Herman Koeckemann

Who was Herman Koeckemann?

Herman Koeckemann, formally Bernard Hermann Koeckemann, SS.CC., served as the second vicar apostolic of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands — now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu — from 1881 to 1892.

Born in Ostbevern, Westphalia, Germany, he was baptized as Bernard. At the age of 14, his father, a farmer, sent him to the Gymnasium of Münster. Koeckemann was an excellent student and excelled in classical studies. During his seven years of college, his progress in Latin, Greek, Hebrew and French and in philosophy and science was so well marked that at the graduation, his examiners dispensed with the oral examination as superfluous.

Believing himself called to religious life, he went to Leuven and entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. After a novitiate of eighteen months, he was admitted to religious profession on April 11, 1851, taking the name Herman. After three years of theologate, he was sent by his superiors to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi for work as a missionary. He arrived in Honolulu on November 13, 1854 and was subsequently ordained to the priesthood as a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on May 31, 1862 at the age of 34.