St. Augustine the Oldest Parish in the United States
Note: These important facts of early history are from an account given by the second Bishop of St. Augustine, Rt. Rev. Moore, D.D., in 1890.
The history of St. Augustine is most interesting, it is the oldest town in America. A Spanish fleet bearing soldiers and colonist, arrived in St. Augustine in 1565, more than a half a century before the Pilgrim fathers arrived at Plymouth. This great expedition under the great commander Menendez, arrived off the coast on the 28th of August, the feast of St. Augustine - hence the name. There were four priests accompanying him. Spain never set out a colony without priests. Its object in colonizing was to spread Catholicity. A great many of the facts connected with this memorable expedition have been for some time obscure and have been treated as tradition. "Documentary evidence was investigated with regard to the names of four priests alluded to and with success; not only were the names obtained, but the autograph of the first parish priest - the first in America - Father Martin Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales. While the ships were in the offing, some boats were put ashore, and those who landed erected a temporary altar under the broad canopy of heaven. On this altar, one of the priests offered up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In the name of Him who shed His blood for the salvation of the world, possession was taken of Florida. This remarkable event took place on the eighth of September, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The spot was forever afterward a famous one. It was hallowed by martyrdom of a missionary. When it became a Spanish shrine, it received the name of Nuestra Senora de la Leche, from its statue. It is the oldest memorial of Catholicity in the New World.
The original missionaries to Florida were Jesuits. They were soon martyred by Indians. As the Society of Jesus was young at the time, it was unable to supply their places, and the mission was handed over to the Franciscans. Their territory was certainly extensive one, extending from the Chesapeake Bay down to the Gulf of Mexico, and West to (and including) what is now known as Missouri. The missionaries went among the Indians, preaching to them when they were not at war or on fishing expeditions.
Their labors must have been severe; severe and dangerous. Still, the Church prospered. A college was established at St. Augustine and at one time there were as many as fifteen priests here. On Holy Saturday, March 12th, 1606, Bishop Caliezes de Altamirano gave Confirmation in St. Augustine, the first time the sacrament was administered in the United States, as far as documentary evidence is attested. Again, in 1674, Bishop Calderon made a visitation of the missions of Florida, extending over eight months, during which he confirmed over 13,131 Indians. There must have been some 30,000 Catholics in Florida at this time. The Bishop returned to St. Augustine, and on August 24th, 1674, conferred the sacrament of Holy Orders on seven young men, Spaniards or of Spanish decent. This was the first time, as far as records state, that Holy Orders were conferred in the United States.
During the centuries since its establishment, the Church in Florida has encountered many vicissitudes. The first trouble was bad faith with the Indians on the part of the Spanish governors. They compelled the Indians to labor on the public works, contrary to the express prohibition of the King of Spain. Very naturally, the Indians got it into their heads that the priests were in collusion with the governors. The result was rebellion and destruction of the missions. Florida was disturbed by the English colonists of the Carolinas and Georgia. They made raids on the Catholic Missions - especially the flourishing ones along the Atlantic coast - burned the churches and mission houses, pillaged the sacred vessels and carried away the Catholic Indians into slavery.
Another barrier to progress was the fickleness of the Indian character, herein is mentioned an instance: "The young chief of the Tolemato Indians was for a long time a fervent Christian. In a moment he allowed his fervor to cool and went back to the pagan practices. Then, fearing that silence might be construed into approval of the chief's conduct, the priest publicly censored him. The chief took umbrage and formed a conspiracy amongst the braves to exterminate the Spaniards, resolving to begin with the priests, as they were the most influential. Consequently, when Father Peter de Corpa went to say Mass, as usual, they murdered him. They then traveled a half a mile farther and killed Father Rodriquez. They next traveled along the beach for fifty miles to Fernandina, where they martyred two other priests."
In 1656, St. Augustine had about three hundred people and a flourishing community of fifty Franciscan religious scattered through various missions in Florida. Besides there were in St. Augustine, the Cura Vicaro, or parish priest, Don Pedro Verdago de la Silveyra, the Sacristan Major and chaplan of Lord Antonio Calvo. There were also the hospital of Nuestra de la Saledad, one for the poor, and the Hermitage, or Chapel of Santa Barbara. The piety of the people was kept alive by sodalities of the Blessed Sacrament and of the Faithful Departed.
BISHOP FOR FLORIDA ADVOCATED IN 1655 In 1655 an attempt was made to provide a Bishop for Florida and to erect St. Augustine into an Episcopal See. All felt the want of a Bishop because of the difficulty and expense for the voyage to Florida and the danger of pirates, and Episcopal visits from Santiago were rare; years passed without Confirmation being administered, and many died without having received the Sacrament.
Don Diego de Reballevo, the Governor of Florida, pleaded with the King to petition the Holy See to erect St. Augustine into a Vicariate. The King consulted the council of the Indies, the Archbishop of Santo Domingo, the Bishop of Cuba and the Governor of Havana, but there the matter ended, and the opportunity of having St. Augustine the first Episcopal See in the United States was lost. It was not until 1870 that this was accomplished, when Augustine Verot of the Sulpicion Order became St. Augustine's first Bishop; meantime St. Augustine was to pass through various vicissitudes and be under several Episcopal jurisdictions.
