Catholicism has been deeply entwined in American history since the Catholic explorer Christopher Columbus first stumbled upon the Canary Islands in August of 1492. Regardless of your views on Columbus, what is undeniable and admirable is that part of his motivation for exploration was a desire to spread the Gospel. Spanish Catholic explorers continued this mission when they ventured to the “new” world, bringing Catholic missionaries with them.
A few decades later in 1531, the Blessed Mother appeared on Tepeyac Hill outside of Mexico City to the peasant St. Juan Diego. She requested that a church be built, gave him roses in winter as a miraculous sign, and also left a miraculous and mysterious image on his cloak which can still be seen today. She would become known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of all the Americas, and what followed in the next ten years was the largest mass conversion in history which saw eight to ten million indigenous people embrace the Catholic faith.
In 1565, Spanish explorers and missionaries landed in St. Augustine, Florida, and immediately celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving followed by a feast with members of the local Timucua tribe. This first documented Thanksgiving in what would become the United States of America happened a full 56 years before the more famous “first” Thanksgiving at Plymouth Colony in 1621. From St. Augustine, missionaries spread the Gospel throughout what is today the southeastern United States.
Further north in what is now New York State, French missionaries did the same, preaching to members of the Iroquois Confederation. St. Isaac Jogues had been captured by the Iroquois, and imprisoned. His diary and letters from this thirteen-month period describe the experience: several of his fingers were cut, chewed, or burnt off, and he and his companions endured beatings, forced marches, and watched helplessly as their Huron converts were likewise tortured and killed before them. After he was rescued and returned to France a hero, in 1646 he voluntarily returned to minister among his former captors, eventually being martyred by a Mohawk war party. He is one of eight Jesuits who were martyred within a few years’ time, now collectively known as the North American Martyrs. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church, and the Church quickly began to grow among the native population.
By 1672, the French were poised to map the mighty Mississippi River. The Spanish who explored it from its southern delta had dubbed it the River of the Holy Spirit. When the Frenchmen Louis Juliet and Jesuit Fr. Jacques Marquette began their expedition from the north, they called it the River of the Immaculate Conception. Juliet and Fr. Marquette were deeply spiritual men, and one of their goals was to spread the Catholic faith among the natives. Both explorers saw the adventure before them as a Spirit-led task under the protection of the Blessed Mother.
In the west, the Spanish Franciscan missionary St. Junipero Serra founded nine of the twenty-one missions all along the California coast. His first mission, San Diego, was founded in 1759. The missions served as hubs of evangelization and safe havens from the brutalities of the conquistadors. St. Junipero was in frequent disagreement with the Spanish military commanders over their treatment of the native people. In the end, the natives grieved at his death, showing how he had won their love.
By the time the Catholic Charles Carrol and 55 others signed the Declaration of Independence in July of 1776, Catholic immigrants and native converts were distributed across the continent, and the Catholic faith was spreading. Throughout this period, missionaries risked life and limb, walked for miles and paddled for more, all to bring the message of God’s desire for a relationship with humanity to every soul in the Americas.
What are we willing to risk to bring that same message to our neighbors today? It may be an uncomfortable conversation, a risk that you’ll be asked something you don’t know how to respond to, or the simple but crushing fear of rejection. This Independence Day, don’t just celebrate with burgers and fireworks. Mark this anniversary by standing with our Catholic forefathers who sailed halfway around the world to bring a message of independence from darkness, sin, and death through Jesus Christ to people who were created to hear it.