Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary at Sacred Hearts Academy in Kaimuki around 1950

From tragic loss to fruitful harvest

The Sisters of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary celebrate 150 years of service to the Hawaiian Islands

By Sister Katherine Francis Miller | Special to the Herald

On Dec. 15, 1842, an excited band of missionaries from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary left the port of Saint-Malo, France, on the ship “Marie-Joseph,” which had been expressly built for the congregation. In 1833, the pope had entrusted the mission of Eastern Oceania to the congregation. Bishop Jerome Rouchouze had been named vicar apostolic of this vast Pacific mission territory which included Tahiti, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands and Hawaii.

The Marie-Joseph would be a useful tool for the missionary effort of the congregation, transporting personnel as well as other resources between Europe, South America and the Pacific islands. It would serve as an instrument of unity and communication for the congregation and its missions. But the ship never made it to its destination. It disappeared somewhere off the coast of Florianopolis, Brazil, and Valparaiso, Chile. Here are the names and ages of the missionaries on board:

• Bishop Jerome Rouchouze (44)
• Father Romain Lannes (34)
• Father Ignace Gonet (42)
• Father Laurent Roynel (26)
• Father Marie-Xavier Daniel (24)
• Father Marie-Gregoire Saunier (34)
• Father Gabriel Ciron (26)
• Brother Lucien Coulonges (40)
• Brother Severin Coulonges (42)
• Brother Achille Bessy (23)
• Brother Genulphe Gibergues (25)
• Brother Gecilien Roconieres (28)
• Brother Marie de Croix Ouen (35)
• Brother Anselme Hujol (35)
• Stephane Souffrain, subdeacon (24))
• Sister Mechtilde Viel (27)
• Sister Marcelline Pages (35)
• Sister Africanie Hermentier (23)
• Sister Ailbee Saury (22)
• Sister Emiliana Gouheirs (22)
• Sister Cyrilla Paget (26)
• Sister Fulgence Morel (27)
• Sister Caliste le Gris (24)
• Sister Maximine Hannier (29)
• Sister Arthemonie Cayron (28)

(The story of the Marie-Joseph is written in the book, “Shrouded in Mystery,” by Sacred Hearts Sister Mary Dolorine Pires, 2000.)

Faith, courage and a new mission

The loss of the Marie-Joseph was a tremendous blow to the young congregation which had been founded on Christmas night, 1800. Yet, 15 years after the tragedy, the faith of its members and the courage of its leaders led to the sending of another group of 10 sisters in response to Bishop Louis Maigret’s pleas to have them open a much needed school for girls in Honolulu.

This second group left Le Havre, France, on Aug. 26, 1858. They traveled around Cape Horn and arrived in Valparaiso, Chile, on Dec. 14, where they stayed with a community of Sacred Hearts Sisters until Feb. 2, 1859, when they boarded the English ship “Nelson” and headed for Honolulu.

In her diary, Sister Judith Brassier, wrote: “After more than 8 months at sea on May 4th … after taking our lunch we went up on the deck where we can see the island of Honolulu on our right before us. You can easily imagine our joy.”

Mother Maria Josepha George and Sisters Judith Brassier, Landeline Farrard, Marthe Fournier, Aleida Heming, Waltrude Knapmeyer, Odilia Lowels, Laurentine Loyer, Sinise Mautand, Theresa Roulais put away their black traveling dresses and put on the white habits of the congregation as they began their mission in the Hawaiian Islands.

Island vocations and years of profession: From left, Mary Wong Leong (Sister Mary Aleida) 1907; Rosaline Tam Yau (Sister Theresa) 1912; Innocencia Fraga (Sister Mary) 1909; Lancy Moses Keohokalole (Sister Mary Magdalen) 1912.

