Saturday, June 14, 2014

inSPIREd Sunday - Hawaii


November 2009 - Big Island Hawaii



St Benedict's - The Painted Church is located in South Kona, Captain Cook, Hawaii near Honaunau. I always love dropping by this church high above the ocean.




The Catholic church has been a part of life in South Kona since 1842. The first church was located on the shore of Honaunau near the City of Refuge and was known as St. Francis Regis chapel. By the mid 1880's most of the folks had moved away from the beach to the cooler climate and more fertile soil to be found a bit higher on the slopes of Mauna Loa. Father John Berchmans Velghe, A Sacred Hearts father from Belgium, arrived in 1899 and decided to follow the local residents up the mountain slope. The folks dismantled the church and with the help of mules, moved it to its present location.

Father Velghe, a self-taught artist, painted the interior walls of the church. His three dimensional interior painting was inspired by the gothic cathedral of Burgos in Spain. His painting of scenes from the bible and the lives of the saints were very important teaching tools in a time when many people couldn't read and write. Throughout church history cathedrals and churches have been adorned with paintings, stained glass windows and statuary that told stories from the old and new testaments and about the lives of others from both Hebrew and Christian tradition.









Each of the supporting columns is octagonal, and is painted red, splotched green and yellow to suggest marble. Encircling each column is a painted white ribbon, bearing, in the Hawaiian language, one of the mottoes of St. Benedict's medal. The inscriptions are as follows:
1) O ke kea hemolele kou malamalama. (The Holy Cross be my light)
2) Hele oe pela a Satana. (Begone Satan!)
3) He poino kou mea i ninini mai ai. (You have poured forth trouble. The inscription on the medal reads "Do not suggest to me thy vanities")
4) Aole o Satana kou alakai. (Satan is not your guide. The medal reads "Let not the dragon be my guide")
5) Ua oki oe me kou pau wale. (Stop with your perishable things. The medal reads "Evil are the things thou profferest")
6) Nau no e inu kou poino. (Drink your own misfortune. The medal reads "Drink your own poison")












These were taken in 2005.
 Stations of the Cross





All photography on this post at Junk Boat Travels are under copyright. If you would like to use any of my photographs please contact me first. 

25 comments:

  1. I've never seen a more tropical looking church!
    Really lovely.

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  2. Wow, these photos are stunning. With all the greenery etc, everything looks even more beautiful. great photos

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  3. How beautiful! I love how they painted the pillars to be palm trees.

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  4. Love the plant-like aura to the paintings...bringing the outdoors into the church.

    Gorgeous shots...thank you!

    Here's MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT

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  5. What a beautiful little church. I love all the shots that include the flowers and colors. My husband's grandparents used to live in Kona many years ago.

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  6. What a fantastic church! It's beautiful.

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  7. Wow! What a beautiful spot ... the blend of island environment and sacred architecture is really interesting and the paintings inside the church are fantastic! Lucky traveller to have happened on this peaceful place!

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  8. that 3-D mural in the 3rd pic is totally awesome! the painting on the ceiling is so cool, too. What a neat church!!

    -Burgandy Ice

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  9. These are beautiful! I especially love all the garlands on the statues--how fun.

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  10. What a lovely church and surroundings. Absolutely love the ceiling. I keep bugging Kristin about going to Hawaii every time I see pictures from there :-)

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  11. It is such a beautiful place! We got to see it when we visited last year and it was fun to take photos of.

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  12. How beautiful! I love that they've incorporated the beach feeling into the chapel. Looks like you took the photos on yet another perfect Hawaii day, too!

    Here's my Saturday Snapshot!

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  13. That's the old Hawaii I would love to see in person! I love the tropical feeling and the Madonna draped in shell beads.
    I love your eye and your life!

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  14. Wonderful pictures.
    It's a place I would love to visit. The pieta, stations of the cross, tropical flowers.

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  15. i've always wanted to go to Hawaii! The sun simply shines brighter on the West Coast as shown in your pictures! Beautiful!

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  16. Oh, my! What a beautiful church. These are stunning pictures. Thanks for sharing.

    Here's my Snapshot

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  17. Looks like a great place to visit. Must be very peaceful. My snapshot:
    http://wcs53.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/saturday-snapshot-graduation-may-5/

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  18. Fantastic! You've got my feet itching to go walkabout again....

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  19. I visited this wonderful church in 1988. Sadly this was before I started to take photos. Thanks for the memories.
    Tom The Backroads Traveller

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  20. i love the lattice work. you would never guess it would be so gorgeous on the inside from the so simple look on the outside. amazing!! too gorgeous. ( :

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  21. Fabulous post, Jackie! From the wonderful pictures to the interesting history, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing in InSPIREd Sunday.

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  22. Beautiful church. Love all the tropical paintings. I went to St. Benedicts Church and School but that was in Washington state. LOL MB

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  23. I came over orginally from your post you had on #MMBC and saw this post. Being from Hawaii, I was curious what you had written about =) I lived in Kona for some years with my father. I remember being young and not caring when I went to visit this place. (Oh, I could blast my younger self for this). I eventually moved back to Oahu to live with my mother, but always love how beautiful & mystical this island is.

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