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Who is Hawaii’s Queen Kapiolani?

Queen Kapiolani
A. A. Montano – Hawaii state archives. Call Number: PPWD-15-7.024

One of the best things about having written My Badass Book of Saints is the number of people who have contacted me with stories of courage in their families and recommendations of amazing women. We are surrounded by so many courageous people living extraordinary lives!  Reading about Saints new to me and following links to fascinating historical figures delights me.

I recently received an invitation to follow a travel log by Colette Higgins, a long-time listener of Catholic Weekend. Although the show is over, we’ve kept in touch. Colette is a history professor at the University of Hawaii and has embarked on a 59-day pilgrimage to follow in the footsteps of Queen Kapiolani’s journey to attend Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Celebration in 1887. Her travel log not only includes the places where Queen Kapiolani went, but also includes churches along the way where Colette and her husband are attending Mass.

Check it out here.

About Queen Kapiolani

Queen Kapiolani has fascinated me. Her great aunt, Chiefess Kapiolani, converted to Christianity in the early part of the 19th century and courageously stood her ground against the challenge of a high priestess. Chefess Kapiolani’s courage in the face of a cultural challenge opened many to conversion. Queen Kapiolani followed in that family tradition of courage in the face of tribulation. She suffered a great deal of personal pain in fractured relationships over the death of a child in her charge, the Crown Prince, especially because she had suffered from several miscarriages and had no living children of her own. Her story speaks to a quiet long-suffering and noble life. I hope you enjoy Colette’s entries as much as I do.

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mourning change

red penI’m on the cusp of retirement.

After 31 years of teaching, I’m finally graduating to sleeping in and hanging out all day with my hubby.

I’ve spent the last week shredding all evidence of this long career, and I’m not going to lie, it’s a little weird. Why I’ve kept so much paper is probably a holdover from the years before digital storage, but it occurs to me that I’m going to have to do some heavy deleting on my laptop, too. Sigh.

I opened file after file looking for names and I.D. numbers that had to be destroyed, and I had a lingering feeling of loss,  even a little bit of regret. Each batch of papers that went into the shred bin threatened to destroy memories, too. It was like I was erasing a whole generation of students.

But that’s not the case. I have a lifetime of memories — and they pop up every once in a while as stories. Mostly unbelievable vignettes of students who made me laugh, some who made me cry, and others who…astounded me in both positive and negative ways.

I pray I did right by them. That I taught those who needed to learn. That I loved those who needed love. That I corrected those who needed correction.

That I saw in each and every student a child of God entrusted to me for a brief season of influence.

I know I failed often. I’m confident I succeeded most of the time. I know this because they did right by me. I learned from them when I least expected it. I was showered in love when I most needed encouragement. I made mistakes and they showed me mercy.

I’m a better person for hanging in longer than I ever expected, and richer than the lousy pension promised.

 

 

 

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