The sisters were lowered from the ship in a barrel onto a sampan that brought them to the pier. A large crowd of people, headed by King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, greeted the sisters with “Aloha nui!” As was the custom at the time, the sisters drew their white veils over their faces as they walked up the dirt road that was Fort Street accompanied by some Sacred Hearts Fathers and Brothers and a jubilant crowd of people.

The children ran in front of the sisters trying to lift their veils to get a glimpse of the faces of the French ladies. Bishop Maigret greeted the sisters on the porch of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, blessing them one by one. In the cathedral, a sincere hymn of gratitude, “Te Deum Laudamus,” was sung with great emotion by the Catholic community gathered for Benediction.

The sisters then retired to their little house next to the cathedral. Ten mattresses were laid on the bare floor and the sisters, exhausted from their travels, fell into a deep slumber until a piercing scream woke them all — a centipede had crawled across the face of Sister Landeline!

New schools and new convents

Two months later, on July 9, the sisters opened the boarding school with five young ladies. On Aug. 1, the day school began, and late in 1859, the free school started with classes taught in Hawaiian. Instruction in the other two schools was in English.

Besides the work of education, the sisters were a great help to the cathedral community. They took care of the sacristy, played the organ and sang at all the evening services. In his book “Pioneers of the Faith,” Sacred Hearts Father Robert Schoofs remarked: “They were an inspiration to the faithful as most of them assisted at all functions from their reserved seats in the makai aisle of the Church. Many people remarked about the beautiful singing at the Cathedral and are we not to think that the sisters had something to do with this?”

Mother Maria Josepha George, the head of the first band of sisters, was a very pious and practical woman. She looked after the spiritual and physical well-being of the sisters and began in May 1860, to purchase small parcels of land with the intention of expanding the Sacred Hearts convent and school.

St. Anthony Orphanage, Kalihi Valley, in 1911

In 1864, a second group of 10 sisters arrived in the islands. On the ship with them from France was the young deacon, Damien de Veuster, who on May 21, a few months after they arrived, was ordained a priest in the cathedral. By Aug. 15, 1865, a new boarding school and a new day school had been built.

On Dec. 25, 1869, a new convent chapel was built and the sisters began perpetual adoration, an important ministry of the congregation. Day and night, the sisters would pray in the name of the church for the needs of the world.

The big, bold move to Kaimuki

By the turn of the century, Honolulu was a bustling city. Bishop Libert Boeynaems and Mother Judith Brassier saw the need for a Catholic institution of higher learning for young women to prepare them for their roles in the century that was just beginning. Between 1906 and 1909, with the help of generous donors like August Dreier and Mrs. Allen, as well as alumnae of Sacred Hearts Convent and friends, five and a half acres of land were purchased in the growing community of Kaimuki.

Construction on the Academy of the Sacred Hearts began and on Sept. 5, 1909, the convent and school were blessed and dedicated. The Hon. John A. Hughes, orator for this dedication, declared: “To the church all over the islands, the opening of this school is an auspicious occasion; to those gathered here, it is a time for great rejoicing. To the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, it is something more, more than word can tell or heart conceive. To them, it is a victory over adverse circumstances, it is the reward of years of toil, sacrifice and untiring labor, and well may their hearts rejoice and we with them…”

The first 11 sisters took up residence on Sept. 12. The pioneers were Sister Constantine Gayraud, the first principal, Sister Louise Hilaire Maigret, Sister Elizabeth Delaunay, Sister Bertha Catusse, Sister Francisque Rousseau, Sister Marcella Frogier, Sister Marguerite Francoise Chamousset who founded the academy’s music department, Sister Constancienne Rieutort, Sister Zelie Dalet, Sister Ladislas Maze and Sister Mary Fraga.

The superior of the community, Mother Marie Lawrence vander Auwera, lived at the convent on Fort Street. Only in 1916 did Mother Louise Henriette Thoelen, the new superior, take up residence at the academy.

