Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 10, 1 October 2009 — Return of a relic [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Return of a relic

On Oct. 11, Pope Benedict XVI will give Bishop Larry Silva of the Diocese of Honolulu, a polished, wooden box about the size of a shoe box containing a bone from Damien's foot. The relic will be permanently housed at Our Lady of Peaee Cathedral in Honolulu, where Damien was ordained a priest on May 24, 1864. Before coming to the Islands, the relic will be taken to Pontifical North American College in Rome and the U.S. cities Detroit, San Francisco and Oakland, California, before coming to Hawai'i, where the box will be placed in a larger koa box made by Sam Kamaka in 1994 and recently spruced up and repaired for the occasion by his son Chris. The box previously housed the Damien relic that was returned to Hawai'i after his 1995 beatification. Although it was used to transport the relic around the Islands, it was too big to be buried in Damien's original grave in Kalawao, Moloka'i. Kamaka made a milo-wood box for that purpose. In Hawai'i, the new relic will be taken first to Hawai'i Island's west side Oct. 18-20, the island's east side Oct. 21-23, to Maui Oct. 24-26, to Lāna'i Oct. 27, and to Kaua'i Oct. 28-29. On Oct. 30, it will be taken to two churches Damien built on topside Moloka'i, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Kalua'aha and St. Joseph's in Kamalō, and then to Kalaupapa on Oct. 31. All the stops will have public events except for Kalaupapa. The relic's hnal stop will be Nov. 1 in Honolulu, where a noon mass will be held at Our Lady of Peaee Cathedral, 1 184 Bishop St. From there, youths will carry the relic in a procession down Beretania, Richards and King streets and through the front gates of 'Iolani Palaee. At 2 p.m. a civic/ eeumenieal service on the palaee grounds will include speeches by Bishop Silva, Gov. Linda Lingle, Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona, Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa and interfaith representatives, as well as music by the Royal Hawaiian Band. The Cardinal of Brussels, Godfried Danneels, and a group of 1 1 bishops from California will attend the ceremonies in Moloka'i and Honolulu. Before leaving the palaee grounds, the relic will be taken to the throne room for a brief, private presentation to allow Damien to pay respects to Hawaiian royalty, said Patrick Downes, editor of the Hawai 'i Catholic Herald. The presentation will honor the connection Damien had to King David Kalākaua, who bestowed him the kingdom's highest award, and Princess Lili'uokalani, who visited him in Kalaupapa, Downes said. "There's a strong connection with the palaee and it's one of the reasons they're having a ceremony there," he said. At the cathedral, the relic will be housed in a "special hnal resting plaee," said Downes. "It's going to be there for people to venerate, to visit, to pray in front of, even to touch," he said. For

information or a ule of events, damien.com Wally Mitsui ext. 206. ■

detailed schedvisit father or eall Deacon y at 623-3332

— Chris Kamaka polished and repaired the box his father, Sam Kamaka, madein 1 994. The box will house the ūamien relic that will be returning to Hawai'i following Damien's canonization in October. - Photo: Courtesy of Hawai'i Catholic Herald