St. Andrews Cathedral | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 10, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

The Cathedral of Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew’s Cathedral is a branch of Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church; belonging to the Anglican Communion (also called “Episcopal” in the United States and Scotland).

Kamehameha IV and his Queen Emma rejoiced at the birth of their son, Albert Kauikeaouli Leiopapa a Kamehameha, on May 20, 1858.

They were both very interested in the Anglican/Episcopal Church and in 1859 asked Queen Victoria to send them clergy of the Church of England. In part, they wished their young son to be baptized and “be instructed in the fundamentals of Church of England worship.”

In 1861, the King and Queen gave land, part of their royal garden, on which a Cathedral was to be built. While planning and fund-raising began a small Pro-Cathedral was constructed of wood on the corner of Nuʻuanu and Kuakini Streets in 1862.

This would remain in use for more than twenty years, the time it would take for the first phase of the cathedral to reach completion.

Thomas Staley was consecrated in England to become the first Bishop of Hawaiʻi. In anticipation of the arrival of the Bishop, the King translated much of the Book of Common Prayer into the Hawaiian language.

After the Bishop’s arrival in Honolulu, the King and Queen were baptized and confirmed in the Anglican Church. (This was the second baptism for each; in their childhood they had been baptized in the Calvinist faith.)

The first services of the church were held on October 12, 1862 (150-years ago today,) amidst a time of mourning for the young Prince of Hawaiʻi, the only son of the King and Queen who died shortly before the arrival of the Bishop.

The subsequent untimely death of King Kamehameha IV on St. Andrew’s Day, November 30, 1863, led his brother, Lot (King Kamehameha V) to dedicate the cathedral to St. Andrew as a fitting memorial to a King.

Queen Emma proceeded alone to lead the project. She traveled to England to raise money, to commission architects, and to purchase stone from Caen in Normandy, which was shipped to Hawaiʻi as ballast in sailing ships.

The corner stone was laid March 5, 1867 by King Kamehameha V and work was begun on the foundation and choir sections of the building (he viewed building the cathedral as a tribute to his brother.)

The first twenty years were a struggle with and for money, materials and men, but with the aid of supporters, the nave (the main body and central approach to the high altar) of the cathedral was completed in time for Christmas, 1886.

Queen Emma did not live to worship in the Cathedral. She had died the previous year on St. Mark’s Day, 1885.

The first two bays of the building were completed in 1902 and the building was consecrated at that time. Also in that year, the Church of England deemed it appropriate to transfer its responsibility for the church in Hawaiʻi to the Episcopal Church of the United States.

In 1908, a plan for a tower in the same gothic style as the church was conceived and it was dedicated in 1912. It was not until 1958 that the final two bays of the nave were completed, along with the entrance area, vestibule and the Great West Window.

The new Anglican Church in Hawaii was called the Hawaiian Reformed Catholic Church, indicative of the evolution of the Church of England of the time. The name would change in 1870 to the Anglican Church in Hawaii.

Kamehameha IV and his Queen Emma dedicated their marriage to serving the health, educational and spiritual needs of their people.

To these ends they founded The Queen’s Hospital (now The Queen’s Medical Center), several schools, including The St Andrew’s Priory School and St. Albans (now ʻIolani School), and were instrumental in bringing the Anglican church to the islands.

While St. Andrew’s Cathedral was begun in what has been called the Golden Age of the Hawaiian monarchy, it continued through the upheaval of the overthrow of the monarchy, garnering in those troubled times the allegiance of both Queen Liliʻuokalani, Hawaiʻi’s last monarch, and Sanford Dole, President of the Republic of Hawaiʻi.

Queen Liliʻuokalani took on Queen Emma’s role as a visible and energetic leader in the work of the church, moving into the twentieth century.

In the Hawaiian tradition, two red and yellow kahili stand at the front of the cathedral, serving as physical reminders of the royal patrons of the cathedral.

Historically, there were two congregations. One congregation was at first composed of Hawaiian-speaking worshipers, and the other was composed of English-speaking worshipers. The Hawaiian language is still used in some of the services.

In 2002, the Royal Patrons Chapel was created, the Wahi Kapu, or Sacred Space, dedicated to the memory of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

December 18, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

St Peter’s Episcopal Church

One might wonder why two Episcopal Churches are within a block from each other (St Andrews Cathedral and St Peter’s Episcopal Church – at Emma’s Square in Honolulu.)

