Church of the Immaculate Conception of Lepua (Pago Pago, American Samoa)
On the island of Tutuila, the Diocese of Samoa- Pago Pago (erected on September 10, 1982), Catholic life sinks its roots in the work of the Marista Fathers, a congregation of deep Marian spirituality that arrived at the Samoan archipelago in 1845. The diocesan cathedral is consecrated to the Sagrada Familia in Tafuna; but the most explicitly Marian title of these islands is the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Lepuafounded in 1867, the most ancient parish in the entire diocese. Here, in the middle of the Pacific, devotion to the Mother of God accompanied from the first day the planting of the Gospel.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- Pope Gregory XVI entrusted Samoa to the Marist Fathers of the Society of Mary in 1836, and the first Marist missionaries landed in the archipelago in 1845, establishing the mission in Tutuila around 1860.
- The Church of the Immaculate Conception of Lepua was founded in 1867 and is the oldest parish in the diocese of Samoa- Pago Pago, located in the Eastern District of the island of Tutuila.
- The episcopal headquarters today resides in the Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia of Tafuna, built between 1988 and 1994 and open to veneration in 1995, of white exterior and large central dome that combines European and Samoan art.
- Until 1995 the only cathedral was the Co- Cathedral of San José Obrero, completed in Fagatogo in 1959, which retains its rank of co- cathedral in the administrative capital of the territory.
- The impresto marista marked the Marian devotion of the Samoans from the beginning: the congregation itself had put its mission under the patronage of the Mother of God, and even its missionary ship was named after the Star of the Sea.
- La diócesis de Samoa-Pago Pago, sufragánea de la Archidiócesis de Samoa-Apia, reúne hacia 2022 unos 11.500 católicos en veintinueve parroquias repartidas por Tutuila, Manu’a y las islas menores del territorio.
Immaculate Conception
In the diocese of Samoa- Pago Pago, on the island of Tutuila, the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Lepua (1867) is the oldest parish and the oldest Marian title in the territory, the fruit of the Marist evangelization initiated in 1845. The diocesan cathedral is dedicated to the Sagrada Familia, in Tafuna, and the co-cathedral to San José Obrero, in Fagatogo.
"Immaculate Conception, Star of the Sea that you led the missionaries to these islands, keep under your cloak the children of Samoa and bring them to your Son.
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