Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 3 Comments

North Pacific Missionary Institute

On October 1, 1872, the Hawaiian Evangelical Association Theological School opened its doors for men interested in a life of Christian ministry.

In its infancy, Rev John D Paris became the head of the institution, accompanied by Rev Dwight Baldwin and Rev Benjamin W Parker as instructors.

Recruitment of Native Hawaiian students was an ongoing problem. A year after the school opened Rev. Paris wrote, “Aka, auhea la ka nani o ke aupuni kanaka ole?! Auhea hoi ka pono o ke Kula Kahuna haumana ole?” (But where is the glory of the Kingdom without men? Where indeed is the value of the ministers’ school without students?) (Williams)

Beginning with 13 students, the school endeavored to graduate these men as ministers in order to send them on to more missionary work around the world, paying special attention to the Pacific.

The school’s three-year program curriculum included Bible History, Sacred Geography, Church History, Natural Theology, Evidences of Christianity, Christian Theology, Composition and Delivery of Sermons, and Pastoral Theology.

The Theological School took up residence within an older structure, previously used as a Marine Hospital, owned and operated by Dr. Gerrit P. Judd. It was located at the corner of what is today Punchbowl and South Beretania Streets in Honolulu (presently, where the Kalanimōku Building (DLNR & DAGS) is situated.) (In 1874, Paris retired and moved back to Kona.)

In 1877, Rev. Charles McEwen Hyde was sent to Hawaiʻi from Massachusetts to reorganize the school as the North Pacific Missionary Institute.

Hyde was former valedictorian at Williams College and graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary; he envisioned “a grand opportunity to do important service for Christ and for the world.” (Williams)

He quickly picked up the Hawaiian language in order to converse with the indigenous population, and began delivering his sermons in Hawaiian.

“With great skill and patience and energy he has conducted its affairs, and the Institute has been one of the most effective agencies for the support of Christian institutions at the Islands.”

“But Dr. Hyde’s energies were by no means confronted to this one seminary. He sought in every way to upbuild the native Hawaiian churches, and to promote the work of education in schools of all grades.”

“’From this institution has gone forth, under the training of Dr. Hyde, the whole circle of younger men who today fill the pastorate of the Hawaiian churches.’ And after referring to several of these pastors by name, it is well added: ‘These men are the best of witnesses to the faithful and painstaking service of this most indefatigable of teachers.’” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 13, 1899)

Hyde served as Principal until 1883, until resigning his position to the temporary care of Rev. Henry H. Parker.

In 1889, it was decided by the Hawaiian Board that a new building was to be erected that would accommodate the seminary’s students with better living and learning quarters. A wooden structure was built in 1890.

The building had 16-dormitories and several large lecture rooms for instruction. During construction, the students attended classes at Kawaiahaʻo Church.

“Eleven students had been under instruction, three of these having entered this year. Instruction is now given in the afternoons as well as the mornings. Friday afternoon and Saturday are the only times available for such work as may be available as a means of self-support.”

“It has been necessary therefor to supplement the meagre weekly cash allowance, granted by the Hawaiian Board, by the distribution of weekly rations of rice, bread, salmon and kerosene to each student. The students are not pampered children of ease by any means, but learn from the very first to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 7, 1895)

“In the training which it furnishes to these leaders of the churches, the theological school affects the moral and religious life of the country. It holds the same relation to the ministerial profession that the law school does to the legal profession, or the medical college to the practice of medicine.”

“A well trained ministry is peculiarly necessary at the present time for the Hawaiian Islands. Everything is in a transition state, and a strong ministry is needed, which can hold to the good which has been achieved in the past and make it effective in the new order of things which is to come.” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 6, 1896)

“The work of the Institute in training Hawaiians for pastoral and missionary service has been carried on as heretofore. It has also been enlarged in its scope, so as to furnish more instruction through the use of the English language.”

“Rev. John Leadingham, formerly instructor in the Slavic department of the Oberlin Theological Seminary, has been appointed by the ABCFM Associate Instructor in the NPM Institute and began his work in November, 1894.” (Board of Education Report, 1896)

“Professor Leadingham’s lessons in English have not been confined to the students, but he has kindly consented to teach English to a class of young Hawaiian lawyers. Two Portuguese young men also, who wish to enter the gospel ministry, have been under instruction for the last three months.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 7, 1895)

“The privileges of the Institute are now opened to other nationalities, and in addition to the 8 Hawaiian students, one Portuguese and one Chinese are taking the prescribed course of study. This extends over three years. In some instances, a fourth year is added for special study.”

