Sacred Hearts Brother Patrick Hughes
Hawaii-born Sacred Hearts Brother Patrick Hughes died June 15 at St. Patrick Monastery in Honolulu after an extended illness. He was 93 and a religious brother for 73 years. He was one of the last Sacred Hearts brothers to serve in Kalaupapa where St. Damien worked and died.
Brother Hughes grew up in Waikiki next door to St. Augustine Church. He did his novitiate in Massachusetts, lived for a time in Washington, D.C., and worked in Kalaupapa for 16 years. He also served as a cook at St. Patrick’s Monastery for three decades.
His funeral is June 21 at St. Patrick Church, Kaimuki, starting with visitation at 6 p.m., followed by Mass at 7 p.m. Burial is 10 a.m., June 22, at Hawaiian Memorial Park in Kaneohe.
Condolences may be sent to Sacred Heart Center, P.O. Box 1365, Kaneohe, HI 96744.
The present pastor of St. Augustine, Sacred Hearts Father Lane Akiona, said Brother Hughes “loved his ministry to the community and was loved by all, especially the diocesan and religious priests with whom he played cards.”
Brother Hughes was born to William and Lily Hughes and given the baptismal name of John. As a teenager, he helped his father and older brothers build the Sacred Hearts Congregation’s St. Patrick Monastery in Kaimuki.
Attracted to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, he entered the order and went to Fairhaven, Mass., for his novitiate.
He made his first religious profession as Brother Patrick on Oct. 11, 1940.
After his novitiate, Brother Patrick enrolled in Sacred Hearts Seminary in Washington, D.C. to begin his apprenticeship as a religious brother in the company of other Hawaiians studying for the priesthood: Matthew Alencastre, Anselm Gouveia and Brendan Furtado.
After professing final vows, he returned to Hawaii. His first island assignment was to Kalaupapa where he was a cook for the Baldwin Home residents. In his spare time, Brother Hughes painted scenes of the famous peninsula.
When Baldwin Home closed in 1951, Brother Hughes was assigned as a cook at Sacred Hearts Seminary in Hauula, Oahu, then at Our Lady of Bethany Monastery, Kaneohe, and finally in 1963 at St. Patrick Monastery where he worked for 28 years before retiring.
