Holy Sovereigns Day: The Feast of the Church in Hawaii
At the end of November, we will make a big-to-do at All Saints Honolulu. A large, light-strung canopy will be set up in my front yard. Chairs, benches, and carpets from the sanctuary will be arranged, with an altar and lectern on the grass, dressed for Holy Communion. A reredos and boughs of leaves will hang along the tentโs edge. Iโll harvest ko (sugar cane) and kalo (taro) from my yard. Inside, a table will hold pupus (refreshments): sweet haupia, my wifeโs homemade olena-flavored kombucha, red wine, and champagne in crystal glassesโa delight for both the eyes and belly.
We will begin the service in Hawaiสปian, singingย Himeni Hope. The readings and the gospel processional will all be polyglotโin Hawaiสปian and English. We will follow to a great degree neither the 2019 nor the 1928 Prayer Books, but rather the Holy Communion Service from King Kamehamehaโs translation of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (or as much as I, the non-native-Hawaiสปian celebrant, can achieve). Ki leaves will adorn the altar, and leis will adorn the images of the saints. Goodly amounts of incense will pour from the cruciform-shaped apertures of the thurible. Afterward, we will fellowship and make music, for nothing goes better with food than song, andโif my kalo harvest is goodโwe will also kuโi kalo together.
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The Feast of the Holy Sovereigns
No, this is not a description of how we plan to observe American Thanksgiving (though they fall near or sometimes on the same day this year). It describes a festal Eucharist for the unofficial feast day of the Holy Sovereigns:ย King Kamehameha IVย and his wife,ย Queen Emma. While they were added to the calendar of lesser feasts under The Episcopal Diocese of Honolulu, their names were never officially added to the cycle of lesser festivals in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer.
As unheard-of as they may be in the rest of the Anglican world, for those of us in Hawaiสปi, the importance of their role in the Anglican mission here cannot be overexaggerated: they are the ones whose calls for missionary bishops from the church of England was finally answered, who gave from their own wealth for the provision of mission and welfare of souls here in these islands, who walked the streets of Honolulu together raising funds to establish the Queenโs Hospital, and who gave the church in Hawaiสปi a translation of the Book of Common Prayer inย สปลlelo Hawaiสปi.
The Advent of the Holy Sovereigns
Alexander Liholiho [Alekanetero สปIolani Kalanikualiholiho Maka o สปIouli Kลซnuiฤkea o Kลซkฤสปilimoku] was born on February 9, 1834, to Mataio Kekลซanaลสปa, governor of Oahu, and Elizabeth Kฤซnaสปu, daughter of Kamehameha I. He was the favorite of his uncle, King Kamehameha III, who adopted him and proclaimed him heir to the throne under the constitution of 1852.
As a boy, he had been educated by congregationalist missionaries at the Chiefโs Childrenโs School, a school designed to teach and train the future leaders of Hawaiสปi. He was a natural leader and capable as a student, and, in addition to natural athletic abilities, he exercised a command of language.ย
Among his schoolmates was Emma Naสปea Rooke (Emalani Kalanikaumakaสปamano Kaleleonฤlani Naสปea Rooke), whose parents were high chiefs. Following the Hawaiian hฤnai tradition, Emma was adopted by her aunt Grace Kamaสปikuสปi and Dr. Thomas Rooke. Historian Ralph Kuykendall notes the โ[t]radition [which] says that Prince Alexander Liholiho and Emma Naสปea were betrothed by their parents immediately after Emmaโs birth.โ He also notes, importantly, however, how โthe decision of their parents on this delicate question had been afterwards happily confirmed by the young people themselves, between whom a deep and enduring affection existed.โ
Formation and Coronation
Shortly after leaving the Chiefโs Childrenโs School to study law, Alexander Liholiho and his brother Lot Kapuฤiwa accompanied Gerrit Judd, a congregationalist missionary and physician who resigned his post and renounced his American citizenship to serve King Kamehameha III as an advisor. The trip was designed to secure a tripartite treaty from the United States, England, and France, thereby securing Hawaiสปiโs independence and security.ย
While the trip itself did not achieve its intended purpose, it was incredibly formative for the future monarch. He wrote glowingly of the Anglican Church and of the welcome he received in England. In the United States, however, he was received with neither the welcome of visiting nobility nor the kindness of an equal. He recorded an event, for instance, when he was rudely asked to remove himself from his designated train car because he was assumed to be someoneโs valet or slave because of the color of his skin.
