USA > Alabama > A Catholic history of Alabama and the Floridas Volume 1 > Part 4
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The piety of the Spanish people at this epoch may be gathered incidentally from the Foundations of St. Teresa, and similar works, and from the Lives of many Saints of that nation. Non-Catholic writers have
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not always hidden the name and the fame of the Apostolic men who strove to draw honey from the rock and oil from the flinty stone. "The Catholic priest," says Washington Irving, "went even before the soldier and the trader; from lake to lake, from river to river : the missionaries pressed on, unresisting, and with a power which no other Christians have ex- hibited, won to the Faith the warlike Miamis, and the luxurious Illinois."
"Not a river was entered, nor a cape turned," says Bancroft, " but a Jesuit led the way."
St. Francis Xavier writes to the gentle Father, Simon Rodriguez, who was confessor to John III., King of Portugal : "You should see, my dear Brother, that the King fulfils his duties well, and that he sends all the necessary help to the Indies for the growth of the Faith."
In 1581, three Franciscans who had attempted a mission in New Mexico, met there a martyr's crown. Others succeeded, and long before the English had made any permanent settlement on American shores, whole tribes on the Rio Grande had been converted and civilized, and many a red man of the forest had even learned to read and write. In 1583, Espego, a Spanish nobleman, with soldiers and missionaries, founded Santa Fe, the second oldest city in the United States.
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CHAPTER V.
MELENDEZ, the greatest Admiral of his day, was sent from Spain, 1565, to colonize Florida. He had lately lost his only son, who was believed to have been wrecked on the Florida coast. He clung to the hope of finding him with the French pirates, or among the Indians. The thought that he might be able to rescue him induced this great man to accept the commission of colonizing Florida, and it is sad to have to record that he never found any trace of this well-beloved son.
Melendez was one of the brightest ornaments of the golden age of Spain, as the reign of Charles V. was often styled. "To him," says an admirer, "Spain owes a monument, history a volume, and the muses an epic." It is related that in early youth, Melendez saved the life of the great Charles V. He was one of the splendid retinue that accompanied Philip II. to England, and commanded the vessel in which the Prince 1 sailed, to marry Queen Mary Tudor, a mar- riage so inauspicious for the bride and her Island-King- dom. When King Philip, arrayed in robes, of velvet,
1 Philip was not yet publicly declared King. It was after the mar- riage ceremony, July 25, 1554, that Bishop Gardiner announced, while still in his own Cathedral, Winchester, that the Emperor, Charles V., to make his son who as yet was only Prince of Spain, a more equal match for the bride, a Queen-Regnant, had resigned to him the King- doms of Naples and Jerusalem (1554). No mention is made of the American possessions.
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with diamond collar, stood up to plight his troth, Melendez was in attendance between his royal master and the maiden majesty of England. The royal pair were married by Mary's friend, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, England. The chair in which the Queen sat is still shown in the old Cathedral. No doubt so pious a Catholic as Melendez offered many a fervent prayer for the full restoration of England to the true faith.
A few years later when Queen Mary, had learned, the nothingness of earthly grandeur, and died in her poor Franciscan habit, her eyes ecstatically fixed on the sacred host elevated at the mass, offered for her happy translation from the miseries of earth to the glories of heaven, no doubt our great Admiral was in spirit present at this truly heavenly death-bed, and followed the daughter of Katherine of Aragon to the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, where her holy re- mains were laid to rest with such pomp and ceremony.
In 1565, St. Augustine, the oldest town in the United States, was founded by Melendez and named from the Saint on whose Feast he sailed into its harbor, August 28. Many missionaries accompanied him. Soon after, the Pope, St. Pius V., issued a brief to Melendez to excite his zeal for the conversion of the Indians, 1569. Like St. Teresa and many other holy personages, Pedro Melendez was born at Avila. He had had a stirring career before he became the colo- nizer of Florida. Under Philip II., he rose to the highest rank in the Spanish navy, then the finest in Europe. He brought out twelve Franciscans, and four Jesuits, to work for the conversion of the Indians. In the very year in which Melendez laid the founda- tions of St. Augustine, St. Francis Borgia, General of
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the Society of Jesus, sent out Fathers Martinez and Roger, and Brother Villa Real, to labor on the Florida mission. They were all men of high sanctity.