What may appear odd and unnecessary placement at first makes more sense as we look back (in context of those times) …

Kamehameha IV and his Queen were both very interested in the Anglican/Episcopal Church and in 1859 asked Queen Victoria to send them clergy of the Church of England and in 1861 gave land on which a Cathedral was to be built.

While planning and fund-raising began a small Pro-Cathedral was constructed of wood on the corner of Nuʻuanu and Kuakini Streets in 1862.

The first services of the church were held on October 12, 1862, amidst a time of mourning for the only son of the King and Queen had died shortly before the arrival of the Bishop.

The subsequent untimely death of King Kamehameha IV on St Andrew’s Day, November 30, 1863, led his brother, King Kamehameha V to dedicate the cathedral to St Andrew as a fitting memorial to a King.

Queen Emma traveled to England to raise money, to commission architects and to purchase stone from Caen in Normandy, which was shipped to Hawaiʻi. The corner stone was laid March 5, 1867 by King Kamehameha V and the cathedral was completed in time for Christmas, 1886. (Queen Emma died before completion of the cathedral.)

That same year, St Peter’s Episcopal Church was founded on land given by Queen Emma in 1885; however, the history leading to its founding is a little more complicated, as well as telling to the creation of neighboring Episcopal churches. We need to look back a little farther.

The first sugar mill was introduced to Hawai‘i by a Chinese in 1802. As interest in sugar production grew, to be commercially profitable, sugar plantations had to import foreign laborers. The Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society, which was founded in 1850, began to bring workers to sugar plantations starting in 1852; the first came from China. (Fan)

After the signing of the Reciprocity Trade Agreement between the United States and Hawai‘i in 1875, there was a tremendous increase in immigration; by 1884 the Chinese laborers constituted about a quarter (22.6 percent) of the total population of Hawai‘i.

Many of the Chinese who came, and subsequently their children, had Christian backgrounds.

After the Opium War of the early 1840s, between Britain and China, the mainland of China was opened to western missionaries. Chinese population centers became of special interest to European Christian missionaries.

There was a heavy emphasis on Christian education. Children of converts, both boys and girls, were placed in parish and boarding schools, and a seminary trained future pastors and teachers, many of whom emigrated to Hawai‘i. (Kaestens)

The Chinese contract laborers coming to Hawai‘i included Christians who had been baptized in China. (Fan) Many ended up on the sugar plantations in Kohala.

Receiving preaching of the gospel in their native tongue and converting others to Christianity, around 1882, the St Paul’s Chinese Mission in Makapala, Kohala was established. (Char)

A few years later, the founding families of St Peter’s Church arrived on O‘ahu by way of Kohala on the Big Island as Christian families from China.

Brought to the Islands to work in the sugar plantations, following their contracted services, many moved to Honolulu for other work opportunities.

The congregation of the first Chinese church in the Anglican communion of Honolulu met at a store and at the Pro-Cathedral on the Cathedral grounds until its size demanded a building of its own. In 1914, the current church building was completed.

It is suggested that the naming of the churches (and their proximity) relate to the relationship of St Andrew and St Peter. St Andrew, the first disciple of Jesus, was the brother of St Peter (Simon Peter,) another disciple/apostle.

Both lived and worked as fishermen in Galilee but gave up their lifelong careers and lifestyles, leaving everything behind, to follow Jesus. They were each part of the original 12 apostles of Christ, leaders of the early Christian Church.

St Peter’s is one of the oldest historically Chinese congregations among Asian American Episcopal churches. History and demographics have transformed St Peter’s along with the rest of Hawai‘i.

While remembering and honoring its Chinese heritage and founders, the present St Peter’s church community represents the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, cosmopolitan dynamics of Honolulu and Hawai‘i. (St Peter’s)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

St_Peters_Episcopal_Church

St Peters Episcopal Church

St Peter’s Episcopal Church

St Pauls Episcopal Church-Makalapa

Pro-Cathedral of St. Andrew’s built in 1866

Cathedral-Church_of_Saint_Andrew

St Andrews-St Peters-Priory-layout

March 23, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Stone House

In 1840, a land dispute between Mr. Richard Charlton, the first British ambassador to Hawaiʻi, and the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi would spark the infamous “Paulet episode” which led to the forced cession of the Hawaiian Islands to Britain in 1843. (KSBE)

“The restoration of the Hawaiian Monarchy in July 1843 – ending the five-months-long illegal seizure and occupation by the Englishman, Lord George Paulet – created the chief, and indeed the only, notable site in Kulaokahu‘a.”

