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Following in the Footsteps of Hawaii’s Saints

July 14, 2025

(Photo Courtesy of Diocesan Staff)

From the Office for Social Ministry

“We who live here in Hawaii are very blessed and privileged to be the heirs of the story of Saints Fr. Damien and Mother Marianne, who served the poorest and most needy among us.”-Bishop Larry Silva, “Following Footsteps” OSM YouTube Video

This month, word is spreading that the Diocese of Honolulu is preparing for a special milestone in 2027: the bicentennial anniversary of the Catholic faith’s arrival in Hawaii. It will be a very blessed time to celebrate 200 years of Witness to Jesus, including by following in the footsteps of saints Fr. Damien and Mother Marianne, two of the first Catholic missionaries responding to Christ’s call to share their faith in Hawaii.

On July 7, 1827 missionaries from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary arrived in Honolulu. One week later, on July 14, 1827, they celebrated the first recorded Catholic Mass in Hawaii in a simple grass hut on a rented lot in Honolulu. By January 1828, the Hawaii’s first Catholic church was built on land generously granted by King Kamehameha III. That same site in Honolulu, is now home to the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace — the oldest continually used Catholic cathedral in the United States. In 1840, Hawaii’s first bishop, Stephen Rouchouze, a Sacred Hearts missionary, laid the cornerstone for a new coral block cathedral. Although Bishop Rouchouze and 34 of his missionary companions were tragically lost at sea in 1841, the cathedral was finally dedicated in 1843 on the feast of the Assumption. In 1864, Damien de Veuster, a young Sacred Hearts religious missionary, arrived in Honolulu determined to serve wherever he was needed most and was ordained at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral. Fr. Damien’s willingness to follow in Christ’s footsteps led him in 1873 to Molokai’s remote Kalaupapa peninsula, where he ministered to hundreds of people suffering from Hansen’s disease (leprosy). Ten years later, in 1883, Mother Marianne Cope and six Sisters of St. Francis also followed Christ’s missionary call and landed in Honolulu at the special invitation of King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani. These missionary sisters went straight from the Mariposa ship to the Catholic cathedral to give thanks for their safe passage. Mother Marianne and the Sisters of St. Francis immediately began compassionately working with some of most vulnerable, transforming hospitals, caring for the abandoned sick, and opening schools. In 1888 they moved to Kalaupapa to minister there with Fr. Damien, who by then had contracted Hansen’s disease. In 1889 Mother Marianne was tending to Fr. Damien at his bedside when he died and she remained in Kalaupapa for 29 more years, serving with the “outcasts” there in tireless love until she passed in 1918.

The inspiring faith of these first Catholic missionaries continues to shine today. Both were canonized in Rome — Fr. Damien in 2009 and Mother Marianne in 2012 — with Bishop Larry Silva present for each historic moment. Their relics will soon rest in the new reliquary chapel of the renovated Cathedral Basilica, which is planned to reopen in 2027 for the bicentennial anniversary. Pilgrims from across Hawaii and beyond will come to pray and find hope at the place where so many faithful generations have gathered. The story of Saints Damien and Mariane has inspired people of all ages. They are part of the DNA of Catholic faith in Hawaii. In every parish in Hawaii, there is a picture or statue of Fr. Damien de Veuster and Mother Mariane Cope. The current Provincial of the Sacred Hearts missionaries, Fr. Lane Akiona says, “People come to the relics of Fr. Damien and Mother Marianne to seek hope and miracles — it’s all part of the spiritual journey.” St. Francis Sister Alicia Damien points out, “Hawaii is the only state in the US that has two saints coming from the same area, Kalaupapa, Molokaʻi. It really shows the essence and importance of Kalaupapa, and the patients that were there.” As Carol Ignacio, founder of the Honolulu Diocese Office for Social Ministry-OSM, said, “I really believe the Spirit is calling us not just to remember what they did, but to walk in their footsteps.” That is why OSM’s motto is: “Following in the Footsteps of Saints Damien and Marianne.” Anne Harpham of St. Augustine Parish echoes this same hope in sharing this story of faithful service that resonates with so many: “Fr. Damien and Mother Marianne did it selflessly and with great joy. They saw the dignity and worth in everyone.  I am hoping we can emulate them.”

For more on Hawaii’s missionary saints,  and how all can follow in their footsteps, please watch the Following Footsteps video at https://youtu.be/pZJ-CDacGGI?si=1X1N20S2bN0xaIUK. The video is also on the Diocese website at www.catholichawaii.org and the Office for Social Ministry website at www.officeforsocialministry.org. In the words of Bishop Larry Silva at the end of the video:
“Let us join together with Fr. Damien and Mother Marianne, and with all the wonderful people who have gone before us. Let us follow the Lord, giving ourselves in whatever way we can, so that all our brothers and sisters can live in dignity.” Mahalo!