The painted church

Yesterday as we were heading southward on the Island towards the Kilauea volcano we made two stops, one at the Painted Church and the second at the Place of Refuge.  I thought I'd just show a few of the photos of the interior of this interesting church and a bit of its story.  

 This church sits high up on a hill and is actually St. Benedict Roman Catholic Church.  It received its name due to the inspiration of a Belgian priest. Father Jean Berchmans Velghe who served only a few years at the South Kona sanctuary, but long enough to do extraordinary things as an untrained artist working with ordinary house paint.

After having the wooden structure moved uphill from an oceanfront site in 1899, reflecting the migration of parishioners, "Father John" set about decorating its interior with six main murals reflecting scenes from the Bible and religious life, octagonal columns beribboned in red and white paint with Hawaiian translations of phrases from St. Benedict's medal and an over the top (literally and figuratively) vaulted ceiling with trompe l'oeil palm fronds, metallic stars, birds and clouds.  

The story goes that Father John painted the murals inside because many Hawaiians could not read the bible so by depicting them in paintings it made it much easier for them to understand the stories.  In terms of church literature, Protestants had introduced translated Bibles and hymnals about 70 years before Father John began his art project, and a desire to learn how to read is thought to have been one impetus for mass conversions (and vice versa). To me, it seems more likely that a nostalgic priest wanted to re-create the ancient style of his home continent and to delight the eyes of his flock. A picture is still worth a thousand words even if one is capable of reading them.  No matter, it's really worth the stop to see it.