“The exact locale – the future Thomas Square – leaped into history with, literally, a bang. On the morning of July 31, two pavilions decorated with greens and a flagstaff stood on the plain east of town.”

“On the street line to the west, tents from warships in port punctuated their arid surroundings. A thick mat of rushes paved the line of march. Thousands waited for the ceremonies of the day.”

“At 9:30, Rear Admiral Richard Thomas of the British navy called on the King to sign official documents. A half hour later, several companies of English sailors and marines were drawn up on a line facing the sea, with an artillery corps on their right.”

“Admiral Thomas and his staff arrived in the King’s state carriage, while the Monarch himself came on horseback, accompanied by the household troops. The artillery honored His Majesty with a 21-gun salute.”

“At a given signal, the British flag officer bowed his colors; the British flag was then lowered and the Hawaiian flag raised amid salvos, first from Thomas’s HMS Carysfort, then from English and American warships, merchantmen and whalers, and finally from the Honolulu fort and the Punchbowl battery.”

“A great cheer arose as the wind caught the folds of the Hawaiian flag. Admiral Thomas read a long declaration, after which marines, sailors, and artillery passed in a review witnessed by Commodore Lawrence Kearney and officers of the USS Constellation.”

“Hawaii’s sovereignty had been restored.” (Greer)

“‘Her Majesty’s Government,’ we learn in a letter from the Earl of Aberdeen, ‘viewed with the highest approbation, the whole of his proceedings at the Sandwich Islands, as marked by a great propriety and an admirable judgment throughout …’”

“‘… and as calculated to raise the character of British authorities for justice, moderation, and courtesy of demeanor, in the estimation of the natives of those remote countries, and of the world.’” (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)

“Richard (Darton) Thomas was born at Saltash, county of Cornwall. … This officer entered the navy the 26th of May, 1790, on board the Cumberland 74, Captain John M. Brule, and sailed in the course of the same year with a squadron under Rear Admiral Cornish, for the West Indies”. (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)

“The King too, Kamehameha III, moved by gratitude, intimated a wish that the Rear Admiral would sit for his portrait in full uniform, that His Majesty ‘might have and preserve in his palace the likeness of a British officer who …’”

“‘… in restoring to him his kingdom, dared to act on his own sense of right, counting upon the approval of his magnanimous, Queen, in which he was not disappointed.’” (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)

“No nobler men ever touched those Islands, than some of the officers of the American and English navies.” (Richard Armstrong) Admiral Thomas died in Stonehouse, Devon on August 21, 1857.

“Our home ‘Stone House’ was named after the English residence of Admiral Thomas, of the British Navy, who restored the national flag which his subordinate, Lord George Paulet, had, in his absence, hauled down, taking possession of the Islands in the name of the Queen.”

“Lord George was compelled by the Admiral to restore the flag and salute it with his own guns. The day was thereafter kept as a national holiday, and the name of Admiral Thomas is held in grateful remembrance.” (Richard Armstrong)

Later, in 1881, the Sacred Hearts Father’s College of Ahuimanu moved from the windward side into the former Rev. Richard Armstrong’s home, “Stonehouse” on 91 Beretania Street adjoining Washington Place.

At that time, the name ‘College of St. Louis’ was given to the institution in honor of Bishop Louis Maigret’s patron Saint, Louis IX.

Then, on September 19, 1883, the Punahou Preparatory School was opened for the full term at Stone House “Three of the trustees were present at the opening exercises, together with many parents of the pupils, of whom there were 85 present, with a prospect of a larger attendance …”

“It is the design of the trustees to have no pupils at Punahou proper, except such as are qualified to proceed with the regular academic course.” (The Friend, October 4, 1883)

By the 1898-1899 school year, there were 247 students in grades 1-8 in the Punahou Preparatory School. Later, in 1902, the Preparatory School was moved to what is now known as the Punahou campus, where it occupied Charles R Bishop Hall.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Armstrong-Stonehouse

October 12, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiting Isles

“The isles shall wait for His law.”
(Isaiah 42:4)

By that “Law” for which in the vision of the prophet the isles were to wait must be understood the revelation of love and mercy set forth to the world in the incarnation, sufferings, death, and exaltation of the Divine Redeemer …

… carried on in its progress towards completion, and rendered effectual to the individual soul, by the Holy Spirit in the Church. It implies at once the inward spiritual agency described by our Lord as a “kingdom within us,” …

… and what must ever be its outward expression and embodiment,–the kingdom of Christ visible here on earth, His Mystical Body, the blessed company of all faithful people, His Holy Catholic Church.

