Thursday, November 28, 2024

It is the 28th of November 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I'm your guest host, Sam Leanza Ortiz.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Before we kick off, I thought I should partake in the time-honored tradition of sharing a few things I’m thankful for.

I am so thankful to all of you who are tuning in this week, as your regular host is taking a well-deserved break. I had the pleasure of taking several classes of Dan’s when he was a full-time professor, and I know firsthand how good of a teacher he is, so I know he is certainly missed this week! I am thankful for Dan, who has been a mentor to me as a historian since my time in the Concordia History department. I am thankful for Christopher, who takes these amateur recordings I send and produces them so they actually sound good by the time they get to wherever you’re tuning in from. Finally, I’m thankful for 1517 for the opportunity to get to do what we do, which is bring you the Gospel, uncut, every single day. I’m usually behind the scenes on the Publishing team, so it’s rare I get to convey this, but truly, because of listeners and supporters like you, I have the best job in the world. Thank you.

Now on to the show.

Today, the Episcopal Church in Hawaii celebrates the Feast of the Holy Sovereigns. Who are these Holy Sovereigns? What king and queen might an American church celebrate, you may ask? Well, the monarchs of the kingdom of Hawaii. In the Episcopal Church in America, this is the feast day of Kamehameha IV and Emma, King and Queen of Hawaii. 

Kamehameha IV was born in 1834 on Oahu to a prominent political family as Prince Alexander Liholiho. He was informally adopted, in the Hawaiian practice of hanai, as heir by his uncle, King Kamehameha III. 

Queen Emma was also born to a notable family, though she too was adopted by her aunt, Grace Rooke, a Hawaiian chiefess who married an English physician.

Both Emma and Alexander were educated by Protestant missionaries, which gave them a solid foundation both for their work as monarchs and for their deeply held Anglican faith.  

Alexander was crowned as King Kamehameha IV in 1855, and he married Emma the following year.

The primary concern at this point in his reign was the talk of annexation among American missionaries in the islands that was ramping up in 1853-1854. Having toured the United States just a few years before coming to the throne, Alexander understood the seemingly unstoppable forces of American westward expansion and what that could mean for his kingdom.

To counterbalance the American presence in Hawaii, Alexander diversified Hawaii’s commercial dealings, and he extended a warm invitation to the Church of England to establish itself on the islands.

It would take a few years, but the Archbishop of Canterbury and Queen Victoria allowed the Church of England to establish itself in Hawaii, creating the United Church of England and Ireland in Hawaii in 1862.

That fateful year brought joy as well as sorrow – Alexander and Emma’s only child, Prince Albert Edward Kauikeaouli, who was born in 1858 and named after Queen Victoria’s oldest son, died in August of that year. Queen Victoria was the child’s godmother by proxy, and this loss would bring Victoria and Emma into a close friendship that lasted until Emma’s death.

Just two months after Prince Albert Edward’s death, Bishop Thomas Staley arrived to become the first bishop of Honolulu, and he baptized Emma and confirmed the monarchs into the church on the 28^th of November in 1862.

Over 1863, King Kamehameha IV withdrew from public life, grief-stricken over the loss of his son. He remained as committed as he could to the building of a cathedral in Honolulu for this newly established church, but his health had been in decline, and he died on Saint Andrew’s Day, November 30, 1863. That cathedral would be called the Cathedral of Saint Andrew out of respect for the king they had lost.

He left important legacies to his people, including a public hospital and a growing commercial economy, and to his kingdom’s church, he left a Book of Common Prayer in the Hawaiian language, which he personally translated.

Kamehameha’s brother Lot ascended the throne as Kamehameha V, and the now Dowager Queen Emma took to carrying on her husband’s legacy.

She devoted much of her energies to raising money for the cathedral, and in 1865, she embarked on a massive fundraising tour, traveling as far as Germany and meeting European royals, Anglican clergymen, and other important figures of the mid-nineteenth century. She spent extended time in England with her friend Queen Victoria, and she would meet with architects about the cathedral’s design.

On her journey back, she stopped in New York and Washington, making her the first queen of a foreign nation to visit the United States, which was commemorated with a gun salute and a reception at the White House.

She returned to Hawaii upon the news of her adopted mother’s death.

Upon her return, construction of the cathedral could move forward as she had raised 6,000 pounds over the course of her travels, today, that would be somewhere in the ballpark of $800,000 US dollars.

Speaking of ballparks, one of her advisors was the disputed father of modern baseball, Alexander Cartwright, who spent over half his life in the Kingdom of Hawaii. At her death, he served as a pallbearer and the executor of her will.  

She lived on for over twenty years after losing her husband. In addition to her fundraising work, she also established several schools in Hawaii, including the Saint Andrew’s Priory School for Girls, which would give girls a commensurate education as that given to boys. She also frequently visited patients in the hospital her husband founded, now known as the Queen’s Hospital.

When Kamehameha V died in 1874, she attempted to return to the monarchy, as he had not named an heir, so the choice of the monarch fell to an election within the legislature. She was the more popular choice among the people, but she lost support against Kamehameha V’s cousin, Kalakaua, in the legislature, leading to riots in Honolulu.

After this defeat, Emma gave her support to Kalakaua but retired from public life.

She died in 1883 at the age of 49, and the kingdom of Hawaii would only outlast her by 10 years until it devolved into a short-lived republic that the United States annexed as a territory in 1898. This change in status moved the Church of Hawaii into the Episcopal Church of America, which commemorates the lives of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma of Hawaii for their gifts to Christ’s church, into which they were confirmed on this day in 1862.

 

The last word for today comes from the Revised Common Lectionary of the Episcopal Church for today’s feast day, from Psalm 33:  

 Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him, *
       on those who wait upon his love,
¹⁹ To pluck their lives from death, *
       and to feed them in time of famine.
²⁰ Our soul waits for the Lord; *
       he is our help and our shield.
²¹ Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, *
       for in his holy Name we put our trust.
²² Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, *
       as we have put our trust in you.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 28^th of November 2024 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

This show has been produced by Christopher Gillespie.

This show has been written and read by Sam Leanza Ortiz, whose favorite Thanksgiving dish is dressing – not stuffing.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.