On the eve of departure, Father Martinez said to a holy friend of his : " O Father, how I long to shed my blood for the Faith at the hands of the savages, and battle for it along the shores of Florida." His holy ambition was gratified; on reaching Florida, he landed to explore the shore. He had scarcely done so, when a gale arose and drove the vessel out to sea. He was quickly surrounded by the Indians and put to death. He was noted for his rare abilities and personal holi- ness, as indeed were many of the earlier missionaries. The scientific knowledge of Columbus often stood him in good stead with his wayward children, the Indians. He obtained astonishing command over them on one occasion, by predicting an eclipse of the moon. Father Martinez was the first Jesuit that en- tered the territory now known as the United States.
The sonorous Spanish was the first European tongue spoken on the American Continent and the ad- jacent islands. The new Apostles came in robes of brown, or white, or black, or grey, with hood or cowl, or bare-headed. They were with the explorers, or they went before them. The achievements of these daring pioneers to-day seem fabulous. They pene- trated forests and surmounted innumerable obstacles, crossed rivers, climbed mountains-without streams, roads, or guides,-bore cold and heat, thirst and hun- ger-and all in the hope of saving the souls, often of their enemies. Columbus said he felt he had been chosen by God to be his messenger to these people in new lands beyond the sea, to bring them to Christ, and so felt the holy men who followed in his wake.
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The Spaniards were the first to evangelize the In- dians, and bring them under the civilizing influence of the Gospel. We need but name the saintly Las Casas, but hundreds followed him. And no other motive was recognized as one which could lure the great men of Spain's glorious past from their stately homes, their beloved kindred, their cherished literary and scien- tific occupations, than an unconquerable desire to draw souls to Christ.
The Emperor Charles V. ordered Lucas Vasquez De 'Ayllon who fitted out an expedition at his own cost, to carry missioners with him at the expense of the crown: The Emperor wrote: "Our principal interest in the discovery of new lands is that the inhabitants and natives thereof, who are without the light of the knowl- edge of Faith, may be brought to understand the truths of our holy Catholic Faith. And this is the chief motive you are to hold in this affair. And to this end it is proper that Religious persons should ac- company every expedition." So that ships prepared for the transatlantic voyage, looked as if they had been made ready for a great missionary enterprise.
The brilliant career of Columbus and his well known zeal to bring souls to God, induced many daring men to brave the dangers of the deep to obey the divine command : " Go, teach ye all nations-" inspired the Catholic Cabots (Gabotas), Italians in the service of Henry VII. to share in the great work of saving souls. These enlightened navigators discovered the North 'American Continent.
Father Tolosa and other disciples of Las Casas visited Florida to convert the barbarians but found a speedy death. The first Jesuit martyr, Father du Poisson, while en route for New Orleans stopped to
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celebrate mass at Natchez. While carrying the Blessed Sacrament to a sick person, he was struck dead with an Indian tomahawk; and a general massacre followed. Father Doutreleau, while offering mass on the banks of the Mississippi, was assailed with a volley of arrows, but escaped almost miraculously. A seminary priest, Father Gaston, was martyred. Many died victims of the wasting climate, and the total lack of care and nourishment. In 1736, Father Senat, S.J. was burnt at the stake, on Palm Sunday. Such were the dangers from the Indians many had to carry their guns to mass. Arms were stacked before the church and sentinels paced up and down while mass was celebrated. And yet a certain writer, styles a ship carrying mis- sioners as well as other passengers:
" The roving expedition of gallant freebooters in quest of a fortune."
The wise and upright Don Antonio de Mendoza, directed Father Mark, an illustrious Franciscan from Nice, to penetrate into the interior, and to assure all the nations he encountered that the Viceroy had put an effectual stop to the enslavement of the Indians, and sought only their good. "The service of the Lord," said he, "and the good of the people of the Land, is the aim of the pacification of whatever is dis- covered.
Father Mark became Provincial of his Order in 1531, being the earliest of priestly explorers. Unarmed and afoot, he penetrated into the heart of the country in advance of all other European-" a bare-footed Friar effecting more," as Viceroy Mendoza wrote, " than well armed Spaniards had been able to accom- plish."