The whole history of that far-distant group of islands with which we are concerned is an exemplification of the prediction, “The isles shall wait for His law.”

Two men, John Young and Isaac Davies, the former a Liverpool shipwright, fell into the hands of the chief of Hawaii–one who had an intense wish to raise his people to the level of those strangers who, he saw, were so far beyond himself in the power which superior knowledge always gives.

They took up their permanent abode with him, and became his chief advisers. Dissatisfaction ere long sprung up in the mind of Kamehameha,–for that was the name of the chieftain,–with the then existing religious system …

… and when Vancouver, after repeated visits to the islands during several years, finally took leave of them in 1794, he begged the captain to procure teachers from England to instruct his people in the faith of Christ.

That unhappily was not a missionary age. It was a time of unreality and spiritual deadness in the Church of England: “the love of many had waxed cold;” and it is not therefore to be wondered at, though sadly to be regretted, that such an opportunity was lost.

Had it been seized, how different from the actual one might have been the religious history of the various achipelagoes of the Pacific!

After the death of Kamehameha, still in a state of heathenism and unbaptized we find his successor Rihoriho issued an edict abolishing idolatry and the old religion. This met with some opposition; a battle was fought, but victory proved on the side of the reforming party.

And it was when the way had been thus remarkably prepared that some Congregationalist Missionaries visited them from the United States of America.

They were not permitted to land till the king had assured himself by consultation with Mr. Young that they would speak of the same God and Saviour as the English missionaries, whom they had been in vain expecting for the quarter of a century, which had then elapsed since the petition made to Vancouver.

Christianity under this form made rapid progress among the people. Rihoriho and his queen came over to England in the year 1823, and, it will be remembered, died in London. The accounts of his visit mention how the royal party attended the services of Westminster Abbey, with which they were much pleased.

May we not regard the series of applications which have reached our Church from these islands during seventy years or more, as a significant commentary on the prophet’s words, “The isles shall wait for Thy law?”

And now in more recent times, when the group has assumed an importance it had not before, when the developement of its productions with various forms of trade has collected in Honolulu a foreign population …

… when a system of national education has brought the Hawaiian into a comparatively advanced state of civilization, when, too, Christianity, in the form of Congregationalism or the Roman Church, has become nominally the religion of the islands, the cry for help has again reached our shores, and this time has not boon heard in vain.

The circumstances of the origin of the mission are too well known to need any detail of them on the present occasion. Nor need I remind you of several features in the work itself not without interest to the Church generally:

… how that we have here the first instance of our Reformed Church being invited by an independent sovereign to plant itself in his dominions; how, too, by the formation of this new diocese the only link is supplied which was wanting to make the girdle of her influence encircle the globe.

It is, however, rather on the nature and objects of the work to be done, than on its general aspects I ought now to dwell.

All who visit the islands bear testimony to the sad want of moral purity among them, no doubt in part due to the licentiousness of European and American sailors and others.

In touching accents the King lately complained to his Legislature, “Our acts are vain unless we can stay the wasting hand that is destroying our people. I feel a heavy responsibility in this matter” …

… accordingly he has encouraged by all the means in his power the institution of boarding schools for the education of native girls, taking them from home at an early age and raising them by the training of the ladies to a higher appreciation of their dignity as women.

The Sisters of the Sacred Heart have opened such schools in connexion with the Roman Church, and defective will be our machinery if no similar provision is made by us for furthering the same object.

As an English Mission, it is hoped, we may render valuable aid to the cause of primary education in the islands. It is in contemplation to give a more industrial and practical character to the system pursued in the State Schools, and gradually to bring about a displacement of the Hawaiian for the English tongue throughout the native population.

How inadequate the old language is as a vehicle of thought or moral training appears from the fact that there are no words in it whereby to express hope, gratitude, or chastity. …

The King says, “The importance of substituting English for Hawaiian schools I have already earnestly recommended and in again bringing the subject under your attention, I would touch upon a matter which I think of equal importance, and that is the raising the standard of elementary education in the Common Schools.