Besides teaching and caring for the boarders, the sisters cooked, cleaned and cleared the land to plant vegetables and fruit trees and put up a small barnyard to provide food for themselves and the children. On Sept. 13, the school welcomed 33 boarders and 20 day scholars.

An early prospectus summarized the kind of education the school would be noted for: “Sacred Hearts Academy … an ideal boarding and day school for girls, conducted by Sisters of Sacred Hearts, affiliated to the University of Hawaii. A curriculum is offered that cherishes the classical tradition of thoroughness and depth of scholarship; cultivates the moral as well as the intellectual faculties … The costs are moderate, the standards high. Special classes offered in Arts and Foreign Languages.”

An Catholic orphanage in Kalihi

Bishop Boeynaems had another dream that involved the sisters — to provide a safe home for children in need because of family circumstances. Again Mother Judith was his bold collaborator.

The bishop himself, with a few Sacred Hearts Brothers, built the first buildings of Saint Anthony’s Home, a Catholic orphanage in Kalihi Valley. On Sept. 29, 1909, Sisters Alexandrine Delsol, Marie Bernadette Guillet, Marianik Freveux, and Fabia Labro welcomed the first two children to the home.

In those early days, the sisters not only devoted themselves to the care of the children, but they also chopped down trees, uprooted bushes, dug out pathways, planted vegetables, and even laid water pipes! The number of boys and girls at the home grew to nearly 100 and the sisters received much support from the bishop who built a small cottage for himself at the edge of the property close to the stream.

When in Honolulu, the bishop would spend Wednesday through Saturday at the home and take his recreation with the sisters and the children. Life at the orphanage was filled with many activities thanks to the support of many benefactors from parishes, schools and the broader Honolulu community.

One of the delights of the children and the community was the boys’ Menehune Band led by Father Francis, a Sacred Hearts priest. The band was well known, and performed for many functions in Honolulu. Changes in state policy led to the closing of the orphanage in the 1960s and St. Anthony’s Home became a retreat center where today hundreds of people each year come to deepen and strengthen their relationship with God.

As Hawaii’s population grew, the need for schools also increased and the sisters collaborated with the Sacred Hearts parish priests as much as they could. Several Honolulu parochial schools opened as a result: Saint Patrick on Sept. 2, 1930 (the sisters left in 1986); Saint Theresa in 1931 (the sisters left in 1938); Our Lady of Peace, Nuuanu, in 1933 (In 1938, this school consolidated with the new Cathedral School and the new Sacred Hearts Convent School.)

A world war, a new car

As the city of Honolulu flourished, Fort Street became a noisy, crowded hub and the sisters began to look for another more suitable site for the convent, boarding and day school. Fortunately, they were able to purchase the Baldwin Estate in Nuuanu and on Sept. 7, 1938, the new Sacred Hearts Convent opened on spacious and quiet grounds.

No one could anticipate the events that would happen a few years later with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entry into World War II. In January 1942, the Office of Civilian Defense took over the building and converted it into Sacred Hearts Hospital to care for the wounded in the Pacific theater.

The boarding school was closed and the Sisters went to live at Sacred Hearts Academy or Saint Anthony’s Home. Classes for the day-students were taught in the old language school in Nuuanu and from noon to 4 p.m. at the Cathedral School.

The sisters would ride the bus from Kaimuki to Nuuanu every day to teach classes. When Bishop James Sweeney learned that the sisters had to ride in the bus crowded with workers returning from Pearl Harbor every day, he bought them their first car. The principal Sister Philomena Fraga, the only one with a license, was the first driver!

In August, 1944, the sisters were allowed to return to Nuuanu and reopen the boarding and day school. One student from that period remembered fondly the education she received there: “They filled our lives with the good things; not just the sound basis of our religion, but fine music, excellent reading habits, a love of languages, liberally mixed with large doses of fun!”

