Alika Cullen, general administrator of Honolulu’s Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace gives a tour of the historic church to parishioners of Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Church, Ewa Beach, Sept. 17 in front of the relic of St. Damien. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)
The doors of Hawaii’s famous cathedral will be thrown open Oct. 11 to welcome all who would like to share in its latest honor.
Already blessed by the footprints of saints, the 170-year-old mother church of Hawaii has gained a new tribute, the title of minor basilica, and Bishop Larry Silva will celebrate that recognition with a Mass of Thanksgiving at 10 a.m. on that day.
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome granted Bishop Larry Silva’s petition for the special designation on May 10. The church is now one of 82 minor basilicas in the U.S. and one of 1,600 worldwide.
The church has four major basilicas, all in Rome: St. Peter’s, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major.
The new name for the Honolulu cathedral is Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.
The title of basilica is an honorary one granted by the Vatican at the request of the local bishop. A basilica must serve an active worshipping community, be of an appropriately large size, and enjoy a certain historic, religious or aesthetic “renown.”
Among its distinctions, the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, dedicated in 1843, claims to be the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States. It is the church where St. Damien de Veuster was ordained a priest in 1864 and that greeted St. Marianne Cope when she arrived in Hawaii in 1883. Today it contains the relics of both saints and the graves of Bishop Louis Maigret and Bishop John J. Scanlan.
Oct. 11 is also the fifth anniversary of the canonization of St. Damien.
Lunch will be served following the Thanksgiving Mass in Kamiano Center next door to the cathedral.
