Helio Koa'eloa (ca. 1815–1846), was a Hawaiian Catholic lay missionary called as the "Apostle of Maui" for converting about 4,000 natives to the Catholic faith. Landmarks and memorials were dedicated to him at Maui. A cross (called Hâna cross) was erected in Wailua valley in his memory in 1931.

Biography

Koa'eloa was born in 1815 on Wailua Valley,

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

, Hawaii. He was living in Hāna when he heard about the arrival of a new religion, Catholicism. He paddled a canoe to Honolulu to be personally instructed in the faith and to join the church. Then he returned to Maui and instructed over 4,000 people for the Catholic Mission. At the time Catholics experienced discrimination at the hands of the Protestant majority. The Catholics in Wailuku were ordered by the government to build a Protestant church but they refused. Instead, they consented to fix the roads. His boundless enthusiasm for the promotion of the Catholic faith earned him the title "Apostle of Maui". Before the Catholic Mission was properly established in Maui, Koa'eloa died in 1848 and was buried in Wailua, the valley of his birth.

References

1815 births 1846 deaths People from Maui Native Hawaiian people Roman Catholic missionaries in Hawaii Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu 19th-century venerated Christians American Servants of God Hawaiian Kingdom Roman Catholics Catholics from Hawaii {{RC-bio-stub