The History of the Church through 100 Masterpieces

The First Mission to America

The History of the Church 144 The First Mission to America It is said that the first action Christopher Columbus and his crew took upon disembarking on a small island of the Bahamas, on October 12, 1492, was to celebrate Mass. Thisis but a pious legend. It is true that at the first sighting of land after more than a month’s journey across the ocean, the sailors intoned the Salve Regina; true also, that Columbus immediately baptized the island with the name of “San Salvador.” But there was no Mass, simply because no clergy had wanted to join the expedition. Sailing westward, Christopher Columbus counted only 95 crewmen aboard his three vessels: the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. The majority of these crewmen were galley men, and the total included about 30 newly converted Jews. Nonetheless, Columbus immediately made religion ubiquitous through the names he gave the islands he discovered. The first Mass did not take place until a year later, on the occasion of the second expedition of the Genovese seaman, who was now the “Admiral of the Ocean Sea.” This time, among the 1,500 men journeying in 17 caravels, there was no shortage of priests. Paramond Blanchard (1805–1873) The First Mass in America Musée des BeauxArts , Dijon ...