Photo courtesy of Sacred Hearts Academy

Sacred Hearts Academy student Kaulalani Robins holds a sapling from the hala tree St. Damien used for shelter when he first arrived in the Kalawao settlement. She and her mother Wailani Robins, front row, second from left, received the plant from a Kalaupapa ranger. They gave it to the school during a special Mass on Nov. 6.

Sacred Hearts Academy receives sprout from saint’s hala tree

By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Sacred Hearts Academy celebrated a few of its own unique connections to St. Damien during a school Mass in the gym on Nov. 6.

A special plant, a song, a hula, a banner and a graduate were all part of the liturgy commemorating Hawaii’s first saint, presided over by Sacred Hearts Father Christopher Keahi.

According to the Academy, the plant, a hala tree sapling, came from the pandanus tree Saint Damien used for shelter when he first arrived in the Kalawao settlement. It was a gift to the school from student Kaulalani Robins and her mother Wailani Robins who received it from a park ranger while visiting Kalaupapa National Historical Park this past March.

The Robins were in Kalaupapa with the Academy’s Hawaiian language class led by kumu Lehua Crystale Cayaban. The class visits the settlement during spring break every year for a service project.

According to Sacred Hearts Academy, Wailani Robins’ grandfather, Fred E.K. Robins Sr., was the Kalaupapa lighthouse keeper. Her father, Fred E. Robins Jr., also spent most of his young life in Kalaupapa.

The hala tree will be transplanted on the Academy campus when it grows to be 12 inches tall. According to the Academy, St. Louis School also received a hala sapling.

At the Mass, students carried a banner of St. Damien made in the saint’s home country of Belgium and was presented by the Sacred Hearts Brothers and Sisters of Hawaii at a thanksgiving Mass on Oct. 12 in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome. The banner was also used in diocesan Damien ceremonies in Honolulu on Nov. 1.

At the school Mass, the Academy choir sang “Prayers from Kalaupapa,” an original song composed by Matthew Damien Glickstein in honor of St. Damien. The Hawaiian language class also danced a hula to “He Mele no Kalaupapa” which the class had composed and choreographed in preparation for their visit to Kalaupapa last year

A special guest was alumna Audrey Toguchi of the class of 1946, the retired public school teacher whose sudden cure from cancer was the miracle approved by the Vatican that led to Father Damien’s canonization. Toguchi gave a short testimony to the students.