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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13438a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Vicariate Apostolic comprising all the islands of the Hawaiian group"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="13438a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/s.htm">S</a> > Sandwich Isands</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Sandwich Isands</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>(H<font size=-2>AWAII</font>)</p> <p><a href="../cathen/15401b.htm">Vicariate Apostolic</a> comprising all the islands of the Hawaiian group. They lie just within the northern tropic, between 18<sup>o</sup> 54' and 22<sup>o</sup> 15' north latitude, and between 154<sup>o</sup> 50' and 160<sup>o</sup> 30' of longitude west of Greenwich. These islands form the present Territory of Hawaii, and belong to the <a href="../cathen/15156a.htm">United States</a>. Honolulu, the capital, is on the Island of Oahu. Eight of the islands are inhabited, viz., Kauai, Niihau, Oahu, <a href="../cathen/10444a.htm">Molokai</a>, Lanai, Maui, Kahoolawe, and Hawaii. Their population (1910) was 191,909.</p> <p>The first <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> arrived at Honolulu on 9 July, 1827. They were the Rev. Alexis Bachelot, <a href="../cathen/12386a.htm">prefect Apostolic</a>, the Rev. Abraham Armand, and the Rev. Patrick Short. The first two were natives of <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, and the third of <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Ireland</a>. All three were members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, called also the Society of Picpus, from the name of the street in <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a> in which its mother-house is situated. They had been sent by <a href="../cathen/09167a.htm">Pope Leo XII</a>. <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> missionaries had arrived from New England as early as 1820, and had gained the king and chiefs over to their cause. As soon as the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> began to make converts a fierce <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> was raised against the natives who became <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>. They were ill-treated, <a href="../cathen/12430a.htm">imprisoned</a>, tortured, and forced to go to the <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> churches, and the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> were banished. Fathers Bachelot and Short were taken to a solitary spot in Lower California, far removed from any human habitation. In 1836 the Rev. Robert Walsh, an <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Irish</a> <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> of the same Congregation, arrived at Honolulu, and through the intervention of the British consul, was enabled to remain on the islands in spite of the ill-will of the <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> party, which wanted to send him back on the vessel in which he had come. In 1837 Fathers Bachelot and Short returned from <a href="../cathen/03170a.htm">California</a>, but religious <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> still continued. In the same year there arrived from <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> the Rev. Louis Maigret, who afterwards became <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, and first <a href="../cathen/15401b.htm">Vicar Apostolic </a> of the Sandwich Islands. He was not permitted to land, but was <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliged</a> to leave the country, together with Father Bachelot. who was in very feeble health. The latter, worn out by labour and trials, died at sea shortly after (5 Dec., 1837). In the year 1839 the French Government put an end to this <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>On 9 July the twelfth anniversary of the arrival of the first <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, the French frigate "Artémise", Captain Laplace, arrived at Honolulu. A few hours after anchoring dispatched one of his officers to present the king the following summary request: (1) that the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> religion be declared free; (2) that all <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> <a href="../cathen/12430a.htm">imprisoned</a> on account of their religion be set at liberty; (3) that the government give a suitable site at Honolulu for a <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>; (4) that the king place in the hands of the captain of the "Artémise" the sum of $20,000, as a guarantee of his good-will and peaceful mind, said sum to be restored when the French <u>Government</u> should feel satisfied that the above conditions had been fulfilled. Hostilities were to commence if the king failed to comply within forty-eight hours with the terms of this manifesto. All the conditions were readily accepted, and peace was concluded. From this time the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> have enjoyed a tolerable amount of liberty; but the <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> missionaries and their friends have been identified with the Government and have had the important positions, using their influence as well as the government emoluments for the advancement of their cause.</p> <p>In the year 1840 there arrived at Honolulu the Rt. Rev. Bishop Rouchouze, first <a href="../cathen/15401b.htm">vicar Apostolic</a> of Oriental Oceania, appointed to this office in 1833, and having <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> not only in Hawaii, but also in Tahiti, the Marquesas, and other islands. He was accompanied by-three other <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, one of whom, Rev. Louis Maigret, had been refused a landing at Honolulu in 1837. On 9 July 1840, ground was broken for the foundation of the present Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. On the same day 280 <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumens</a> received <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> and confirmation. In January, 1841, Bishop Rouchouze returned to <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, in search of labourers and resources for his mission.' He was successful in obtaining a number of <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> and sisters of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts. They left <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> in 1841 — with a cargo of supplies on the schooner "Mary-Joseph", owned by the mission; but, unfortunately, the vessel was lost with all on board, not one surviving to tell the tale. This was a severe blow for the young mission, and retarded its progress for man years. On 15 August, 1843, the newly-finished <a href="../cathen/03438a.htm">cathedral</a> of Honolulu was <a href="../cathen/14133a.htm">solemnly</a> dedicated, and 800 <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> received <a href="../cathen/07402a.htm">Holy Communion</a>.