July 11: No Quarter

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader Podcast. Today is July 11th, and our story is No Quarter. On July 11th, 1839, the American Protestant missionaries stationed in Hawaii sent a letter to the U.S. Consulate requesting sanctuary. The French frigate Artemis had sailed into port the day before, and the missionaries feared for their lives. No other Americans, however, shared their fear. The Artemis' captain, Cyril Laplace, came with orders to commence hostilities if Hawaii's King Kamehameha III didn't reverse the decade-old prohibition of Catholicism.

After Laplace delivered the warning to the king, he invited all Americans residing on the island to board his ship, where they could wait out the conflict in safety. That is, he invited all Americans to board except for the island's Protestant missionaries. As far as Laplace was concerned, those missionaries were on their own. Laplace's seeming lack of charity stemmed from his belief that the missionaries had brought the danger upon themselves.

Eight years earlier, many of those same missionaries convinced Hawaii's newly converted Protestant Queen Regent Ka'ahumanu to ban Catholicism from her son's kingdom. The Catholic priests then serving in the islands were rounded up and deported via ship on December 24, 1831.

Once the priests left, Hawaiian officials went after the island's native Catholics, imprisoning and torturing them until they renounced their faith and embraced Protestantism. The church attempted to resolve the matter peacefully, but those attempts stalled in 1836. Finally, France took charge of the situation, and commissioned Laplace to make it well understood that it would be to the advantage of the chiefs of those islands of the ocean to conduct themselves in such a manner as not to incur the wrath of France.

King Kamehameha III knew he didn't stand a chance against Laplace, and quickly conceded, issuing the Edict of Toleration on July 17, 1839. By means of reparation, he gave the church a substantial piece of land on which to build a church.

As for the Protestant missionaries, they were less than pleased that Catholicism had returned to Hawaii, but quite pleased to escape the wrath of France. This story reminds us that true faith is not passive. It is courageous, principled, and willing to endure hardship to uphold truth and justice. Identify a principle or cause for which you can courageously stand this week, even if it is unpopular.

Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader Podcast. Join us tomorrow, July 12th, for another story of faith and courage in America.