At the request of the Sacred Hearts Fathers, on August 22, 1951, the sisters opened Immaculate Conception School in Lihue, Kauai. This was a pioneering experience as the sisters’ convent was at the edge of a cane field. Each time the cane was burned, the convent was inundated by rats and other creatures. But the sisters enjoyed this experience of providing Catholic education to children on a neighbor island. They taught there until 1972.

With the advent of airplane travel, the sisters reached further. Mother Mary Gertrude Creac’h saw the need for a presence on the West Coast. In response to a request from the pastor of Maria Regina Parish in Gardena, Calif., three Hawaii sisters opened Maria Regina School in August, 1958. (The sisters withdrew from this school in 1995.)

In 1965, another California community was opened in West Covina to help staff Bishop Amat High School in collaboration with the Sacred Hearts Fathers and Brothers. (The sisters stopped teaching here in 1972.)

Missionaries discover their roots

The 1980s saw a revitalization of the missionary dimension of the Sacred Hearts charism among its communities worldwide. At the same time, a lessening of vocations to religious life was being experienced everywhere. The Sisters of the Pacific Province — the communities in Hawaii and California — made a discerned decision to found smaller communities in places where there was a need for the presence of religious Sisters.

As a result of this decision, in 1981 the sisters participated in the Hispanic ministry of the Diocese of San Bernardino in California and in mission to Native Americans. In 1985, they established a community in Sacred Hearts Parish in Waianae.

In 1986, the Na Leo Ho‘onani community opened in Palolo Valley. That same year, the sisters closed Sacred Hearts Convent and School in Nuuanu and opened Malia o ka Malu in Kaimuki as a residence for the retired and infirmed sisters.

Photo courtesy of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts

Hawaii’s Sisters of the Sacred Hearts gather for a photo at the state capitol in front of the Blessed Damien statue on April 6 after being honored by the state House of Representatives on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the congregation’s arrival to the islands and the centennial of the establishment of Sacred Hearts Academy and St. Anthony Retreat Center, formerly St. Anthony Orphanage.

As Hawaii had received faith in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary from the early European missionaries in the 1800s, the Hawaii sisters in turn felt a need to share this faith with others. They looked towards Asia. In collaboration with the Sacred Hearts Fathers and Brothers, in 1987 the province opened its first missions on foreign soil with the establishment of the Shanti Rani community in India and Heiwa no Genko in Japan. (The Japan community closed in 1996.)

In 1990, the community Regna Ng Kapayapaan and an international novitiate were begun in the Philippines and a few years later, the province collaborated in opening the sisters’ mission in Indonesia. In 2002, the sisters and brothers established a Community-in-Mission in Artesia, New Mexico, and in 2008, the Molokai Community-in-Mission was founded in anticipation of the canonization of Father Damien de Veuster.

Century and a half of faithfulness

Throughout these 150 years, the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts have tried to live faithful to the vision and mission of their founders, Henriette Aymer de la Chevalerie and Father Pierre Coudrin, who on Christmas night 1800, committed their lives to the love of God revealed in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Amidst the ruins of French society devastated by the French Revolution, they vowed to help rebuild community among people through lives committed to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the education of young people, especially the poor, and mission outreach. This dynamic focus continues to be lived by the sisters even in the dramatically changed situations of the 21st century.

From the beginning, lay collaborators have been essential in carrying out the Sacred Hearts vision and mission. Today the Association of the Sacred Hearts and the Secular Branch are two official organizations of lay people affiliated with the congregation.

As the number of sisters has decreased dramatically, the role of lay collaborators, especially in the schools, has become vital and indispensable. At Sacred Hearts Academy, a lay board of directors and a team of lay administrators assure that the legacy of a hundred years will continue into a vibrant future.

The sisters are grateful to God for the grace of being a part of the history of Hawaii for the past 150 years and for the opportunity of touching thousands of lives, especially that of young people, in their ministries of education, parish work and retreats. Their greatest joy is to continue to pray ceaselessly before the tabernacle for the church and the world that all things may be for the honor and glory of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary!