PAINTED CHURCH...KONA, HI

 

History of the Painted Church

Weekend Masses

St Benedict
Sat: 4pm Sun: 7:15am
St John
Sat: 6pm Sun: 9:30am
St Peter
4th Sunday at 12 noon
Communion Service 10am 1st, 2nd, 3rd Sunday

Weekday Masses

St Benedict
Tues, Thurs, Fri 7:00am

St John
Wedsnesday 7:00am

VICARIATE PERIOD OF THE PARISH

St. Benedict Parish is located on the leeward slopes of the 13,680 feet volcano mountain called Mauna Loa {Long Mountain) in the District of South Kona, Island of Hawaii. The parish is 38 miles in length and goes from the sea up the sparsely populated slopes to the top of the mountain. Originally its population was all Hawaiian living in fourteen villages in South Kona, but now at this writing the predominant Catholic population is part-Hawaiian and Filipino living in five villages.
The history of the Church in the District began early in 1842 (1). Father Joachim Marechal, SS.CC., at that time was assigned to care for both South Kona and Ka'u Districts. He set his residence and first chapel in the village of Kapalelua, situated on the border of the two Districts. Within a short time, due to Father Joachim's zeal and zealous work and teaching of several lay catechists, the Church was firmly established in South Kona. The first Catholic school in the area opened at Honaunau beach village under the care of Serapia, a catechist, and Clement Hoki, a school teacher, the missionary priests lived in South Kona only intermittently until about 1859. The original chapel, located on the shore of Honaunau Bay Dear the City of Refuge in the National Historical Park, was known as St. Francis Regis Chapel.
Father Joachim died unexpectedly April 12, 1859. Father Aloys Lorteau, SS.CC., his successor, took up residence in Honaunau and served there for 37 years until 1898, when he died aboard the vessel, Maunaloa, on Easter Monday on his way to Honolulu for medical and hospital attention.
By the mid-1880's most of the Honaunau people had moved away from the beach area to more fertile soil about two miles up the slopes. Father John Berchmans Velge, SS.CC., resident priest who replaced Father Aloys in December, 1899, moved what he could of St. Francis Regis Chapel to upper Honaunau. With additional repairs and additions the old church looked like new. It was blessed in August, 1902, by Bishop Gulstan Ropert, SS.CC., who dedicated it in honor of St. Benedict.
Father John, an excellent teacher and self-taught artist, painted the interior walls of the church with some striking scenes of the Bible which depict various important religious truths. His biblical murals soon became famous, and St. Benedict Church came to be known as "The Painted Church." Designed, constructed and painted as a miniature
European Gothic Cathedral by Father John, St. Benedict Church is now considered to be rather unique in the annals of American Art. It has become a major tourist attraction of the Kona coast, and thousands of visitors come to see it every year. It is listed in the Hawaii State Register of Historical Places and th.e National Register of Historical Places.
Father John's health required him to return to Belgium in 1904. Father Victor Poirer, SS.CC., served from August, 1904 to July 1905; Father Charles Louis, SS.CC., from January, 1906 to September, 1907; and Father Gerard Benetren, SS.CC., from September, 1907 to December, 1913. Sometime in 1906, St John the Baptist Church was built in Kealakekna. It was dedicated in 1907.
Father Eugene Oehman, SS.CC., became pastor of St. Benedict Church on December 7, 1913, and served there for 37 years. During his pastorate, he witnessed four major volcano eruptions of Magna Loa in 1916, 1919, 1926, and 1950. In the 1926 eruption and lava flow, Father Eugene saw St. Peter's Chapel in Hoopuloa destroyed by lava; and in the 1950 eruption, Sacred Heart of Mary Chapel at Pahoehoe was totally destroyed by the red hot lava. Father Eugene built a new St. Peter Chapel at Milolii beach which is still in use today. The earthquake of 1950, which accompanied a major lava flow, destroyed Maria Lanakila Church in Kealia, built in 1860. At the time of Father Eugene's death on June 14,1951, only three of the 14 churches and chapels that had been built in the District remained in use, namely: St Benedict Church, Honaunau, St. John the Baptist Church, Kealakekna, and St. Peter Chapel, Milolii.

 

Painted murals in video posted below