Holy Ghost Catholic Church, also known as Holy Ghost Mission, is an historic

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

-shaped

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church building on the island of

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

, located at 4300 Lower Kula Road in Waiakoa in the Kula district. It was designed by Father James Beissel and built by his parishioners who were Portuguese from the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

and the

Madeira Islands Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of the Canary Islands, Spain, wes ...

who had come to work on the local

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

. The first

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

was celebrated in it in 1895. It was consecrated in 1899 by Bishop Gulstan Ropert, the third

vicar apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of the

Vicariate Apostolic An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

of the

Sandwich Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Formerly ca ...

— now the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu The Diocese of Honolulu () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese for the state of Hawaii in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisc ...

. On April 29, 1983, it was placed on the Hawaii Register of Historic Places and on August 18, 1983, it was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. It may be the only historic octagonal building in Hawaii. In 1991 the building was closed for a year in order to undergo a major restoration. Holy Ghost Mission is still an active Roman Catholic congregation, which annually at

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...

celebrates the Portuguese Holy Ghost Festival.

Gallery

Image:Maui-Kula-HolyGhost-CatholicChurch-entrance.JPG, Front entrance Image:Maui-Kula-HolyGhost-CatholicChurch-altar.JPG,

Altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

Image:Maui-Kula-HolyGhost-CatholicChurch-back.JPG, Rear view

References

External links

Kula Catholic Community website

* Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Hawaii Roman Catholic churches in Hawaii Religious buildings and structures in Maui County, Hawaii Portuguese immigration to Hawaii Historic American Buildings Survey in Hawaii Octagonal churches in the United States Roman Catholic churches completed in 1894 1895 establishments in Hawaii National Register of Historic Places in Maui County, Hawaii Buildings and structures in Kula, Hawaii 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Hawaii Register of Historic Places {{Hawaii-RC-church-stub

Gallery

See also

References

External links