Alexander Liholiho ascended to the throne on January 11, 1855, taking the throne name Kamehameha IV. He was just twenty-one years old when he swore the oath and became king.ย
In that first year, he set out ambitiously to limit the power of American interests, establish a branch of the Church of England, and provide for the welfare of the native Hawaiสปian population, whose numbers had begun seriously to decrease. In subsequent years, he would even add territories: Lisianski and Laysan Islands in 1857 and Palmyra Atoll in 1862. Through this intense program, the young king was encouraged, with all speed, to marry and produce an heir.
The Royal Marriage
The last of these items occurred the following summer. On June 19, 1856, King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma were married in Kawaiahaสปo Church. Although they were wed in a congregationalist sanctuary by the Presbyterian minister Richard Armstrong, the ritual used was from the Book of Common Prayer and according to English custom.
Joy filled the court of the young sovereigns. Balls and soirees became a feature of courtly life, and in that same year, the King decreed that the 25th of December would be celebrated as a day of national thanksgiving, much to the chagrin of the congregationalist missionaries. Two years later, the couple gave birth to their son Albert Kamehameha (Albert Edward Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa a Kamehameha), affectionately hailed asย Ka Haku o Hawaiสปiย (the Lord of Hawaiสปi).ย
Their life, by all accounts, was filled with mutual joy and affection. The King and Queen referred to one another in private as โAleckโ and โEmmaโ and doted upon their little son. Writing to his wife on one occasion after a trip away, the King instructs her to โKiss baby and tell him papa will soon be homeโฆโ
Of Sin and Saintliness
In 1859, tragedy struck the reign of Kamehameha IV. During a trip to Maui with the Queen, their son, and friends, the King was moved by gossipโwhether careless or malicious remains uncertainโto suspect his close friend and secretary, Henry Nielson, of some indiscretion involving the Queen.
He retreated to a small boat for over a day to think over the matter. After what appears to be less like careful reflection and more like private brooding fueled by heavy drinking and assuming the worst, the King returned to shore and shot Nielson with a pistol. Though gravely wounded, Nielson survived, and no legal action followed. As anyone who knew the Queenโs moral fiber could guess, the rumors were baseless. Nielson lived two more years, but the King emerged deeply changed.
In the aftermath, the penitent King renewed efforts to establish an Anglican mission. He envisioned not just priests but a missionary bishop to create an Episcopate in his kingdom. With support from R.C. Wylie, his brother Lot Kapuฤiwa, his wife, British subjects, former British subjects, and American Episcopalians, he became the leader of a movement to bring an Anglican mission to Hawaii.
The Queenโs Hospital and the Kingโs Prayer Book
1859 also saw the founding of the Queenโs Hospital by the Holy Sovereigns, for which they had personally gone from door-to-door soliciting donations. Emma donated the medical supplies left by her deceased father to the equipment used at the hospital, and the King led the legislature in appropriating funds for its operation as well.ย
Between 1861 and 1862, the King translated the 1662 Book of Common Prayer intoย สปลlelo Hawaiสปi,ย choosing to name itย Ka Buke Hoสปomanaย (โThe Book Which Makes Strongโ).ย As I wrote in an earlier piece,ย it is simply breathtaking to consider that while massive geopolitical events were taking place in the kingdoms and nations of the Western hemisphere, a 28-year-old Christian sovereign was translating the rites of our tradition into the tongue of his people.
The Death and Funeral of the Prince
In my previous article, I shared the story of Thomas Staley, the first Bishop of Hawaii, who came at the Kingโs request. Before the Bishop arrived, tragedy struck the Royal household. The young prince, Ka Haku O Hawaiสปi, beloved by his parents and people, fell gravely ill. An emergency baptism was held, with British Commissioner William Synge standing in for godparents Queen Victoria and Albert Edward, then Prince of Wales. The boy died four days later, on August 27, 1862.
The grief of Hawaiสปiโs people and the royal family is impossible to capture in this space. The prince was laid in state under a tamarind tree at the palace until the funeral. A newspaper wrote: โThe death of no other person could have been so severe a blow to the King and his people.โ The King gave his grieving wife a new name, Kaleleokalani (โdeparture of the heavenly chiefโ), in memory of their son.