“Of the thirty-six pastors now serving the fifty-five Hawaiian Evangelical churches, twenty-five are graduates of the NPM Institute. Besides these there are six graduates engaged in foreign missionary work in the Gilbert Islands.” (Board of Education Report, 1896)

In 1900, Leadingham became the Principal (he left the islands in 1904.) The Hawaiian Board later redirected its efforts into the consolidation of Kawaiahaʻo Seminary, Mills Institute and the Japanese Boarding School into the Mid-Pacific Institute.

The “first great step in the development of its higher educational work by purchasing between thirty-six and thirty-seven acres of land in Mānoa Valley – the Kidwell estate. Upon this it is proposed to locate the Mid-Pacific Institute”.

“In making this purchase the Board has parted with the premises of the North Pacific Missionary Institute on Punchbowl street to the Methodist church” (and, in between, the Korean School.) (Hawaiian Star, May 18, 1907) (Lots of information here is from Williams and Mission Houses.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaʻawaloa

Kealakekua translates as ‘pathway of the gods’ and is one of the most significant historic and cultural places in Hawaiʻi.

Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park is comprised of portions of the Kealakekua and Kaʻawaloa ahupuaʻa, which surround Kealakekua Bay. From Kaʻawaloa south to Palemano Point, the bay measures about one and one-half miles in length and about one mile in width.

“The Sandy beech forms the West side, behind which is a grove of Coco nut trees & a pond of indifferent water; on the N side of this beach lies a Village, & the Well we waterd at, which is close to the Sea & under the high hill.”

“At the other end of the beach is the Morai, or Oheekeeow (heiau of Hikiau.) A field of Taboo’d ground seperates the Morai from a Village to the s, or rather a continued range of Stragling houses in that direction.” (King; Maly)

Kealakekua was selected by the aliʻi as one of the seven royal centers of Kona in the 1700s, because of its sheltered bay and abundance of natural resources.

Kaʻawaloa, meaning ‘ the distant ʻawa plant’, is a flat, fan-shaped lava peninsula near sea level, which rises gradually to the edge of the 600-ft Pali Kapu O Keoua. These forty acres of land define the northwest side of Kealakekua Bay.

Historically, Kaʻawaloa was the royal burial grounds of Hawaiʻi’s rulers and their families, including Kalaniopuʻu, the ruling chief in power when Captain Cook sailed into Kealakekua Bay.

The British ships, Discovery and Resolution, under the command of Captain James Cook, sailed into Kealakekua Bay on January 17, 1779; Cook was killed at Kaʻawaloa on February 14, 1779.

In their journals, Cook’s crew recorded four “villages” of about 80 houses each along the shoreline around Kealakekua Bay. Settlements lined the bay in the pre-contact period, as do the small residential communities of Nāpōʻopoʻo and Keʻei, today.

“The Towns of the Natives are built along the Sea side. At Cari’ca’coo’ah (Kealakekua) Bay there were three, one (Kealakekua-Nāpoʻopoʻo) on the SE-tern side of the Bay which was very large extending near two miles along the shore, another (Kaʻawaloa) upon the NWtern side which was not so large, and a small Village (Palemano) in the cod or bottom of the Bay.”

“At the back of the villages upon the Brow of the Hill are their plantations of Plantains, Potatoes, Tarrow, Sugar Canes &c, each mans particular property is fenced in with a stone wall; they have a method of making the Sugar Cane grow about the walls so that the stones are not conspicuous at any distance, but the whole has the appearance of fine green fences.” (Clerke; Maly)

“Kaʻawaloa, at the landing-place on the north side of Kealakekua bay, however conveniently accessible to the people of the district, who live much along the shores, was cramped and rocky, being composed almost exclusively of lava.”

“It was hot, dry, and barren, affording neither brook nor well, nor spring of fresh water, nor field, nor garden-spot for plantation, though a few cocoanut trees, so neighborly to the sea, find nourishment there.” (Bingham; Maly)

As the west learned of Hawaiʻi, this area became known as one of the first major shipping and provisioning port for ships involved in exploration, whaling and trans-Pacific trade.

About 40-years after Cook’s visit, the missionaries arrived and established one of the earliest mission stations in Hawai‘i at Kaʻawaloa in 1824.

Access was improved to Kaʻawaloa and Nāpoʻopoʻo with the development of cart roads to transport goods from the bay to upland communities.

By the 1850s, traditional fishing and farming were giving way to ranching and coffee. Cattle were herded down the roads to wharfs at Nāpoʻopoʻo and Kaʻawaloa where they were loaded onto ships in the bay.

Nāpoʻopoʻo Light was established in 1908 at Kaʻawaloa on the north side of Kealakekua Bay (but apparently named for Nāpoʻopoʻo Landing on the south side of the bay.) The 22-foot light tower was built in 1922.

Several families remained at Kaʻawaloa until World War II, but most of the activity had shifted to Nāpoʻopoʻo by that time.

In 1969 the state set aside the entire bay as a marine life conservation district (MLCD.) The MLCD is inshore of a straight line between Kaʻawaloa point and the north end of Nāpōʻopoʻo Beach Park. The cove fronting the Captain Cook Monument is a popular snorkeling area.

On December 12, 1973 the Kaʻawaloa area was designated as the Kealakekua Bay Historical District (a District w/multiple sites) and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The obelisk monument commemorating Captain Cook was constructed in 1874, near the spot where Cook died. (Contrary to urban legend, the monument site is not owned by the British Government; ownership is in the name of the British Consul General (the individual) – a representative would check in with DLNR, from time to time.)

While at DLNR, we issued a curator agreement to Hale Mua – The Royal Order of King Kamehameha I to help protect the sites under DLNR’s jurisdiction and to help provide public access.

The photo captures the awa ceremony we participated in to commemorate the signing of the Curator Agreement. (It was a moving experience; I was proud and honored to be there.  Yes, that is me, all by myself (representing the State,) and the descendent families, members of the Order and others on the other side.)

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Hilo Teachers School

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawai­ʻi in 1820 marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The missionaries were the teachers and the chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

Reverend David Belden Lyman and his wife, Sarah Joiner Lyman arrived in Hawai‘i in 1832, members of the fifth company of missionaries sent to the Islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

When the arrived in Hilo … “there were no foreign residents, save the Missionaries who proceeded us. There was but one frame building in this region, that built by Mr. [Joseph] Goodrich.”

“There were no roads, only footpaths, no fences and the Wailuku River was crossed on a plank … I might add that there were no trees except the breadfruit, which were abundant and flourishing. Coconut trees fringed the beach. The people were numerous and had a healthy look … very friendly.”

“A few schooners, owned by the chiefs, came here occasionally, not to bring blessings to the natives, but to levy contributions of tapa, nuts, dried fish, pigs, etc …” (Sarah Joiner Lyman; Lothian)

The missionaries soon saw that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaii would be largely dependent upon the success of its schools. 

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the printing of 140,000 copies of the pī­ʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers.  (Laimana)

In 1830 “Mr. [Lorrin] Andrews left Lahaina to go to the aid of the Hilo Station and he started a school for the improvement of the teachers.” (Lothian)

In 1831, Lahainaluna Seminary, was created in Maui to be a school for teachers and preachers so that they could teach on the islands. The Mission then established “feeder schools” that would transmit to their students’ fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and religious training, before admission to the Lahainaluna.

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built 1,103 schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 52,882 students.  (Laimana)

In 1832, “The school system was admirable for the times; there being school buildings through the two districts at convenient distances for all to attend, and they did pretty generally attend. And all whose eyes were not dim with age learned to read.”

“Each school had two sets of teachers, and whilst one was teaching, the other was here attending the teachers school, which was taught by the missionaries.” (Sarah Joiner Lyman; Lothian)

On January 6, 1835, “our children’s (Station) school commenced, eighty children present, sixty knew their letters. A number of the more forward (ie. advanced) children are employed as monitors to assist the less forward.”

In 1836, “For several years the forming of a boy’s boarding school had been discussed at the Annual Meetings and while they were all in favor of said venture they were not sure of its success; no one had offered to start a school.”