</p> <p>About this time Oriental Oceania was divided into three <a href="../cathen/15401b.htm">vicariates Apostolic</a>: Tahiti, Marquesas, and Sandwich Islands. On 11 July, 1847, <a href="../cathen/12134b.htm">Pius IX</a> appointed the then prefect of the mission, the Very Rev. Luis Maigret, <a href="../cathen/15401b.htm">vicar Apostolic</a>, to succeed Bishop Rouchouze and take charge of the Sandwich Islands Mission as a separate vicariate. From this time on the mission made slow but steady progress, in spite of the odds it had to contend with. The <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> <a href="../cathen/10326a.htm">ministers</a> found the ancient <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">belief</a> of the aborigines in their idols already shaken and partly discarded (owing probably, to the fact that foreigners broke the dreaded taboos without incurring the wrath of the gods). They taught the Hawaiians to wear clothes, and to read and write the Hawaiian language. After having translated the <a href="../bible">Bible</a> and given it to the natives, they considered the latter civilized and <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianized</a>, and proceeded forthwith to develop the resources of the country. But this <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> was superficial. The life — philosophy of the weak and inconstant natives was to shun work and enjoy all the pleasures within reach. If the foreigners had offered them but one form of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> and had illustrated it by their good example; if, above all, the efforts at <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">educating</a> these grown-up children had been directed more towards correcting the <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> tendencies of their hearts than cramming their minds with <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a>, the aborigines would certainly have received the <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">blessings</a> of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>, lived by it, and multiplied. But it was quite otherwise. The mild climate; the inheritance from their fathers of an unrestrained, easygoing, indolent character; the bad example of all classes of foreigners, who brought and spread the germs of disease; the contradictory teachings of the man <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">denominations</a> which tried to establish their respective creeds on the ruins of that of their rivals; the wrong principles of an <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> which instructs the mind but neglects the heart; the absence of the spiritual aids and remedies of which the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is the dispenser, to regulate irregular desires of the heart, all these causes combined to produce one dire result, namely, the gradual extinction of the Hawaiian race.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>In matters relating to <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> mission of Hawaii has not been inactive. From the very start it established, wherever feasible, independent <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> in charge, or under the supervision, of the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a>. In 1859 the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary arrived at Honolulu to take charge of a boarding and day-school for girls, which has developed into an institution with 36 Sisters, 66 boarders, 125 day-scholars who pay, and 420 in the free department. In 1883-84 the Brothers of Mary, from Dayton, <a href="../cathen/11225d.htm">Ohio</a>, took charge of three <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> for boys: St. Louis's College at Honolulu, St. Mary's School at Hilo, and St. Anthony's School at Wailuku. The day-schools for girls at Wailuku and Hilo are in charge of the <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscan</a> Sisters from <a href="../cathen/14397a.htm">Syracuse, New York</a>. The latest addition to the <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">educational</a> work is the new boarding and day-school for girls at Kaimuki, and the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/11322b.htm">orphanage</a> at Kalihi. Besides work of <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> mission has had also a great share in the work for the <a href="../cathen/09182a.htm">lepers</a>. In order to stop the spread of this loathsome disease, the Hawaiian Government established a settlement for the <a href="../cathen/09182a.htm">lepers</a> on the Island of Molokai (see <a href="../cathen/10444a.htm">MOLOKAI</a>; DAMIAN).</p> <p>Bishop Maigret was succeeded in 1882 by the Rt. Rev. Hermann Koeckemann, under whose administration the mission received a considerable increase by the immigration of Portuguese imported from the <a href="../cathen/02168a.htm">Azores</a> as labourers for the plantations. They are now spread all over the islands, and there is hardly a church where the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> are not <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliged</a> to use the <a href="../cathen/12297a.htm">Portuguese</a> language besides the English and Hawaiian. There are to be found also a number of <a href="../cathen/12291b.htm">Porto Ricans</a>, some Poles, a few <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italians</a>, some <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spaniards</a>, a number of Filipinos, and a small number of <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> of other nationalities. Bishop Koekemann died 22 Feb., 1892, and was succeeded in that year by the Rt. Rev. Gulstan Ropert, who died 5 Jan., 1903. The present incumbent, Rt. Rev. Libert Hubert Boeynaems, was <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> 25 July, 1903. There are (1911) 85 <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> of <a href="../cathen/12748b.htm">religious</a> orders in the vicariate, 30 <a href="../cathen/03041a.htm">churches</a>, and 55 <a href="../cathen/03574b.htm">chapels</a>. The <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> population is 35,000. There are 4 academies, a <a href="../cathen/04107b.htm">college</a>, and 9 <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parochial</a> <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> established by the mission, and the total number of pupils is 2200.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">PIOLET, <em>Les Missions Catholiques Franqaises au XIX<sup>e</sup> siècle</em> (Paris, 1802), IV, 1-33; MICHELS, <em>Die Volker des Südsees, u. die Gesch. von den protestantischen v. katholischen Missionen</em>, etc. (Münster, 1847); MULTHANE, <em>The Church in the Sandwich Islands</em> in <em>Catholic World</em>, LXIII (New York 1896), 641; MARSHALL,<em>Christian Missions</em> (London, 1862); <em>Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, Catholic Missions</em>, passim; CLINCH, <em>Hawaii and its Missionaries</em> in <em>Amer. Cath. Quarterly Review</em>, XIX (Philadelphia, 1894), 139; <em>Hist. of the Catholic Religion in the Sandwich Island, 1829-40</em> (Honolulu 1840, reprinted San Francisco, 1907); BLACKMAN, <em>The Making of Hawaii</em> (London, 1906); ALEXANDER, <em>A Brief Hist. of the Hawaiian People</em> (New York, 1891-99).</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Beissell, J.</span> <span id="apayear">(1912).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Sandwich Isands.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13438a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Beissell, James.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Sandwich Isands."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 13.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1912.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13438a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Jeffrey L. Anderson.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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