Alexis Bachelot, SS.CC., was a Catholic priest best known for his tenure as the first Prefect Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands. In that role, he led the first permanent Catholic mission to the Kingdom of Hawaii. Bachelot was raised in France, where he attended the Irish College in Paris, and was ordained a priest in 1820. He led the first Catholic mission to Hawaii, arriving in 1827. Although he had expected the approval of then Hawaiian King Kamehameha II, he learned upon arrival that Kamehameha II had died and a new government that was hostile towards Catholic missionaries had been installed. Bachelot, however, was able to convert a small group of Hawaiians and quietly minister to them for four years before being deported in 1831 on the orders of Kaʻahumanu, the Kuhina Nui of Hawaii.
Alexis Bachelot
Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in 2006
1816 painting of Queen Kaʻahumanu, who deported Bachelot from Hawaii in 1831
Portrait of the young King Kamehameha III
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary abbreviated SS.CC., is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for priests and brothers. The congregation is also known as the Picpus because their first house was on the Rue de Picpus in Paris, France.
Founder Pierre Coudrin depicted on a stained glass window in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu
Servant of God Henriette Aymer de La Chevalerie
St. Michael's Cathedral in Rikitea before renovation in 2006
The grave of Saint Damien de Veuster in the crypt of the church of the Congregation of Sacred Hearts in Leuven