Dcn Susan Erickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today the church recognizes King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, of the former kingdom of Hawai’i.  Kamehameha became king at the young age of twenty, in 1855. The year before his coronation Hawai’i had suffered another of the terrible waves of contagious disease—in this case, smallpox—introduced by explorers and other colonizers. Instead of using their royalty to shield them, Kamehameha and Emma went about the city of Honolulu collecting funds to set up a hospital, which is still known today as Queen’s Hospital, in honor of Queen Emma.

In 1860, Kamehameha petitioned the Bishop of Oxford to send a missionary to Hawai’i. The king had become attracted to Anglicanism during a boyhood visit to England. He himself set out to translate the Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal into Hawaiian.

King Kamehameha died at a young age, never able to recover from his grief over the death of his only child in 1863, at the age of four. But Holy Women, Holy Men tells us that the year before his own death, the King nevertheless preached a sermon that “expresses a hope and faith that is eloquent and profound.” After his death, Queen Emma refused to rule and instead devoted herself to good works on behalf of the poor and sick. She traveled to England several times to raise funds for her efforts and became a favorite of Queen Victoria’s.

In 1886 the first phase of St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Honolulu, named for the saint on whose feast day King Kamehameha died, was completed. The picture below is an icon of King Kamehameha and Queen Emma that hangs in the Cathedral.

The King and Queen stand at the painful and complex juncture of colonialism and Christian faith. For all the difficult paradoxes of their lives and positions, they were faithful witnesses to the Gospel, as today’s special collect states. They exemplified Paul’s words to the Thessalonians in today’s Daily Office readings:  “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known ….”

The following is King Kamehameha’s translation of the Lord’s Prayer for the BCP:

EKO MAKOU Makua iloko o ka Lani, e hoanoia kou inoa; e hiki mai kou aupuni; e malamaia kou makemake ma ka honua nei, e like me ia i malama ia ma ka Lani; e haawi mai ia makou i ai no keia la; e kala mai i ko makou lawehala ana, me makou e kala nei i ka poe i lawehala mai ia makou; mai alakai ia makou i ka hoowalewaleia mai, aka, e hoopakele ia makou mai ka ino; no ka mea, nou ke aupuni, a me ka mana, a me ka hoonaniia, a mau loa’ku. Amene.

O Sovereign God, who raised up (King) Kamehameha (IV) and (Queen) Emma to be rulers in Hawaii, and inspired and enabled them to be diligent in good works for the welfare of their people and the good of your Church: Receive our thanks for their witness to the Gospel; and grant that we, with them, may attain to the crown of glory that never fades away; through Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

— Dcn Susan