Lay Brothers and Brothers of the Third Order often
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helped the priests. On one occasion a Negro and an Indian received the habit. These zealous souls not being ordained to priestly functions, determined to set up the cross in all the neighboring villages, instruct the people in the articles of Faith, baptize dying chil- dren. In this way, no doubt, thousands of souls were saved of whom history seems to have made but little record.
Melendez governed Florida for ten years and used every effort to restore the colony to comfort and safety. He was indefatigable in conciliating the natives and in winning them to the Catholic Faith. At his request, missioners were sent from Spain, chiefly Franciscans. They visited the remotest tribes, and by their address, the mildness of their manners, and the simplicity of their lives, devoted to teaching the arts of civilization, obtained an entire ascendancy over the savages.
In 1584, many missions and convents wers founded in Middle Florida. Their ruins now excite the in- vestigation of the curious. Here was a great religious Province, chartered by the see of Rome, under the Franciscan Order, known as Santa Elena, whose rep- resentative government was fixed at St. Augustine. The Catholic religion was acknowledged by most of the tribes north of the Gulf of Mexico and east of the Mississippi, (Monette, from Williams' Florida.)
The Jesuits invited to help the Franciscans in the glorious work of teaching, penetrated the Indian towns, lived with the savages, bore unparalleled hard- ships, ministered to the wretched, instilled the teach- ings of Christianity into the minds of any who would give them a hearing, and thought no danger or sacrifice great enough to deter them from carrying on their work. The Indian world was their parish. Wherever
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they went they made keen observations of all they saw, and reported to their superior in France, in a remark- able series of letters called the Jesuit Relations .- THORPE's History of the American people.
Father Pareja translated many religious books into native dialects which were very useful in instructing the Indians.
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CHAPTER VI.
IN every way Melendez was untiring in his efforts for the prosperity of Florida. He was often recalled to Spain, always to the detriment of his colony. His relations with the natives were very friendly. If they showed any disposition to embrace the Catholic Faith, he sent the most fervent missionary to their aid. His last recorded wishes were that he might return to Florida, and spend whatever remained to him of life in saving the souls of the poor Indians. He was recalled to Europe to command the famous Spanish Armada, but died before it sailed. Had the great Admiral lived to command the Invincible Armada, history might have a different tale to tell of the results. He closed his remarkable career in the fear and love of God, at Santander, on the feast of the stigmata of his beloved St. Francis, September 17, 1574. But we must mention matters which occurred before his death.
Spain claimed Florida by right of the discovery of Columbus and Ponce de Leon's exploration. But the Huguenots 1 having taken possession, Melendez was
1 The invasions of the Huguenots were not the least bloody scenes. They were pirates. They gave no quarter to priests, especially of Orders. I find no case where the Calvinists in Spanish waters gave quarter to Catholics, except in the hope of a large ransom.
A most atrocious case was that of Ignatius Azevedo, who was cap- tured on his way to Brazil, with thirty-nine missionaries, all of whom were put to death, in 1570.
Jacques de Sorie (1551), after pledging his word to spare the Span-
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sent by the King, Philip II., to drive them out. Melendez built a fort which in honor of the day he called St. Augustine. Just as Ribaut's ships were at- tacking the Spaniards, a hurricane scattered his squad- ron. Melendez meanwhile captured Fort Caroline, on the St. John's River, in Florida. Every man in the garrison was put to death.
To revenge his countrymen, a Frenchman, named De Gourgas, fitted out three vessels. Sailing for Florida, he surprised the garrison that guarded the Spanish Fort, and hanged every man within it.
" Whether in his treatment of the French Hugue- nots, he regarded them as pirates, or as parties per- haps in the death of his son, or acted in obedience to the orders of Philip II. or to his own persecuting spirit, can never be known, but in no point of view can his conduct be justified." SHEA.
After the death of Pedro Melendez, the prosperity of Florida declined. But the great leader had set his work on the place and on the people, and it soon be- came more prosperous than before, by following his counsels and example. But we must go back to its earlier days.
The beautiful peninsula in which the gallant Juan Ponce de Leon sought the fountain of youth, and to which he gave the sweet-sounding name Florida-
iards who surrendered, put them and his Portuguese prisoners to death. Negroes he hanged and shot while alive.
