Stephen Alencastre

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Headstone at the grave of Alencastre, last vicar apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. The grave of Ropert is directly behind.
Headstone at the grave of Alencastre, last vicar apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. The grave of Ropert is directly behind.
Episcopal arms of Msgr. Alencastre in a window in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Honolulu.
Episcopal arms of Msgr. Alencastre in a window in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Honolulu.
Pope Pius XI invokes the blessing of Saint Joseph, patron of the Universal Church, on Msgr. Alencastre, in a window in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Honolulu.
Pope Pius XI invokes the blessing of Saint Joseph, patron of the Universal Church, on Msgr. Alencastre, in a window in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Honolulu.

Bishop Stephen Peter Alencastre, SS.CC., (November 3, 1876November 9, 1940), was the fifth and last vicar apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands — now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. In addition to being the Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands, Msgr. Alencastre was also given the title of Bishop of the titular see of Arabissus, Italy. He was the first bishop of Hawai‘i to have been raised in the Hawaiian Islands, and after continuing and completing much of the work begun by his Sacred Hearts predecessors, the mission area of the Hawaiian Islands was then elevated to the official diocese of Honolulu by the Pope within a few months following his death. The history of the Catholic Sacred Hearts mission in the Hawaiian Islands was documented by one of the order's priests and later compiled and published in a book called Pioneers of the Faith.

Bishop Alencastre's personal mission included continuing to expand the number of schools and parish churches in the Islands (and to renovate the existing ones) and to build a seminary to form vowed religious locally to the priesthood. This came to fruition with the building of St. Stephen's Seminary, named in honor of the Bishop's own patron saint. The seminary is still in use to present-day. The Bishop was also partly responsible for the increase in the variety of religious orders in Hawaii, inviting such groups as the Sisters of St. Joseph de Carondolet to help with the growth of the Catholic faith in the Islands.

Born on the island of Porto Santo in the Madeira Islands of Portugal as Estêvão Pedro de Alencastre, and brought to Hawaii as an infant, Alencastre later returned to Europe to finish his seminary studies in Belgium. He was ordained to the priesthood on April 5, 1902, at the age of 25, as a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and returned to serve the people of Hawaii. When Msgr. Libert H. Boeynaems fell ill, Msgr. Alencastre was appointed co-adjutor vicar apostolic with right of succession on April 29, 1924. On August 24 of that year, it was then that he was ordained bishop of the titular see of Arabissus at the age of 47. On May 13, 1926, Alencastre succeeded Boeynaems as vicar apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. After his death while returning to Hawaii on a boat from Los Angeles in 1940, Bishop Alencastre was laid to rest at the Honolulu Catholic Cemetery in downtown Honolulu. A street in Honolulu also carries the Bishop's surname in his honor.

A window in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu depicts his episcopal crest, as well as a portrayal of a blessing being bestowed upon him by Pope Pius XI. His episcopal motto was "Opportet illum regnare," derived from a phrase in 1 Corinthians 15: 24-26, meaning "He (Christ) must reign." Bishop Alencastre was the first to include in his episcopal crest: the pūlo‘ulo‘u (kapu sticks), the colors of the Hawaiian flag, and the hat characteristically worn by Blessed Fr. Damien de Veuster, SS.CC. (also of his religious order). The inclusion of this final element in an episcopal crest is also seen in that of the now-Bishop of Honolulu, Larry Silva.

Preceded by
Libert H. Boeynaems
Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands
19261940
Succeeded by
Roman Catholic Bishop of Honolulu
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