About this time the parish of St. Augustine achieved a higher standing by becoming a canonical benefice under Don Lorenzo de Salis who, besides the title Cura and Vicario added that of Ecclesiastical Judge.
From the account, it is evident that the parish of St. Augustine began as a regular canonical parish administered by secular priests who were appointed by the King of Spain by virtue of the Royal Patronage with which Spanish Kings had been endowed by the Holy See. This of course was done in accordance with Canon Law, the Bishop giving his approval of canonical institution to the priests named and presented by the King. In the beginning and up to the British occupation in 1763, the parish of St Augustine, as well as the other parishes under the jurisdiction of the Bishops of Santiago de Cuba, and we find mention of frequent visits to Florida and St. Augustine of the auxiliary Bishops of Santiago de Cuba.
The greatest blow to Catholicity in Florida came with the English occupation, which extended from 1763 to 1783. Florida was ceded to England in exchange for the island of Cuba, which the English acquired. A clause in the Treaty of Paris, which gave Florida to England, obliged the Spaniards to sell their real estate to English settlers within eighteen months, therefore, all Spaniards of social position left and there only remained, during the English occupancy, the poor laborers and fisherman who had nothing to sell. The priests went away too.
During those twenty years the religion was preserved in a singular manner. An English nobleman, the Marquis of Halifax, obtained a grant of land, about sixty miles south of St. Augustine, and, in order to cultivate this, he commissioned a Scotchman named Turnbull, to found a colony. Turnbull's name will be forever associated with the history of Florida. He was a cruel man - a man without conscience. He went to the Mediterranean Islands in search of emigrants. Here he made the most profuse and liberal promises, and pictured the New World as a land flowing with milk and honey. It is related that when walking through the towns in the island of Minorca, he would let gold pieces fall, as if by accident, and would not trouble himself to pick them up. He succeeded in decoying over 1,400 poor people, the majority of them coming from the island of Minorca. When they arrived in Florida, he broke all his promises - indeed, he never intended to keep them - and treated the unfortunate people most shamefully. New Smyrna - so the plantation was named, after the birthplace of Turnbull's wife, a Greek woman - was guarded by soldiers and bloodhounds, and no one was permitted to leave it. The condition of the poor people was slavery of the worst description - so bad, indeed, that in five years the 1,400 had dwindled down to 600. At one time four men were detected attempting to escape, and were hanged as a warning to the others. Finally, news reached St. Augustine of the cruelties of Turnbull. The poor people were invited to remove to this town; and headed by their faithful friend Rev. Dr Peter Camps, the entire parish move to St. Augustine. This singular hegira is, perhaps, the only case on record where a whole parish, priest and people, have removed from one place to another. Father Camps left after him a sainted memory which is still cherished. "Tradition claims that a certain black gentleman took Turnbull away bodily, in the fashion made familiar in the old stories."
In 1783, Florida was restored to Spain in exchange for the Bermuda Islands. As many English-speaking people had entered the country during the English occupation, the King of Spain saw the necessity of having priests on the missions who could speak both English and Spanish. He accordingly applied for priest to the Irish college at Salamanca, and fourteen Irish priests were sent with letters from the King to the Bishop of Havanna, asking that they be hospitably received, and sent to their missions. Four of these were sent to St. Augustine: Don Thomas Hassett, Don Miguel O'Reilly, Father Crosby and Father Wallis. They found things in a deplorable state.
The church had been used as a guard house and was so dilapidated that it was deemed best to turn the Bishop's house into a church temporarily. Obviously, the time had come to build a new church, the Cathedral of St. Augustine. The people contributed generously, according to their means, in money and work; and the King of Spain sent two architects and a substantial sum of money.
After the two years Father Hassett was transferred to New Orleans, where he died in 1804. It was Father Hassett who established the FIRST FREE SCHOOL IN AMERICA. He was succeeded by Father Crosby who was living when Florida was sold to the United States in 1821.
It is astonishing to know that the two last "Spanish Governors of Florida were Irishmen." They were named Coppinger and White; the former, or at least his ancestors, hailing from Cork, and the latter, from Dublin. It came about in this way. When Spain had some trouble with England, the King sought from France the famous Irish Brigade. The French King could spare only two regiments at the time; and one of these, the Second Regiment de Hibernia, was sent to Florida. That is the explanation for this curious piece of history. But there are many equally surprising things to be found in the early records of this interesting city, whether we consider government or Church.
From Florida's earliest days to 1821, when the United States took possession there occurred so many struggles and sharp changes that historians have a wealth of material to study. After 1821, a new period began in government. But on December 8, 1796, when our Cathedral was dedicated, the Catholic Church began new chapters of her history in St. Augustine, with a substantially-built sacred edifice as a center for worship and influence.