The Huguenots crossed to Havana, burned the town and church. The inhabitants were put to death-many fled to the mountains. Me- lendez knew all this. He sent a vessel and men from his fleet to restore the place.
They made their Protestantism a pretext for their plunders.
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Pascua Florida-the Spanish name for Easter-the day he discovered it-contains as to its history, besides a not inconsiderable martyrology-all the elements of poetry and romance. But it is not the design of this work to enlarge upon the story of the valiant Christian Knight who won and consecrated its soil to the great God; who sought a wonderful spring to restore youth to the aged that they might continue to labor for Christ. I shall have much to say of the zealous mis- sionaries who led the way for the conquerors, or fol- lowed in their steps, to draw new peoples to Christ.
We have seen the mysterious " Everglades," with floating islets of lilies moving over their shallow lakes, and the hunters and trappers that seem to lose them- selves in their mighty swamps. And drowsy St. Augustine, with its gray walls and time-eaten door- ways, transfigured by the amber sunlight or the white moonbeams, into a city more entrancing than the Tadmor of the desert. And the wilderness of bloom and beauty watered by the limpid St. John, whose banks are carpeted by red and gold blossoms, and delicate azaleas, and shaded by palm and cypress, robed in moss and mistletoe. And the orange-orchards that grow grateful refreshments for races in far-away lands, where mere existence is not always a pleasure, as it often is under the bright skies, and in the salu- brious atmosphere of Florida.
Yet charming as these natural beauties are, our eyes were not satisfied with feasting on them. We followed in spirit, and, when possible, in reality, the blood- stained traces of the Apostles and martyrs who came in such numbers to convert the barbarian hordes, or die for Christ.
Father Luis Cancer, one of the many friends of
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Las Casas, and, like him, a Dominican, visited Florida to convert the natives, and was, with two other priests, scalped by the savages. Father Padilla and Brother John of the Cross taught the doctrine of Christ till they were slain by the infuriated pagans. Many bands of Franciscans reached Florida, 1573-1593, and brighter days appeared. By degrees the heathens were gathered into the One Fold, and Florida became an Eden of peace.
Father Pareja, a Franciscan, drew up in the Yemassee tongue, an abridgment of the Christian doctrine, the first Catechism ever published in any Indian dialect.
The missionaries who accompanied Pedro Melendez assembled in the Franciscan Monastery, Santa Elena, and from that favored spot the benign light of Christi- anity shed its pure rays over the Floridian peninsula.
In 1597, Father Corpa was slain at the foot of the altar by the dissolute companions of a young chieftain, whom, with apostolic liberty, he had reproved for his vices. The spot sanctified by his death is now vener- ated in the Catholic Cemetery of the ancient city. The mild climate and the refreshing breezes from the sur- rounding waters make St. Augustine a winter paradise for invalids and the weakly. But, at least, Catholics among them should think of the soldiers of the cross, who, in this place, gave up their lives for the Name of Christ, with superhuman love and divine generosity.
The first European to see the Mississippi was Alvarez de Pineda who discovered its mouth and spent six weeks cruising upon it. He named it Rio de Espiritu Santo (River of the Holy Ghost).
We should like to think that the sparkling waters of the Fountain of Youth gave true life to many savages
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when poured on their heads as baptismal waters, by the holy missionaries.
The Silver Spring which tradition asserts to be the Fountain of Youth, is forty feet deep, and transparent to the bottom. A beautiful Carib maiden, Aleida, made its existence known to Ponce de Leon, and ac- companied him on his peaceful, romantic mission in search of the elixir which was to restore strength to his tottering limbs, and the light of youth to his faded eyes. In the legendary lore of these days you will learn that an angel came daily to drink of the waters of life, and the dew-drops, falling from his glittering wings, gave to the spring its wonderful virtue to re- store, or to beautify, as the pilgrims believed.
