Stephen Peter Alencastre
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The Most Reverend Stephen Peter Alencastre SS.CC. |
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| Vicar Apostolic of Hawaiian Islands | |
Bishop Alencastre, c. 1910.
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| Church | Roman Catholic |
| See | Titular Bishop of Arabissus |
| In office | 1926-1940 |
| Predecessor | Libert H. Boeynaems |
| Successor | James Joseph Sweeney |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 5 April 1902 |
| Consecration | 24 August 1924 by John Joseph Cantwell |
| Rank | Bishop |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 3, 1876 Porto Santo, Madeira Islands, Portugal |
| Died | November 9, 1940 (aged 64) En route to Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | Portuguese |
Bishop Stephen Peter Alencastre, SS.CC. (born Estêvão Pedro de Alencastre; November 3, 1876 – November 9, 1940), was a Roman Catholic bishop who served as the fifth and last Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands (now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu).
Born on the island of Porto Santo in the Madeira Islands of Portugal and brought to Hawai‘i as an infant, Alencastre later returned to Europe to finish his seminary studies in Belgium. He was ordained to the priesthood on April 5, 1902, at the age of 25, as a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and returned to serve the people of Hawai‘i.
When the Vicar Apostolic, Libert H. Boeynaems, SS.CC., fell ill, Alencastre was appointed by Pope Pius XI as coadjutor Vicar Apostolic, with the right of succession, on April 29, 1924. On August 24 of that year, he was consecrated Titular Bishop of Arabissus at the age of 47.
Upon the death of Boeynaems on May 13, 1926, Alencastre automatically succeeded him as Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. He was the first bishop in Hawai‘i to have been raised in the Hawaiian Islands.
Alencastre's personal mission included continuing to expand the number of schools and parish churches in the Islands (and to renovate the existing ones) and to build a seminary to form vowed religious locally to the priesthood. This came to fruition with the building of St. Stephen's Seminary, named in honor of the Bishop's own patron saint, which is still operational. The bishop was also partly responsible for the increase in the variety of religious orders in Hawai‘i, inviting such groups as the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet to help spread of Catholicism in the Hawaiian Islands.
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