Bishop Staley arrived in Honolulu on October 11, 1862, learning of the princeโs death. He had brought a christening cup from the boyโs godmother, Queen Victoria. A choral eucharist was held the next day in the Diocese of Honoluluโs first cathedral. Months of preparation allowed the Anglican missionaries, with four voice parts represented, to give a rich worship service. Staley describes the service glowingly:
โWe sang several Gregorian tunes and the Hundredth Psalm; together with โRockingham,โ to the hymn, โWhen I survey,โ &c. [The Rev.] Masonโs sermon was eloquent, stirring, and told wonderfully. It was extempore, and described in the papers as โthoroughly evangelical.โโ
E. Thomas Nettleship Staley,ย Extracts from a Journal of the Bishop of Honolulu, September to November, 1862
New Life in the Hawaiian Church
Though the shadow of the Princeโs death still hung over Hawaiสปi, things began to move quickly for the new mission following this first service. Queen Emma was baptized before a large gathering ofย many aliโiย (chiefs) and residents of the islands on October 21, 1862. Four days later, on October 25, 1862, Bishop Staley incorporated the mission as the โHawaiสปian Reformed Catholic Church.โ Less than a month later, King Kamehameha IVโs Hawaiสปian edition of the Book of Common Prayer was used in a Hawaiสปian language service on November 9 of that year. In December 1862, Christmasโas Christmasโwas officially celebrated in full royal festivity.ย
The King and Queen worked with the bishop and the growing mission for the next year, planting schools and churches across the islands. It is by their efforts and the many prayers and efforts of those who worked with them that we have the Anglicanism we do in Hawaiสปi. King Kamehameha IV was one of the very few monarchs who were ever given charge to preach a sermon by a bishop in Christโs church.ย
The Death of the King and the Queen
As fruitful as the young mission and the efforts of their educational and welfare endeavors were, however, the grief of the King over the death of his son and over the death of his friend Henry Neilson (who died of complications resulting from the wounds sustained by the Kingโs pistol in 1861), not only remained but deepened. The King died on November 30, 1863, the Feast of St. Andrew, and almost all accounts are in agreement: he died of a broken heart. Great was the mourning of the beloved Kingโs death. Following his death, his wife modified the name her husband had given her fromย Kaleleokalaniย (โthe departure of the heavenly chiefโ) toย Kalelenoฤlaniย (โthe departure of the heavenly chiefsโ).ย
His wife lived another 23 years, laboring with seeming tireless energy for the welfare of her people. Succored by the arrival of Lydia Sellon and the sisters from the Society of the Most Holy Trinity, she worked with a particular fervor for the care and education of young women in Hawaiสปi. She died on April 25, 1885.ย
Her funeral procession on May 17, 1885, was a massive event, spilling out in a sea of people from Kawaiahaสปo Church in downtown Honolulu to the Royal Mausoleum, where she was laid to rest beside her husband and son. The second bishop of Honolulu, Alfred Willis, presided over the service.
A Hopeful Challenge
Regardless of formal canonical processes for sainthood, the โHoly Sovereignsโ are not merely a model of holy living for us; they are a kind of hopeful challenge to the reign of secular modernity. Their lives are the kind of thing that getsโall too oftenโconveniently left out of the usual report on modern history and theology. We watch in the unfolding of their story the height of Godโs grace, the magnificence of his ability to use wealth and power for his purposes, and how mission can be conducted in a way that need not abrogate local culture but can, rather, hallow and redeem it.
As you remember them, on the night of the 27thย of November, on the eve of their feast day, I ask you to pray for those of us who minister here in the wake of King Kamehameha IVโs and Queen Emmaโs vision and for all the people of Hawaiสปi: that the Cross of Jesus would be magnified and that many would be brought into the life of his Kingdom.
Resources
- Ralph Kuykendall,ย The Hawaiian Kingdom, vol. II: 1854-74, Twenty Critical Years,ย (Honolulu HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1953), 78.
- Thomas Nettleship Staley,ย Extracts from a Journal of the Bishop of Honolulu, September to November, 1862. (London: Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign parts, 1863) 6-7.
Image: Digital Collage by Peter Johnston.
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