This latter object may be secured by the institution of Normal Schools, as recommended by the President but combined with the teaching of the English as a general thing throughout the kingdom, it must place the object beyond a peradventure.”

The foreigners centred there for the purposes of trade and agriculture, chiefly English and Americans, containing many professedly members of our Reformed Church or others who are willing to unite with her … will have to be tended and fed with Christ’s holy Word and Sacraments.

In the national jealousies, too, which usually prevail in a centre of resort such as this–one owing its independence to the forbearance and protection of its more powerful neighbours,–we have reason for care and circumspection.

The interest felt by the present very intelligent, high-principled, and even accomplished King in the realization of an English episcopate, the clinging on the part of the islanders from the first to England as the country to supply them with a religion they could trust …

… the co-operation of the English and many of the American residents in preparing for the reception of the mission, the baptism of the Prince of Hawaii, our own beloved Queen standing, by proxy, as the sponsor, with which ceremony the Church will, so to speak, be inaugurated–these are all hopeful signs.

When, too, I consider the warm sympathy and support extended to the Mission by my countrymen and fellow-churchmen during the months that have elapsed since my consecration,–shown by their liberal contributions no less than in the hearty prayers they have ever been ready to offer for its success …

… there is indeed reason “to be of good cheer and take courage.” For those loving tokens of interest and sympathy how can I ever be grateful enough?

And now, on the eve of departure with those brethren who have thrown in their lot with me, and are devoting themselves to this arduous enterprise, I have to ask you, on their behalf as well as my own, a continuance of your Christian sympathy and your prayers.

Surely religion is not all psalm-singing and gloom. While the heavy of heart and the unforgiven are welcome to groan and lament that over their souls no gladness and light have arisen …

… yet we would like to see merriment and rejoicing, in those whose spirits are so attuned, exhibit themselves especially on those great Christian occasions so eminently calculated to invite the mind to joy, thanksgiving, and gladness, such as Christmas Day, Easter Sunday, and Ascension Day.

We notice that this land is said to have been converted to Christianity … We would like to see Borne of the old-world secular festivals introduced, such as “May Day” for instance, to be celebrated with national sports, jubilee, and bonfires through every village and hamlet in the country. Were this properly taken in hand, it could not fail of the best results.

As it now is, the nation, as such, has no festival either religious or social, but gropes in the ashes of the past for some stray ember of a half-forgotten “mele,” which it chaunts with fear and trembling, lest its sound may provoke the ban of the preacher or the rebuke of religious martinet.

“Such were our reflections on seeing the bonfire on Monday last, and we turned away in sadness.” (This post includes portions of ‘A Sermon Preached at the Farewell Service of the (Anglican) Mission to the Sandwich Islands, in Westminster Abbey, July 23, 1862’ by the Right Rev. the Bishop of Honolulu.)

King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma were responsible for bringing the Anglican Church to Hawai‘i. This invitation culminated in the consecration of Thomas Nettleship Staley at Lambeth Palace on December 15, 1861 as Bishop of the Missionary Diocese of Honolulu. The first services of the church were held in Honolulu on October 12, 1862, upon their arrival.

Initially the church was called the Hawaiian Reformed Catholic Church but the name would change in 1870 to the Anglican Church in Hawai‘i. In 1902 it came under the Episcopal Church of the US.

This summary is from portions of a Sermon preached at the farewell service of the Mission to the Sandwich Islands in Westminster Abby, by Thomas Nettleship Staley, July 23, 1862. (The image shows St Andrew’s Pro Cathedral, called the English Church (built in 1866,) which was the temporary cathedral until St Andrews Cathedral was finished (1886.))

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

St._Andrew’s_Pro-Cathedral-called the English Church-was the temporary cathedral until the actual cathedral could be finished

April 25, 2013 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Queen Emma

In 1836, Honolulu wasn’t really a city; it was just a large village with only one main street, King Street, and less than 6,000 people – about 500 were white foreigners.

It was a major port for whaling ships, and as one writer put it, one of the most “unattractive” places in the world.

Emma, the future queen, was born “Emma Naea” in Honolulu on January 2, 1836 to Fanny Kekelaokalani Young, daughter of John Young, King Kamehameha I’s counselor, and Kaʻoanaʻeha, Kamehameha’s niece. Her father was high chief George Naea.

