Bishop Larry Silva celebrates the Oct. 11 thanksgiving Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. Behind him are the bell and umbrella, traditional symbols of a basilica, crafted especially for the downtown Honolulu church. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)
“Have you ever looked at the ceiling of this magnificent cathedral,” Bishop Larry Silva asked those gathered in Hawaii’s mother church the morning of Oct. 11, causing the congregation to aim their eyes upward.
Notice the angels, he said, drawing attention to an ultimate heavenly destiny.
The bishop’s homily for the Mass of Thanksgiving for the designation of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace as a minor basilica, was a spiritual tour of the 171-year-old church whose new title added yet another mark of distinction to its notable history.
About 500 people gathered for the mid-morning liturgy which began with a traditional Hawaiian “oli,” or welcoming chant, by Ikaika Bantolina of the Royal Order of Kamehameha. A procession followed with five deacons, about 30 priests, and members of the Knights of Columbus and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
The Mass also celebrated the fifth anniversary of St. Damien’s canonization.
Diocesan chancellor Deacon Walter Yoshimitsu reads the Vatican decree designating the cathedral as a basilica. (HCH photo | Darlene Dela Cruz)
The cathedral doors were closed after Bishop Silva reached the sanctuary where, after the Sign of the Cross, he greeted the congregation and spent a few minutes explaining the significance of the day’s liturgy and the cathedral’s new status.
“It’s not only its physical beauty that’s deserving of honor,” but also the church’s historical merit and the “beauty of the liturgies celebrated here every Sunday,” the bishop said.
“This is the place where saints have walked,” he added. “This is indeed a very special place. We give thanks to God because we are given this honor.”
Bishop Silva described for the congregation the two traditional symbols of a basilica, which would be unfamiliar to Hawaii congregations: a small bell and a red and yellow umbrella.
The church doors were then reopened and students from Maryknoll School processed in, carrying the bell and umbrella on tall wooden poles as the congregation sang the hymn, “All Are Welcome.”
Bishop Silva blessed the two symbols at the altar after which diocesan chancellor Deacon Walter Yoshimitsu read the Vatican decree that designated the cathedral as a basilica.
Contributing to the colorful character of the liturgy were the Knights of Columbus, Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and Hawaiian royal societies each in their own regalia. Bishop Silva wore a gold chasuble and carried an ornate crosier.
In his homily, the bishop went on to describe the church’s central baptismal font as the “virginal womb of Holy Mother the Church” and the floor as supporting both the physical steps and physical remains of Hawaii’s two saints, as well as “the feet of countless saints who have worshipped here over 171 years or who may even be worshipping here at this moment.”
He continued his “tour” with reflections on the ambo, the bishop’s chair and the altar.
“Then there are the doors,” he concluded, “by which we enter as sinners and through which we leave renewed in a grace we cannot imagine we are worthy to receive.”
The bishop noted that, as a minor basilica, the cathedral offered opportunities to earn plenary indulgences on certain occasions, including a day of choice a year by anyone who fulfills the “usual conditions” of sacramental Confession, Communion and “prayers for the intentions of the supreme pontiff.”
At the end of the Mass, Bishop Silva talked about the Cathedral Renovation Campaign. He pointed to a completed “mock-up” of one small restored section of the church to show what the pews, ceiling, windows and artwork will look like after the current $15 million renovation project is completed.
“Pray for the success of that effort,” he asked the congregation, so that the cathedral can continue to “empower us for our mission” in generations to come.
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome on May 10 granted Bishop Silva’s petition to call the church a basilica, an honorary title. The church is now one of 82 minor basilicas in the U.S. and one of 1,600 worldwide.
To earn the new title, the cathedral fulfilled the requirements of having historic, religious or aesthetic renown, of being an appropriately large size, and of serving an active worshipping community.
The Honolulu cathedral is now called the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.
Dedicated in 1843, the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, 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 a relic of St. Damien, the complete remains of St. Marianne, and the graves of Bishop Louis Maigret and Bishop John J. Scanlan.
