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Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace
Dedicated August 15, 1843

Peace — also known by its original French name Cathédrale de Notre Dame de la Paix, its Portuguese variant Catedral de Nossa Senhora da Paz and its Hawaiian derivative Malia o ka Malu Hale Pule Nui — is the Mother Church of the Diocese of Honolulu and houses the cathedra of the Bishop of Honolulu in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

It is the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States. The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

After years of persecution of the Roman Catholic Church in the Hawaiian Islands at the hands of Congregational and Presbyterian ministers who befriended the reigning monarchs Kamehameha II, Kamehameha III and Kaʻahumanu, the Hawaiian Government finally issued an Edict of Toleration creating freedom of religious expression. As an act of reconciliation, the monarchs gave the first Roman Catholic missionaries under the leadership of Apostolic Vicar Etienne Jerome Rouchouze a piece of royal estate to build its first church in the Hawaiian Islands, later whose coat of arms is depicted on a cathedral window, commissioned the construction of the cathedral.

The missionaries broke ground for the new church to be built on July 9, 1840. It coincided with the Feast of Our Lady of Peace.

________Development________
On August 14, 1843, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace was consecrated and dedicated. However, it would be decades with many changes before the building would be truly considered completed.
When Louis Desire Maigret inherited the church as office of bishop, the interior was furnished with a simple wooden altar, communion rail and pulpit. The floors were covered in lauhala leaf mats. The cathedra, also known then as the bishop's throne, was imported and installed. Bishop Maigret also raised the ceiling, added a choir loft and galleries overlooking the nave and paneled the ceilings with bronze ornaments.

Extensive marble work was done with the installation of a French marble altar. It was crowned by a triptych featuring statues of Our Lady of Peace looked upon by Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. The most prominent exterior achievement for Maigret was the installation of the first domed bell tower in the Hawaiian Islands in 1866, the domed bell tower was stripped from the exterior and replaced with a wooden spire topped with a cross.

Gulstan Ropert was third bishop, whose coat of arms adorns a cathedral window, installed the famous statue of Our Lady of Peace in the courtyard. December 24, 1893, Msgr. Gulstan Ropert dedicated a bronze statue of Our Lady of Peace, a pedestal with plaques on four sides engraved in English, French, Portuguese and Hawaiian with the words, "In memory of the first Roman Catholic Church, Our Lady of Peace 1827 to 1893."

Gulstan Libert Hubert John Louis Boeynaems was the fourth bishop, whose coat of arms adorns a cathedral window, experimented with Gothic construction of the cathedral facade. He idealized the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace to possibly become a beautiful Gothic cathedral similar to the more famous European churches of his homeland. He commissioned the renovation of the cathedral. The Gothic architecture did not match the Fort Street surroundings and became too costly for the apostolic vicariate to complete other phases. The Gothic dream died.

When Stephen Peter Alencastre assumed the episcopacy of the Hawaiian Islands 1926, he stripped the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace of all vestiges of its Gothic experiment. In anticipation for the celebration of the centennial of the arrival of the first Roman Catholic missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands, the Italian government presented a gift of new white marble altar with statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. Upon the completion of his construction projects, Alencastre established the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace's present-day Romanesque revival style.
Many changes took places since 1970s then on per architectural standards worldwide and favored of native materials. The changes included the configuration of Pipe organ, canopied pulpit, marble communion rails, ambo, sculptured marble crucifix, use of native cultural implements in church architecture, such as koa wood wainscot along the walls, heavy koa wood doors. Seating was rearranged into an antiphonal design with a plain wooden altar in the center of the nave with pews facing inward as if seated around the altar from all four sides.

Today, over 2,500 people go to the downtown Honolulu location weekly to attend liturgical mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace of which there are several services each Sunday.


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