the representative of a numerous class of the very best of Northern people.” (Stowe notes in her ‘Key” to the book.)

“There are in this class of people activity, zeal, unflinching conscientiousness, clear intellectual discriminations between truth and error, and great logical and doctrinal correctness; but there is a want of that spirit of love, without which, in the eye of Christ, the most perfect character is as deficient as a wax flower – wanting in life and perfume.” (Stowe; Key)

“It is, however, but just to our Northern Christians to say that this sin (prejudice) has been committed ignorantly and in unbelief, and that within a few years signs of a much better spirit have begun to manifest themselves.”

Stowe, goes on to note in her Key a link to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) and the Islands:

“… many a good Miss Ophelia has opened her eyes in astonishment to find that, while she has been devouring the ‘Missionary Herald,’ and going without butter on her bread and sugar in her tea to send the gospel to the Sandwich Islands, there is a very thriving colony of heathen in her own neighborhood at home …”

(The Missionary Herald, established in 1821 printed reports from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM.) For many Christians in America, the Missionary Herald became prime information for many Americans about foreign lands.)

“… and, true to her own good and honest heart, she has resolved, not to give up her prayers and efforts for the heathen abroad, but to add thereunto labors for the heathen at home.” (Stowe)

When Calvin retired after the war, another of Harriet’s brothers, Charles Beecher, opened a school in Florida to teach newly emancipated slaves. At his urging, Calvin and Harriet joined him each winter, extending their activist partnership well into their golden years. (Andover-Newton)

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March 31, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

US Annexation (almost, in 1854)

“I have positive and undeniable information, from the highest sources at Honolulu, to the effect that a Treaty is about concluded between Mr (David Lawrence) Gregg, the United States Commissioner, and the Government of the Islands, for their annexation to the United States forthwith. “

“The only unsettled question in relation to the annexation is, whether the Islands shall come in as a Territory or a State. Mr Gregg insists on the former.” (New York Daily Tribune, July 20, 1854)

Whoa, let’s look back …

The subject of annexation to the United States was for the first time seriously considered by the Hawaiian Government in 1851. (Alexander)

Through a Protectorate Proclamation (March 10th, 1851,) King Kauikeaouli “By and with the advice of our kuhina nui and counsellors of native chiefs … hereby proclaim as our royal will and pleasure that all our islands and all our rights as sovereign over them are from the date hereto placed under the protection and safeguard of the United States of America …”

“… until some arrangements can be made to place our said relations with France upon a footing compatible with my rights as an independent sovereign under the laws of nations and compatible with my treaty engagements with other foreign nations; or, if such arrangements be found impracticable, then is our wish and pleasure that the protection aforesaid under the United States of America be perpetual.”

On March 31, 1851, an appeal to the President of the US, by Robert Crichton Wyllie, Hawai‘i’s Minister of Foreign Relations and Luther Severance, Commissioner of the United States (and signed by King Kauikeaouli and Keoni Ana (Kuhina Nui,)) noted, in part:

“the King and chiefs remembering the events of 1839 and 1849, distrust France and fear her”
“France has not kept her engagement with Great Britain and does not mean to treat this Kingdom as under the protection of international law”
“The King … believes that Great Britain is so fettered with France that she can afford him no certain hope of present relief”
“the King, … appealed in his helplessness to the Commissioner of the United States, and now solemnly appeals to the President”
“the King would prefer that this Kingdom be received as an Independent State, under protection merely from foreign aggression”
“If that cannot be done, rather than continue to be the victim of foreign aggression, the mere shadow of a king without the power, but with responsibilities measured out by the arbitrary rule of the strong, We will resign the Sovereignty of these Islands into the hands of the United States”

On June 21, 1851, a Joint Resolution by the Nobles and Representatives of the Hawaiian Islands in Legislative Council Assembled, resolved that “if France should persist … it will be the duty of the King to shield himself and his kingdom from insult, and oppression by placing this kingdom under the protection of some friendly state …”

“The discovery of gold in California in 1848, which led to the speedy settlement of that State, and to the opening of new routes across the American continent, ushered in a new era in the history of the Hawaiian Islands. It opened a new market for their productions, and brought them into closer commercial relations with the United States.”

