Here is a reflection by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, a Dominican Sister of the Most Holy Rosary, on her painting of icons of St. Damien and St. Marianne with local artist Meleanna Meyer for a devotional nave in Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Honolulu during the pandemic.
By Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Special to the Herald
For many, last year might have seemed like a blur as months ran into each other in endless anxious unknown. Heart separations pierced deeper during pandemic shutdowns where some were left with only the vision of loved ones laid to private rest without the last longed-for hug. St. Damien de Veuster and St. Marianne Cope were no strangers to epidemics — typhoid in Louvain; cholera, smallpox and scarlet fever in Syracuse. In 1865, King Kamehameha III and the Legislative Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands passed “An Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy” having recognized it as an epidemic.
It has been over a year since Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Honolulu celebrated its 50th anniversary on Sep. 28, 2019. Who would have thought that, between the time of a project request and its completion, so much would happen to alter the expectation of it being finished within the anniversary year?
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bishop Larry Silva invited all to pray, “Dear God of all the living, you sent your Son Jesus to heal us from illness and sin. We turn to his healing power in this time of anxiety over the pandemic of this potentially deadly virus.” (Diocesan Prayer for the COVID-19 Pandemic) This is the background to the “writing” (painting) of icons of Father Damien and Mother Marianne at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, living for the COVID-19 pandemic of the 21st century.
Text message: July 11, 2019, 11:07 PM: Dear Sr. Malia, Sorry for sending this message late and hope that it would not disturb your evening. I would like to call you in the morning to request your help with the devotional nave project for our 50th anniversary. Blessings, frkhanh
Father Khanh Pham-Nguyen, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul, and the parish faithful had already embarked on the capital campaign “Shaping the Future” to expand faith formation and serve their growing neighborhood. Fifty years earlier, at the church’s dedication, Bishop John J. Scanlan said, “As Ala Moana is the heart of the new Honolulu, so Sts. Peter and Paul is its soul.” Iconographer Nicholas Papas had begun work on a mural of Sts. Peter and Paul for the nave of the church, but did not complete the images of Hawaii’s saints.
Text message: September 21, 2019, 7:32 PM: Greetings, Fr. Khanh! I know you are very busy with all the preparations for the exciting anniversary. Please know my prayers are with you. I need to say that I regret I won’t be able to attend. Doctor has me immobilized until follow-up xrays to give the multiple pieces of broken bone time to fuse. God bless you more! Sr. Malia
From the time of my surgery for a broken patella with a trinity of screws put in place until my medical clearance, time seemed unfair with my eagerness to fulfill the project request.
Hawaii artist Meleanna Meyer, left, and Sister Malia Dominica Wong pose at the devotional nave at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Honolulu. (Courtesy photo)
In retrospect, it took St. Damien nearly five months to arrive in Honolulu on March 19, 1864, from France. For Mother Marianne, it took almost half a year from the time she received the invitation letter from Father Leonor Fouesnel in June 1883 pleading for sisters to help with Hawaii’s poor sick to her arrival in Honolulu in November 1883. It would be another five years before she reached her missionary heart’s destination of Kalaupapa in 1888 to serve the poorest of the poor, the outcast suffering from the epidemic.
“And is not time even as love is, undivided and spaceless? … But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons, and let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.” (Kahlil Gibran)
Text message: July 8, 2020, 9:30 AM: Sr. Malia- Can I call you later? Meleanna
Text message: August 7, 2020, 12:57 PM: Malia, Let’s aim for starting at 3:00 PM tomorrow. Meleanna
Text message: August 21, 2020, 8:08 AM: Greetings Fr. Khanh! Cancel today. Installation Monday morning about 10 AM. Hope you can bless the icons and us on Monday. Sr. Malia
For Meleanna Meyer, a childhood friend from St. Anthony Church and School in Kailua, it was a welcome break during the pandemic. As an esteemed Hawaiian artist, filmmaker and arts educator, she holds a wealth of knowledge and experience in painting that she willingly and patiently shared. The technique of working on canvas and installing it on a wall was new to both of us.
But Sts. Damien and Marianne seemed to lead the way making alterations here and there as we immersed ourselves deeper into the contemplation of their lives lived for the people of Hawaii. With each stroke of our paintbrushes, we breathed out prayers for others.
Meanwhile, the saints of the pandemic breathed new life and perspective into us, especially with Meleanna more intimately meeting her namesake, Makuahine Meleana, Mother Marianne.