“At the 1836 meeting it was decided that the school should be in Hilo ….. ‘leaving it for the brothern to decide as to who should develop the much desired thing. The great object in view was to train more intelligent teachers for the common schools. So we were given carte blanche for the Island of Hawaii.’” (Sarah Joiner Lyman Journal; Lothian)

“Mr. Abner Wilcox, who had arrived with the recent Company that spring [1836], was assigned to Hilo to take charge of the teachers school and the educational department of the boarding school [Hilo Boarding School].”

In October 1836, two thatch houses were constructed near Lyman’s house and on October 3 the school opened with eight boarders, but the number soon increased to twelve.

The school was operated to an extent on a manual labor program and the boys cultivated the land to produce their own food. (The boys’ ages ranged from seven to fourteen.)

“Mr. Lyman who was brought up on a farm had an abiding faith in the value of manual labor; and his work in Hilo had convinced him that such activity in both primitive and introduced vocation was as necessary as book learning during the period of transition from one culture to another.”  (Lothian)

Hilo Boarding School, under the leadership of the Lymans, was an immediate success. In 1837, six graduates were sent to Lahainaluna Seminary.

At first, greater emphasis was placed upon producing teachers and preachers than upon molding farmers or craftsmen.  However, with the loss of Lahainaluna to the government, the Hilo school became reoriented to stress vocational training.

Hilo Boarding School was never a purely vocational institution, however, its founder’s focus of educating the head, heart and hand carried throughout its history (rigorous academic drills (Head), religious/moral (Heart) and manual/vocational (Hand) training).

In 1839, the old thatch buildings were torn down and Lyman purchased the entire first shipment of lumber to arrive in Hilo to build a new school building, as well as a cookhouse and infirmary which would accommodate sixty to seventy boys.

The new school building lodged fifty-five pupils in its first year, most of them coming from outside Hilo.  In 1840, sugar cultivation commenced on adjacent mission land, and was worked entirely by the boys of the school along with a “monthly concert” of labor by all members of the parish. The cane was probably ground in a Chinese-owned mill in Hilo.

Lahainaluna was transferred from being operated by the American missionaries to the control of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1849.  (By 1864, only Lahainaluna graduates were considered qualified to hold government positions such as lawyers, teachers, district magistrates and other important posts.)

“The fact that Lahainaluna became a Government and the public schools starting high schools started the Hilo Boarding school moving into a new era. The Boarding School began as an academic institution whose purpose was to teach boys and young men and prepare them so they could attend Lahainaluna School and … come out as teachers and ministers”. (Lothian)

More than one-third of the boys who had attended Hilo Boarding School eventually became teachers in the common schools of the kingdom. In 1850 the Minister of Public Instruction, Richard Armstrong, reported that Hilo Boys School “is one of our most important schools. It is the very life and soul of our common school on that large island.”

Common schools (where the 3 Rs were taught) sprang up in villages all over the islands.  In these common schools, classes and attendance were quite irregular, but nevertheless basic reading and writing skills (in Hawaiian) and fundamental Christian doctrine were taught to large numbers of people.  (Canevali)

The Hilo Boarding School closed in 1925, although its facilities were used for several years thereafter.  It first became a community center.

Then, in 1947, it was the first home of the Hilo Branch of the University of Hawaiʻi a center of the University Extension Division.  UH programs expanded there with a permanent summer school in 1948 – then, in 1949, the institution changed its name to University of Hawaiʻi, Hilo center (which later moved to its present site on Lanikāula Street, in 1955.)

All of the Hilo Boarding School buildings are gone; in 1980 the Hilo Center affiliated with the Boy’s Clubs of America – Hilo Boys and Girls Club now occupies the site.

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Establishing the Waiakea – Hilo Mission Station

The first American Protestant missionaries first anchored in Hawai‘i on April 4, 1820.  “[T]he first mission station on the Hawaiian Islands [was established] at Kailua, on the Island of Hawaii. However, unfortunately, within eight months, this mission station was temporarily closed.” (Nettie Hammond Lyman)

“In April of 1823, a second band of missionaries arrived in Honolulu. The increased numbers made it possible for one or more new stations to be started.”

“There had been a desire during these three years to resume the Kailua Station, and to establish a second station on Hawaii Island, the largest island of the group, and the most important, on account of its size, its large population and it natural resources.”

“It seemed desirable to make a careful survey of the entire island of Hawaii before deciding upon the location of any new station. By June 23, 1823, arrangements were completed …”

“… an exploring party, consisting of Rev Asa Thurston and Rev William Ellis, and, from the newly arrived missionaries, Rev Artemas Bishop and Mr Joseph Goodrich was formed. Mr Harwood, an ingenious mechanic, joined the party out of curiosity and a desire to be helpful.”

“Four months were spent in this exploration. Studies were made of the geographical character, the agricultural possibilities, and the customs of the people. Preaching services were held, visits made, and the desirability of establishing a mission and establishing schools in their midst, were discussed.”

“Two immediate results followed this exploration.  The former station at Kailua, which had been closed for three years, was resumed in November of this year, 1823, and arrangements were under way to start a new station in January in Waiakea, in Hilo.”  (Nettie Hammond Lyman)

“The face of the country in the vicinity of Waiakea is the most beautiful we have yet seen, which is probably occasioned by the humidity of the atmosphere, the frequent rains that fall here, and the long repose which the district has experienced from volcanic emptions.”

“The light and fertile soil is formed by decomposed lava, with a considerable portion of vegetable mould. The whole is covered with luxuriant vegetation, and the greater part of it formed into plantations, where plantains, bananas, sugar-cane, taro, potatoes, and melons, come to the greatest perfection.”

“Groves of cocoa-nut and breadfruit trees are seen in every direction loaded with fruit, or clothed with abundant foliage. The houses are mostly larger and better built than those of many districts through which we had passed.”

“We thought the people generally industrious; for in several of the less fertile parts of the district we saw small pieces of lava thrown up in heaps, and potato vines growing very well in the midst of them, though we could scarcely perceive a particle of soil.”

“Taking every circumstance into consideration, this appears a most eligible spot for a missionary station. The fertility of the soil, the abundance of fresh water, the convenience of the harbour, the dense population, and the favourable reception we have met with, all combine to give it a stronger claim to immediate attention than any other place we have yet seen, except Kairua.”

“There are 400 houses in the bay, and probably not less than 2000 inhabitants, who would be immediately embraced in the operations of a missionary station here, besides the populous places to the north and south, that might be occasionally visited by itinerant preachers from Waiakea. (William Ellis)

“ln the afternoon we waited on Maaro [Ma‘alo] the chief, to ask his opinion respecting missionaries settling permanently in his neighbourhood. He said, perhaps it would be well; that if the king and chiefs approved of it, he should desire it.”

“We asked if he would patronize and protect missionaries, and their families, provided the king and chiefs approved of their settling at Waiakea. He answered, ‘Yes, certainly,’ and, at the same time, pointed out several places where they might build their houses.” (Ellis)

“We told him that the king, Karaimoku [Kalanimōku], Kaahumanu, and the governor, approved of instructors coming to teach the people of Waiakea; but that we were also desirous to obtain his opinion, before any arrangements were made for their removal from Oahu.”

“He again repeated that he thought it would be a good thing; and that if the missionaries came with the approbation of the king and chiefs, he should be glad to witness their arrival. We then took leave of Maaro, and the chiefs that were with him.”  (Ellis)

“Hilo as a major division of Hawaii included the southeastern part of the windward coast most of which was in Hamakua, to the north of Hilo Bay. This, the northern portion, had many scattered settlements above streams running between high, forested kula lands, now planted with sugar cane.”

“From Hilo Bay southeastward to Puna the shore and inland are rather barren and there were few settlements. The population of Hilo was anciently as now concentrated mostly around and out from Hilo Bay, which is still the island’s principal port.”

“The Hilo Bay region is one of lush tropical verdure and beauty, owing to the prevalence of nightly showers and moist warmth which prevail under the northeasterly trade winds into which it faces. (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“In the marshes surrounding Waiakea Bay, east of Hilo, taro was planted in a unique way known as kanu kipi.  Long mounds were built on the marshy bottom with their surface two or three feet above water level. Upon the top and along the sides of these mounds taro was planted.”

“Flood waters which occasionally submerged the entire mound are said to have done no harm, as the flow was imperceptible. This swampy land is now abandoned to rank grass.”

“Kipi (mounds) were also formerly made along Alenaio Stream above Hilo. We are told that farther seaward in Waiakea taro is still grown by the ingenious method of heaping up stones around a taro huli which is submerged in water, and held upright by chunks of lava; the stones presumably accumulate refuse enough to nourish the taro, along with the food taken in by the roots from lava and water.”

“On the lava-strewn plain of Waiakea and on the slopes between Waiakea and the Wailuku River, dry taro was formerly planted wherever there was enough soil. There were forest plantations in Pana‘ewa and in all the lower fern-forest zone above Hilo town and along the course of the Wailuku River.”  (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“On Saturday evening, January 24, 1824, the Waterwitch landed as Waiakea Bay, eight days after leaving Honolulu. In the party were Mr and Mrs Goodrich and Mr and Mrs Ruggles to take charge of the new station; Dr and Mrs Blatchley, to remain temporarily and Mr Levi Chamberlain and Rev Ellis to introduce the Mission, also Rev and Mrs Ely who were on their way to Kailua.”

The missionaries erected two houses and a church within two months after their arrival in the Waiakea area. The first church at this site was of pole and thatch construction; it was built about where the Hilo Iron Works building is situated.

At the time of the dedication of the Waiakea Mission Station. there were only two other churches in the Islands, one at Honolulu, O‘ahu and one at Waimea, Kauai. (NPS)

The first Waiakea Church was replaced with a second in December 31, 1825 (a thatched church near where Kalakaua Park is situated); later, October 15, 1829, it was replaced by another thatched church on Kino‘ole, near Waianuenue, and then another on Haili Street.

From 1820 until 1850, further development of Hilo proper was focused in this area around the mission. Constructed there were the Hilo Boarding School started by the missionaries, the missionary homes and government buildings including the royal cottages. Prior to this, the Hawaiian community development had centered one and one-half miles to the east, southeast in the Waiakea section of Hilo.  (NPS)

During the late 1830s, Reverend Titus Coan increased the size of his congregation scattered along the east coast of the Big Island to 7,000 people in what was termed the ‘great Awakening’. (NPS)

The Waiakea-Hilo Mission, the largest of the mission stations, encompassed a territory of 920 square miles; 415 square miles in the Hilo District and 505 in the Puna District. The population was roughly estimated as from 12,000 to 20,000.

Of these, 7,000 were enrolled in the schools, (1831) with native teachers (who had scarcely more education than their pupils), and 7,000 were reported (1830) as church members”. (Lyman)

“A mighty wind having prostrated our large meeting-house, we commenced, during the winter of 1840-1, to collect materials for our first framed building. All the men who had axes went into the highland forest to fell trees and hew timber. … When the materials were brought together, we employed a Chinese carpenter at a reasonable price.” (Coan)

“This was the first framed church edifice built in Hilo, and in this building, capable of seating about 2,000 people. … When our first framed church building became old and dilapidated, we decided on replacing it with an edifice of stone and mortar.”

“But after a year’s hard toil in bringing stones on men’s shoulders, and after having dug a trench some six feet deep for the foundations without coming to the bed-rock, we, by amicable agreement, dismissed our mason and engaged two carpenters.” (Coan)

“The corner-stone  [of the present Haili Church] was laid November 14, 1857, and the building was dedicated on the 8th of April, 1859. The material was good, and the workmanship faithful and satisfactory. … It was then the finest church edifice on the islands.” (Coan)

The name of the church is derived from the forest, Haili Kulamanu, (Paradise of the Birds) from which most of the ohia wood was cut, located 6 to 8 miles southwest of the church. The Hawaiians hewed the wood in the forest, then hauled it to the mission with drag ropes. (NPS)

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Curé d’Ars

It was during a Mass celebrated secretly behind barred doors by an anti-Revolution priest in a home near Écully, close to his native parish, that Jean-Baptiste-Marie (John) Vianney received his First Communion (at the age of 13,) which strengthened him in his inmost desire.

“If I were a priest I could win many souls for God,” he said to himself and to his fond mother.

“I will be a priest,” he affirmed.

Vianney, the 4th of 6-children, was born on May 8th, 1786 at Dardilly, eight miles north-west of Lyons, in 1786. Almost as soon as he was able to walk, the child accompanied his parents into the fields where he tended the sheep and the cows. His peasant parents were among those who remained faithful Catholics during the revolution, giving hospitality to visiting priests.

Napoleon was fighting across Europe, but his success was paid for with torrents of French blood. More and yet more drafts had to be levied to fill the gaps made in his regiments by their very victories.