As was the custom, she was offered to her mother’s sister, Grace Kamaikui Rooke and her husband, Dr. T.C.B. Rooke as hānai daughter. Unable to have children of their own, the Rookes adopted Emma.

Emma grew up speaking both Hawaiian and English, the latter “with a perfect English accent.” She began formal schooling at age 5 in the Chief’s Children’s School, where she was quick and bright in her studies.

At age 13, Dr. Rooke hired an English governess, Sarah Rhodes von Pfister, to tutor young Emma. He also encouraged reading from his extensive library. As a writer, he influenced Emma’s interest in reading and books.

At 20, Emma became engaged to the king of Hawai‘i, Alexander Liholiho, (Kamehameha IV,) a 22-year-old who had ascended to the throne in 1855. The couple had known each other since childhood.

At the engagement party, accusations were made that Emma’s Caucasian blood made her not fit to be the Hawaiian queen, and her lineage was not suitable enough to be Alexander Liholiho’s bride.

However, the wedding was held as planned however, and the new queen soon became involved in the business of the kingdom, particularly that of saving the Hawaiian people from extinction.

In his first speech as King, Kamehameha IV stated the need for a hospital to treat the native population. Due to introduced diseases, the Hawaiian population had plummeted since the time of Captain Cook’s arrival to 70,000, with extinction a very real possibility.

The treasury was empty, so the king and his queen undertook the mission of soliciting enough funds to establish a proper hospital in Honolulu. Within a month, their personal campaign had raised $13,530, almost twice their original goal.

To recognize and honor Emma’s efforts, it was decided to call the new hospital “Queen’s.”

The King and Queen rejoiced at the birth of their son, Albert Kauikeaouli Leiopapa a Kamehameha, on May 20, 1858. The entire populace welcomed the new heir to the throne with joy, only to be stricken by utter grief four years later when the little boy died suddenly of “brain fever.”

Just 15 months later, Alexander Liholiho, (Kamehameha IV,) weakened by chronic asthma, died at age 29. In her grief, Queen Emma took a new name, Kaleleonalani, which means “flight of the heavenly chiefs.”

To ease her pain, Emma dedicated herself to many worthy causes, among which was organizing a hospital auxiliary of women to help with the ill. She also helped found two schools, St. Andrews Priory in Honolulu and St. Cross on Maui. Her work included the development of St. Andrews Cathedral. She journeyed to England where she and her friend, Queen Victoria, raised $30,000 for the construction or the cathedral.

“Queen Emma, or Kaleleonalani, the widowed queen of Kamehameha IV … refined by education and circumstances … is a very pretty, as well as a very graceful woman. She was brought up by Dr. Rooke, an English physician here, and though educated at the American school for the children of chiefs, is very English in her leanings and sympathies, an attached member of the English Church, and an ardent supporter of the “Honolulu Mission.” Socially she is very popular, and her exceeding kindness and benevolence, with her strongly national feeling as an Hawaiian, make her much beloved by the natives.” (Bird)

When King Lunalilo died in 1874, Emma became a candidate for the throne (the Kingdom had become a constitutional democracy). Lunalilo had wanted her to succeed him, but he failed to make the legal pronouncement before he died.

An election for a new sovereign was held. Although she campaigned actively, she lost the throne to David Kalākaua.

Politics was not her strong suit — humanitarianism was. Queen Emma was much loved by the people and hundreds of mele have been composed in her honor. Her humanitarian efforts set an example for Hawaii’s royal legacy of charitable bequests.

After her death on April 25, 1885 at age 49, she was given a royal funeral and laid to rest in Mauna ʻAla beside her husband and son.

“She was different from any of her contemporaries. Emma is Emma is Emma. There’s no one like her. A devout Christian who chose to be baptized in the Anglican church in adulthood, and a typically Victorian woman who wore widow’s weeds, gardened, drank tea, patronized charities and gave dinner parties, she yet remained quintessentially Hawaiian.” (Kanahele)

“In a way, she was a harbinger of things to come in terms of Hawaii’s multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society. You have to be impressed with her eclecticism — spiritually, emotionally and physically. She was kind of our first renaissance queen.” (Kanahele)

Queen Emma left the bulk of her estate, some 13,000 acres of land on the Big Island and in Waikiki on Oahu, in trust for the hospital that honors her. (Lots of good information here came from Queen’s Hospital)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+