From the Rector: Our Parish Feast of Dedication and Patron

11 OCTOBER 2023

Every year during the month of October we celebrate two days that are important for St. Mark’s, as well as for the history of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai‘i. It was on October 12, 1862, that the first Anglican service was conducted in the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, and it was on October 21 of the same year that the Holy Sovereigns, Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV were baptized. Thus began the history of Anglicanism in the Hawaiian Islands.

Years later it was on St. Mark’s Day, April 25, 1885, that Queen Emma died, and a couple of decades further, the Hawaiian congregation at St. Andrew’s Cathedral set out to plant a new church for the Hawaiians living in our area. That church ultimately became our beloved St. Mark’s. The happy coincidence is that St. Mark’s has two patron saints: St. Mark the Evangelist and Queen Emma of Hawai‘i.

Every April we mark the celebration of St. Mark’s Day with a celebratory mass ending with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament - a witness to our Anglo-Catholic heritage. From the early days of our church’s inception, St. Mark’s was within the catholic stream of Anglicanism - a testament to the preference of Emma and Kamehameha IV, and the churchmanship of the Church of England they welcomed here.

As Queen Emma died on St. Mark’s Day, King Kamehameha IV died on St. Andrew’s Day, November 30, 1863, hence, our cathedral’s patron is St. Andrew. It is also on November 30, 1954, that our current church building was dedicated for worship. The entire Episcopal Church celebrates Emma and Kamehameha IV with a feast day on November 28 - the date of their confirmation in 1862. It is the custom of our diocese to celebrate the Holy Sovereigns on the last Sunday before Advent, the Feast of Christ the King - a Sunday which is always close to November 28 and 30.

Each year St. Mark’s makes a special point to celebrate St. Mark’s Day, as well as the Sunday of the Holy Sovereigns. This year we are expanding another celebration. On a Sunday close to October 21, the Baptism of the Holy Sovereigns, we will celebrate our Feast of Dedication and the legacy of Queen Emma. Such an observance will allow us to do the particular readings commemorating the anniversary of the dedication of our church for worship, and it will offer us an opportunity to celebrate Queen Emma, for she is uniquely important for St. Mark’s.

As is the case with our celebration of St. Mark’s Day, this year on Sunday, October 22, our Sunday Solemn Mass will end with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. St. Mark’s Day, as well as the Feast of our Blessed Emma and Dedication, will have parallel observance. Then when we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Sovereigns at the end of November on Christ the King Sunday, our Solemn Mass will end with a Te Deum - an ancient hymn of thanksgiving, employing two thuribles, expressing our abundant prayers rising to God - a fitting act of worship for the final Sunday of the liturgical year. We are blessed to have two patron saints calling for individual celebrations, as well as a diocesan observance of our Holy Monarchs.

This Sunday our focus at the forum after Solemn Mass turns to parish worship. I hope you will join us as we deepen our life together in Christ at the parish. Worship is at the center of everything at St. Mark’s, and Christianity, since the Ascension, has been primarily about worship. Our call is to worship the living God together in community. The Holy Sovereigns provided Hawai‘i with an amazing gift - Christianity as expressed through Anglicanism - an expression of the faith that keeps worship of the Triune God at the center of everything we do.

Father Paul Lillie +