Cathedral of Our Lady of the Marquesas Islands (Taiohae)

🌹 Wonders and anecdotes

• The Fathers of the Sacred Hearts (Picpus) landed in the Marquesas on August 4, 1836 and began a slow and difficult evangelization in the face of intertribal violence, epidemics and demographic decline: in 1804 the population was estimated to be 17,700; in 1830 it had fallen to 8,000.
• The baptism of the king and queen of the Marquesas in 1853 marked a turning point; that same year, Hawaiian Protestant missionaries arrived from the Hawaiian Missionary Board, who collaborated in the education of the population until 1909, when the Catholic presence was already dominant.
• On May 9, 1848, the Apostolic Vicariate of the Marquesas Islands was erected, separated from the Vicariate of Eastern Oceania; in 1966 it was raised to the Diocese of Taiohae by Paul VI and in 1974 it also adopted the name "Marquesal" of Tefenuaenata ("The land of men").
• The present cathedral, consecrated in 1977 on the site of a 19th-century church, was built with stones in different shape and color provided by the six inhabited islands of the archipelago - Nuku Hiva, Ua Huka, Ua Pou, Hiva Oa, Tahuata and Fatu Hiva -, making its walls a symbol of island unity.
• The interior combines the European sacred art with the Marquesan sculptural tradition: the pulpit and the 14 stations of the Viacruces, carved in tamanu wood by local artists, illustrate biblical scenes where the bread tree replaces the olive tree and the Marquesan spears replace the Roman swords.
• The diocese, which is part of the Archdiocese of Papeete and is dependent on the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, has 26 parishes and welcomes some 8,855 Catholics, 90% of the total population of the archipelago, in a territory of 1,274 km ² scattered in the South Pacific.