| Jonatana Napela | |
|---|---|
1869 in Salt Lake City |
|
| Born | September 11, 1813 |
| Died | August 6, 1879 (aged 65) |
Jonatana Napela or Jonathan Hawaii Napela (first name also spelled Iohatana, full name Napelakapuonamahanaonaleleonalani[1]) (1813–1879) was one of the earliest Latter-day Saint converts in Hawai'i. He helped translate the Book of Mormon into Hawaiian with George Q. Cannon.
Napela was born September 11, 1813[2] and educated at Lahainaluna School.[3]
Napela was trained as a lawyer and served as a judge in Wailuku, Hawaii[4] when he met Cannon. After his conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he was removed from his judgeship.
In the words of Andrew Jensen, Napela "did splendid missionary work for the Church."[5] He was specifically sent on a mission in 1853, but as was common in the early church spent much of his time preaching the gospel.[6] On one occasion Cannon and other American elders had prayed for good weather, but decided the weather would be poor and were on their way to hold the meeting in a building. Napela, who had been present when they prayed for good weather, was surprised at their lack of faith, and they followed his lead and held the meeting in a grove of trees.[7]
Starting in January 1852 Napela begin working with Cannon on translating the Book of Mormon. Cannon would first render the text of a few pages in Hawaiian. Then he would discuss the meaning of the pages with Napela. Then Cannon would ask Napela to explain the meaning of the translation.[8]
Napela was a vigorous preacher of Mormonism in the islands, and was one of the men responsible for sending word to church headquarters that Walter M. Gibson was leading the church astray.[9] This led to Ezra T. Benson, Lorenzo Snow and Joseph F. Smith traveling to Hawaii to excommunicate Gibson and put the church in order.
In 1866 Napela traveled to Salt Lake City.[10]
In 1873, Napela's wife Kitty Richardson contracted leprosy and he went with her to live at the Kalaupapa Leper Colony on Molokai. His wife was the only female of mixed Hawaiian and European descent admitted to the colony that year. Napela was appointed superintendent of the leper colony but soon ran into trouble with the board of health because of his unwillingness to enforce a rigid segregation of lepers and non-lepers.[11] For the rest of his life he presided over the Latter-day Saints at that location.[6] He died of leprosy on August 6, 1879.
The Hawaiian Studies Center at Brigham Young University Hawaii is named after Napela.
In 2010 the Roman Catholic Church presented the Polynesian Cultural Center with a plaque commemorating Napela's cooperation with Saint Damien.[12]