“During the years 1850-54 a considerable immigration from California took place. It embraced many restless, ambitious spirits, some of whom came for the purpose of exciting revolution. They found the foreign community already split into factions, between which bitter feuds existed of long standing.”

“Many of the newcomers naturally joined the opposition party, which claimed to be the liberal and progressive element in the country. The plan of the leaders of the new movement seems to have been to reconstruct the government, and then to turn it over to the United States.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 11, 1909)

In February 6, 1854, an order of the King to Wyllie noted, “that plans are on foot inimical (unfavorable) to the peace of Our Kingdom and the welfare of our people, and such as if carried out would be wholly subversive of Our Sovereignty, and would reduce Us to the most deplorable of all states, a state of anarchy …”

“Whereas, exigencies (emergencies) may arise of such a nature as to render it imperative upon Us, for the security of the just rights of Our chiefs and people, that We should seek the alliance of the United States of America.”

“We Do Hereby command you, Our Minister of Foreign Relations, to take such immediate steps as may be necessary and proper, by negotiation or otherwise, to ascertain the views of the United States in relation to the Annexation thereto of these Islands …”

“… and also the terms and conditions upon which the same can be affected, with the object of being fully prepared to meet any sudden danger that may arise, threatening the existence or independence of Our Kingdom.” (Signed by the King and Keoni Ana (Kuhina Nui))

Subsequent instructions from the King to Wyllie (February 21, 1854) noted, “You will immediately enter upon a negotiation ad referendum with the Commissioners of the United States of America, in case of necessity, and which shall fully secure Our rights and the rights of Our chiefs and people …”

“When the treaty ad referendum as aforesaid, is completed, you will submit the same to Us, which will be subject to Our approval, modification or rejection; and in case We shall deem it wise and necessary, to submit it to the Representatives of Our people, subject also to their approval.” (Signed by King Kamehameha III, and approved by Prince Liholiho, Keoni Ana and all the Ministers)

“On the 4th of July, 1854, the foreign community expressed their hopes of annexation by a grand celebration of the day. A car, decorated with evergreens, in which were seated thirty-two girls of American parentage, dressed in white, wreathed in flowers, each bearing the name of a State on her sash, in large gold letters, was drawn by a power unseen.”

“Next followed ‘Young America,’ a company of very young men in uniform, with another triumphal chariot, on which was placed a beautiful boy, the very personification of health, strength, and beauty. ‘Young Hawaii’ was in tow, and represented by a boat gaily trimmed, in which were eight young native lads, fancifully dressed, and carelessly eating sugar-cane.”

“The procession marched through the principal streets to the stone church, where an eloquent address was delivered by the American Commissioner, in which it was more than hinted that a new star was about to be added to the glorious constellation.” (Judd)

As noted above, “a Treaty is about concluded … (for Hawaiʻi’s) annexation to the United States … The only unsettled question in relation to the annexation is, whether the Islands shall come in as a Territory or a State.” (New York Daily Tribune, July 20, 1854)

The issue of State vs. Territory was a little deeper than that simple choice – it related to when Hawai‘i was annexed whether Hawai‘i would or would not allow slavery. (US President Franklin Pierce wanted Hawai‘i to have Territorial status.)

At that time, the US was on the verge of a civil war over the slavery issue.

If the Islands came in as a State, it would have been with a constitution forever excluding slavery, while if came in as a Territory, the people of the Territory would decide the slavery question for themselves. (Alexander)

It is interesting (and important) to note that, “The protestant missionaries at these Islands have never engaged in any scheme of annexation. It has been their cherished wish, that the government may remain independent under the present constitution and rulers.”

“Whatever may have been done by merchants, planters, or others, the protestant clergymen at the Islands have neither advised, nor signed any memorial to the King touching annexation.” (American Protestant Missionaries Ephraim Weston Clark and Peter Johnson Gulick, in a statement in The Polynesian, September 10, 1853.)

