Excerpts from the History of the Catholic Mission in the Hawaiian Islands

There are in the rites and teachings of the old Hawaiian religion certain things, which, not improbably, are remnants of Catholic worship and teaching.

Particularly striking is the belief in the Blessed Trinity, as we find it expressed in the ancient Hawaiian Song of Creation.

Although the Hawaiians worshipped a legion of deities, they recognized that at the head of this pantheon stood the triad, Ku, Kane, and Lono, to whom the creation of all that is was attributed, whilst the Triad itself existed from all eternity.

Here follows a prayer which makes part of the Song of Creation:

O Ku, O Kane, O Lono,

O God, not less immense than space itself;

Space above: Heaven,

Space beneath: the earth;

O God of the triple heaven,

NO OTHER GOD EXISTS,

But THOU alone, O Ku, Kane, and Lono;

YOU are three, O God!

THOU art the God of light

And of the threefold heavens;

The God of the muddy earth;

THINE they are; to THEE alone do they belong:

THOU art God; true God art THOU.

In the mythologies of the other Sawaiori tribes, we also find some trinity of gods; in fact Ku, Kane, and Lono are known all through Polynesia; but, if I am correctly informed, nowhere is found the Hawaiian conception of the Trinity which bears such a striking resemblance to the fundamental mystery of Christianity.

(to be continued tomorrow)

Blessings, Pono & Pule!

Fr. Brian Guerrini, ss.cc.

Priest

Molokai