In 1806, young Vianney and others were summoned; two years went by, but in the autumn of 1809 he was summoned to join up, though as a Seminarist he was in reality exempt from conscription.

It would seem that his name was not on the official list of Church students supplied by the diocesan authorities. Someone had blundered. The recruiting officer would listen neither to expostulation nor to entreaty.

Young Vianney was destined for the armies in Spain. His parents tried to find a substitute. For the sum of 3,000 francs and a gratuity, a certain young man agreed to go in his stead but he withdrew at the last moment.

On October 26th Jean Baptiste entered the barracks at Lyons only to fall ill. From Lyons they sent him to a hospital at Roanne where the Nuns in charge nursed him back to a semblance of health. When, on January 6th, 1810, infantryman Vianney left the hospital, he found that his draft had set out long ago.

He was now considered a deserter so that his only care must be not to be discovered; he assumed the name Jerome Vincent.

He opened a school for the village children under that name. For a time, for the sake of greater security, he lived and slept in the shed attached to the farmhouse.

In 1810 an imperial decree granted an amnesty to all deserters of the years 1806 to 1810. Vianney was covered by the decree, so he returned home and to resume his studies. After overcoming his weakness in learning Latin, at the age of 29, on August 13, 1815, Vianney became a priest.

In 1818, Vianney was made Curé d’Ars (Parish Priest of Ars,) a village with a population of 200 not very far from Lyons.

He founded a sort of orphanage for destitute girls. It was called ‘The Providence’ and was the model of similar institutions established later all over France.

But the chief labor of the Vianney was the direction of souls. He had not been long at Ars when people began coming to him from other parishes, then from distant places, then from all parts of France, and finally from other countries.

As early as 1835, his bishop forbade him to attend the annual retreats of the diocesan clergy because of ‘the souls awaiting him yonder.’

During the last ten years of his life, he spent from sixteen to eighteen hours a day in the confessional.

One day he was hearing confessions in the sacristy. All of a sudden he came to the door and told one of the men who acted as ushers to call a lady at the back of the church, telling him how he could identify her. However, the man failed to find her.

‘Run quickly, she is now in front of such a house.’ The man did as he was told and found the lady who was going away, disappointed at not having spoken to Vianney.

At times he came out of the confessional and summoned certain persons from among the crowd and those so selected declared that only a divine instinct could have told him of their peculiar and pressing need.

His advice was sought by bishops, priests, religious, young men and women in doubt as to their vocation, sinners, persons in all sorts of difficulties and the sick.

In 1855, the number of pilgrims had reached twenty thousand a year. The most distinguished persons visited Ars for the purpose of seeing the holy curé and hearing his daily instruction.

Vianney became ill. In the afternoon of August 2, 1859, he received the Last Sacraments: ‘How good God is,’ he said; ‘when we can no longer go to Him, He comes to us.’

At 2 o’clock in the morning of August 4th, 1859, whilst a fearful thunderstorm burst over Ars, and whilst M. Monnin read these words of the “Commendation of a Soul”: ‘May the holy angels of God come to meet him and conduct him into the heavenly Jerusalem,’ the Curé d’Ars gave up his soul to God.

Miracles associated with Vianney are of three classes: first, the obtaining of money for his charities and food for his orphans; secondly, supernatural knowledge of the past and future; thirdly, healing the sick, especially children.

He was beatified in 1905, and in the same year on April 12th he was declared patron saint of the priests of France by Pius X. In 1929, four years after his canonization, Pope Pius XI declared him ‘patron saint of the priests of the whole world’.

Pope John Paul II said no less by repeating three times that ‘The Cure of Ars remains an outstanding and unparalleled model for all nations both of the accomplishment of the ministry and the holiness of the minister’.

‘Oh, how great a reality lies in the priest!’ Jean-Marie Vianney would exclaim, for he can give God to men and men to God ; he is the witness of the tenderness of the Father for each person and the artisan of salvation.

The Curé d’Ars, an elder brother in the priesthood, is the saint to whom every priest in the world can come in order to entrust his ministry or his priestly life to the Cure’s intercession. (Lots of information here is from St John Vianney.)

Several schools and parishes were formed and named for St John Vianney. One such is the Parish and school in Enchanted Lake, in Kailua, Oahu, established in 1962.

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