King Kamehameha IV

Queen Emma

The Anglican Church has the distinct honor of having been invited to Hawaii by King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma. This invitation culminated in the consecration of Thomas Nettleship Staley at Lambeth Palace on December 15, 1861 as Bishop of the Missionary Diocese of Honolulu. The new Anglican Church in Hawaii was called the Hawaiian Reformed Catholic Church, indicative of the evolution of the Church of England of the time. The name would change in 1870 to the Anglican Church in Hawaii.      

The first services of the church were held on October 12, 1862, amidst a time of mourning for the young Prince of Hawaii, the only son of the King and Queen who died shortly before the arrival of the Bishop.  The arrival of the Bishop had been long anticipated and prepared for by the King, who had translated much of the Book of Common Prayer into the Hawaiian language and had written a Preface explaining this new Anglican Christianity to his people.

The King and Queen gave land, part of their royal garden, on which the Cathedral was to be built. While planning and fund-raising began a small Pro-Cathedral was constructed of wood; this would remain in use for more than twenty years, the time it would take for the first phase of the cathedral to reach completion.

The untimely death of King Kamehameha IV on St. Andrew’s Day, November 30, 1863, led his brother, King Kamehameha V to dedicate the cathedral to St. Andrew as a fitting memorial to a King.

The Queen proceeded alone to lead the project. She traveled to England to raise money, to commission architects, and to purchase stone from Caen in Normandy, which was shipped to Hawaii as ballast in sailing ships. The first twenty years were a struggle with and for money, men, and materials, but with the aide of staunch supporters, the first phase of the cathedral was completed in time for Christmas, 1886, due in great part to the support for the Queen’s vision of the Cathedral as a memorial to her husband. Queen Emma did not live to worship in the Cathedral.  She had died the previous year on St. Mark’s Day 1885.

Subsequent phases were completed in 1888, 1908, and 1958, the later under the impetus of Harry Sherburne Kennedy, 5th Bishop of Honolulu, who consecrated the cathedral on September 21, 1958.

The King and Queen dedicated their marriage to serving the health, educational, and spiritual needs of their people. To these ends they founded The Queen’s Hospital (now The Queen’s Medical Center), several schools, including The Priory School and St. Albans (now Iolani School), and were instrumental in bringing the Anglican church to the islands to provide access to a form of Christian spirituality which the King felt was eminently suited to the character and temperament of his people. In recognition and commemoration of these deeds the Episcopal Church of the United States honors the King Kamemahameha IV and Queen Emma throughout the church on November 28th, the anniversary of their Confirmation in 1862.

While St. Andrew’s Cathedral was begun in what has been called the Golden Age of the Hawaiian monarchy, it persevered through the upheaval of the overthrow of the monarchy, garnering in those troubled times the allegiance of both Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s last monarch, and Sanford Dole, President of the Republic of Hawaii. Queen Liliuokalani acquired the mantel of Queen Emma as a visible and energetic leader in the work of the church, rising above the shattered past and moving into the twentieth century.
In 1902, Hawaii having become a Territory of the United States, the Church of England deemed it appropriate to transfer its responsibility for the church in Hawaii to the Episcopal Church of the United States.

The Cathedral owes much to its royal founders and patrons and actively honors the memory of their work in celebrations throughout the church year. In 2002 the Royal Patrons Chapel was created, the Wahi Kapu, or Sacred Space, dedicated to the memory of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, a place of reflection on their spiritual generosity and magnanimous accomplishments.

Over the decades the community of Honolulu has been drawn to the Cathedral Church of St. Andrew as, perhaps, the most prominent downtown place of worship, a place of solace in time of pain and a venue for celebration in times of joy. In response to this role in civic life, the Cathedral hosts a permanent Chapel for Peace, created in response to the on-set of the First Gulf War in 1994, open to receive the prayers and petitions of all people.

Several histories have been prepared about St. Andrew’s; the most comprehensive of which is From Royal Garden to Gothic Splendor, written by Rianna M. Williams, published in 1996.