Today, Monday October 12 is the 529th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World.
Over
125 years ago, Pope Leo XIII decreed that a votive Mass of the Holy
Trinity be offered today in thanksgiving for Columbus’ discovery and bringing
the Catholic faith to this hemisphere. Commending Columbus, Pope Leo XIII
wrote in his 1892 encyclical:
For Columbus is ours; since if a little
consideration be given to the particular reason of his design in exploring the
mare tenebrosum, and also the manner in which he endeavoured to execute the
design, it is indubitable that the Catholic faith was the strongest motive for
the inception and prosecution of the design; so that for this reason also the
whole human race owes not a little to the Church. – Quarto Abeunte
Saeculo, 1892
We decree, therefore, that on October
12, or on the following Sunday, if the Ordinary should prefer it, in all the
Cathedral churches and convent chapels throughout Spain, Italy, and the two
Americas, after the office of the day there shall be celebrated a Solemn Mass
of the Most Holy Trinity… – Quarto Abeunte Saeculo, 1892
In
recent times, Columbus and his legacy has been unnecessarily criticized through
lies
and falsehoods. But as Servant of God, Fr. John Hardon, SJ observed
in his book “Christopher
Columbus: The Catholic Discovery of America”, Columbus had a deep faith for
Christ and expressed it in many of his writings. Fr. Hardon provides several
examples from Columbus’ log:
As is our custom, Vespers were said in
the late afternoon, and a special thanksgiving was offered to God for giving us
renewed hope through the many signs of land He has provided. I now
believe that the light I saw earlier was a sign from God and that it was truly
the first positive indication of land. - October 11, 1492.
I want the natives to develop a friendly
attitude towards us because I know they are a people who can be made free and
converted to our Holy Catholic Faith, more by love than by force. – October 12,
1492.
For
Fr. Hardon, it was clear that the zealous missionary faith of both Columbus (a
Third Order Franciscan) and Servant of God Queen
Isabella the Catholic (declared in 1974), led them to pursue this
mission. This hunger for souls for Christ may have also been one of the
reasons, Blessed Fr. Michael J. McGivney, choose the name
Columbus for his new fraternal order, the Knights of Columbus.
The Knights of Columbus main website has some great resources helping to clarify Columbus' place in history:
For
us Knights in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, we should be
grateful for Columbus' bringing the Holy Faith to these shores. As
such, we close with Pope Leo XIII:
And, above all, it is fitting that we
should confess and celebrate in an especial manner the will and designs of the
Eternal Wisdom, under whose guidance the discoverer of the New World placed
himself with a devotion so touching. – Quarto Abeunte Saeculo
As
some in the Church today struggle with how to minister to pagan cultures, let
the story of Columbus, the Franciscans who followed him, and the North American
Jesuit martyrs serve as an example to us all on how to reclaim the Holy Faith
that was introduced to these lands five centuries ago and with zeal share it
with those who are separated from it or who lack it entirely.
