LAKE JAMES
NORTH CAROLINA
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LAKE JAMES NORTH CAROLINA
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Kamehameha and Emma
In 1860, the king and queen petitioned the Bishop of
Oxford to send missionaries to establish the Anglican Church in Hawaii. The
king’s interest came from a boyhood tour of England where he
The king and queen suffered the tragic death of their four year old son and only child in 1863. When just a year later, Kamehameha died at the age of 29, Emma declined to rule and instead, committed herself to a life of service. She was responsible for building schools, churches, and efforts on behalf of the poor and sick. She traveled several times to England and the European Continent to raise funds, in the process of which she became a favorite of Queen Victoria. The then Archbishop of Canterbury wrote of Emma “I was much struck by the cultivation of her mind, but what excited my interest most was her almost saintly piety.” The Hawaiian cathedral is named Saint Andrew’s, commemorating the death on Saint Andrew’s Day, 1864 of King Kamehameha. Queen Emma died in 1885 and among the Hawaiian people, she is still referred to as “Our beloved Queen.” Their Feast Day in the calendar of the American Church is November 28th.
Collect for Kamehameha and Emma 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.
To learn more about
King Kamehameha IV of Hawaii from Wikipedia.org, click
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This page last modified on Friday, April 11, 2008 09:39 PM |
Within
a year of ascending the throne of Hawaii in 1855, the twenty year old King
Kamehameha IV and his bride, Emma Rooke, embarked on the path of quiet humility
for which they have been revered by their people. The year before, Honolulu and
especially the native Hawaiians had been horribly afflicted by smallpox. The
people, accustomed to a royalty which had ruled with pomp and power, were
confronted instead by a king and queen who went about soliciting from rich and
poor the funds to build a hospital. Queen’s Hospital, named for Emma, is now the
largest civilian hospital in Hawaii.
had
seen in the stately beauty of Anglican liturgy, a quality which seemed attuned
to the gentle beauty of the Hawaiian spirit. The English Church responded by
sending a bishop and two priests who arrived on October 11, 1862. A month later,
both the king and queen received the Sacrament of Confirmation. They then began
preparations to build both a cathedral and a school, and the king set about to
translate the Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal.