The "A Fun Name To Pronounce" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading the weekly email sent to my mailbox by St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where I am a member.  Every week they feature a small story about a saint.  Today was a bit different, since a short story appeared in the email telling about the former King and Queen of the United States' 50th state, Kamehameha and Emma.  Carol and I have visited Hawaii three times over the past 20 years.  During one of our visits we visited an Episcopal church in Lahaini on the island of Maui with friends Jere and Sue as well as Harry and Barb.  The liturgy was easy to follow, since it was the same as we use in our home church.  I tell you this since the King and Queen used the same Anglican liturgy which was approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury for the new mission in Hawaii.  Alexander Liholiho, who became King Kamehameha IV, was born in 1834 and was the grandson of Kamhameha the First who happened to be a brutal pagan ruler, but who did unify the Hawaiian Islands.  Alexander was educated by Congregationalist missionaries and began studying law at the age of 14.  He was named crown Prince in his teens and began traveling to Europe, England and the United States in preparation for his reign.  While in England he attended the Church of England which used the Book of Common Prayer which is the same used in our church today.  He found he liked it better than what was being used in Hawaii at the time.  Alexander took the oath of King Kamehameha the Fourth in 1855, at the age of 20, after a smallpox epidemic nearly wiped out Honolulu.  

King Kaamehameha and his wife Queen Emma

A year later he married Emma Rooke who was of British descent on her mother's side.  When he found that American missionaries to Hawaii desired to annex the Hawaiian Islands to the U.S. he wrote to Queen Victoria asking her to send missionaries from the Church of England to his kingdom.  The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury approved the new mission and the Rev. Dr. Thomas Nettleship was consecrated in Lambeth Chapel as the first missionary bishop of Honolulu on December 15, 1861.  King Kamehameha and his wife were both very concerned for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of their people.  The King personally translated the Book of Common Prayer as well as the hymnal into Hawaiian.  Together, they organized Queen's Hospital, which is the largest civilian hospital in Hawaii, and a leprosarium for the treatment of leprosy patients on the island of Maui.  Queen Emma was a favorite of Queen Victoria who was the godmother to their son who died at the age of four.  The King died of chronic asthma a year after his son and over 800 teachers and students walked to pay respect for their beloved King.  Queen Emma remained active in politics as well as her several charities until her death in 1885.