Later, “In a letter published in August, 1864, Mr. Clark stated that at the annual convocation in May, 1853, he had frequent conversations with other missionaries on this engrossing subject. ‘Not one of them expressed an opinion in its favor …”

“… but on the contrary, they did express doubts as to its expediency, and grave apprehensions of disaster to the natives from the influx of lawless and unprincipled foreigners.’” (Alexander; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 11, 1909)

The Annexation Treaty was never finalized, “The signatures were yet wanting; His Majesty more determined and impatient than ever, when he was taken suddenly ill, and died in three weeks (December 15, 1854.)” (Judd)

As Mr Severance truly said, “His partiality to Americans has always been strong, and it will be universally conceded that by his death they have lost a faithful and honorable friend.”

His adopted son and heir, Alexander Liholiho, was immediately proclaimed king, under the title of Kamehameha IV. Soon afterwards he expressed his wish that the negotiations that had been begun with Mr Gregg should be broken off, which was done. (Alexander)

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March 30, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Greek Orthodox

“The civility and kindness of the Commodore and his officers to the mission family, manifested in various ways, are well illustrated in the following note, in Russian and English (December 19, 1821)

“I thank you from all my heart and soul for the opportunity given me and the officers under my command, to be sharers in promoting the business of this Christian mission. …”

“Please to receive our most sincere wishes that your good intention and the glorious design in which you are engaged may be prospered and increased. Remaining, with my respects to you and your respectable society”. (Michael Vascilieff; Bingham)

“Kaʻahumanu being distinctly apprised of what this Russian officer had said and done in favor of our mission, appeared interested, and was encouraged by it to look the more favorably on our cause.”

“We could hardly avoid calling on the patrons and friends of missions to take courage with us in efforts to propagate the Gospel, from the labors and success of some of the rulers of Russia in introducing Christianity into that vast empire …”

“… Vascilieff and his fellow subjects of Alexander, falls on the mind of Kaʻahumanu and her associates at the Sandwich Islands, combining with the influence of the mission to illuminate and convert the nation to Christ. Of what amazing consequence was it that Kaahumanu should be a believer and advocate of Christianity!” (Bingham)

The presence of Orthodoxy in Hawaii dates back to the 1700s when the first Russian envoys that stopped in the Islands on the way to or from colonies in the US. By 1815, the first Orthodox church was erected on the island of Kauaʻi.

Migration from Greece in the last third of the 19th Century was primarily due to crop failures and a surplus population that caused wide-spread poverty.

A Western technological revolution of cheap and fast steamship and rail travel, along with rapid industrialization, made feasible large scale emigration to America and, on a smaller scale, to Hawaiʻi. (Chapin)

The first Greek settler arrived in 1878. A few Greeks came in as contract laborers with the Portuguese between 1879 and 1884. Although the Planters’ Labor and Supply Company did not recruit in Greece, several Greek men made their way to Hawai’i circuitously, migrating initially to the Azores and Madeira Islands, then to Hawaiʻi.

In 1884 there were seven Greek settlers in Hawaiʻi; by 1890 there were twelve; by 1895 there were twenty-six. A drop to twenty-one occurred in 1896. Greeks then increased to forty-six in 1900.

During the early 20th century, a small enclave of Greeks and Russians living in Honolulu prompted passing Orthodox clergy to stop and celebrate Liturgies and other services for the growing number of Faithful.

By the 1960s, weekly lay services were being held, along with periodic Services by visiting clergy from Japan, Los Angeles, and Seattle. In 1965, a commitment was made to establish a church in the Islands – by 1980s a larger church was need and a site purchased.

The Cathedral is called Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral, named for Saints Constantine and Helen. This year marks its 50th anniversary – 1965-2015.

Saint Constantine was the son of Constantius Chlorus, emperor of the western half of the Roman Empire in the year 274 AD. His mother, Helen was a Christian, of humble birth. Upon the death of Constantius in 306, Constantine was proclaimed emperor of Gaul and Britain and subsequently led his army against co-rulers of the empire.

The emperor-saint came to the aid of the newly emancipated Christian Church in 325 AD when he convened the 1st Ecumenical Council in the city of Nicea; he was ever-reverent of the Sign of the Cross of Christ.

Saint Helen was the mother of St Constantine the Great; because of her great services to the Church and her efforts in finding the Life-Creating Cross, the empress Helen is called “the Equal of the Apostles.”

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