The natives of Florida whom the early invaders met for the first time, were of splendid physique, all ap- pearing youthful and handsome. This may have given rise to the myth, the fountain of eternal youth, Bimini ! the land where none grow old-the fountain which he thought he saw pictured in its luminous atmosphere on that radiant Easter Sunday. It is said that many of the early Indians of Florida were hydropathists. To bathe in the clear waters and quench their thirst at the crystal springs, were their universal remedies for the evils that flesh is heir to. In health and symmetry, many Indians equalled the classic Greeks.1 To this day, springs abound in Florida and Alabama,2 and are sites for water cure establishments more or less crowded.
- It is not so much in legend, as in hard fact, that
1 Yet the Indians were not all of this classic formation. In Apalache a chief is mentioned who was so fat that he was compelled to move about his house on his hands and knees .- Albert James Pickett.
2 Thus Stafford Springs, Vosburg, are called in the Indian dialect,
" Boga Hama," water of life, and are much frequented.
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we see the wonderful zeal of the priests who were willing to give their lives for the conversion of the barbarians of the New World. "It is impossible," says Mr. Hamilton, " to read the story of the Fathers who accompanied the colonists and devoted their lives to the conversion of the natives, without a feeling of admiration. They abandoned everything dear to man, with the aim and hope of doing good to the ignorant, often cruel, natives of the New World. While priests always accompanied the soldiers, soldiers did not al- ways go along with the priests. In the outlying dis- tricts near every fort, there would gradually be built chapels for the natives; and these were centres not of religious work alone. The Fathers would teach the Indians whom they influenced how to cultivate the soil, and the simple forms of handiwork and manufacture, for their method was the same in Florida as in Texas, or in California.1
The Indians of the coast were not entirely nomadic. They lived by agriculture and the chase. The men hunted, the women cultivated their fields and gardens. They supplemented the game brought home by their braves, with maize, peas, squash, which have remained staples to this day. Everyone, however remotely con- nected with an Indian settlement, has heard of their sweet herbs and sassafras, and tisanes, in which only the creoles rivaled them.
A few scattered wigwams, here and there, are all that now remain of their once populous villages or pueblos. Their roads were mere bridle paths. It was said somewhat reproachfully, that the Spaniards thought that the New World was made only for them-
1 Peter Joseph Hamilton : The Colonization of the South : George Barrie and Sons : Philadelphia : 1904.
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selves. But it is probable that as much could be said of every European nation that descended on the picturesque haunts of the Red men, or sought to rifle the treasure-galleons that sped over the high seas with their precious freight of yellow bars and ingots.
Franciscan missionaries came with Columbus to the New World. From time to time their numbers in- creased until they had preached the Gospel from Florida to the Pacific, and from Colorado to Patagonia. In the Antilles, in our Southwest, in Mexico, Peru, Chili, Paraguay and Argentina, their monasteries were the centres whence civilization and religion flowed to the native tribes." At this time practically, the entire Christian world was in communion with the See of Rome, and all the great discoverers were Catholics.
In 1513, a Spanish navigator, Balboa, while ex- ploring the Isthmus of Panama, was told by an Indian chief of a great sea beyond the mountains. He pushed eagerly forward, and, on July 25, 1513, saw before him the greatest of the oceans. Both he and his men knelt down and thanked God. On reaching the shore, they waded into the sea, and took possession of the Pacific Ocean and the lands bordering thereon, for Leon and Castile.1
1 The discovery of the Pacific was the greatest single exploit since the discovery by Columbus. Balboa beheld a great stretch of water-the great South Sea. He marched into the rolling surf and took formal possession for Leon and Castile :
- - " the first that ever burst Into the silent sea ! "
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CHAPTER VII.
IF the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church, Christians should be numerous in many parts of the South, for the soil has been soaked again and again by martyrs' blood. In 1704, the English and some apostate Indians, destroyed St. Marks, of the Apalachee mission. Apalachee was considered the granary of Florida. Three Franciscans were martyred on this spot with all the horrors of Indian cruelty. Eight hundred Indians, all Christians, were massacred, and fourteen hundred taken into slavery by the leader of these outrages, Governor Moore,1 of South Caro- lina.
Two hundred Christians, including a Jesuit, and a Franciscan, were massacred by the Natchez Indians, in 1729. They spared the children, many of whom formed the nucleus of the first Orphan Asylum in what is now the United States, under the Ursulines, who had recently established the first Convent in the same territory. A French force destroyed the Natchez as a nation, in the same year, 1729.
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