(1451–May 20, 1506), was the Genoese explorer credited with the discovery America. After seven years of trying to convince the monarchs of Europe to finance his expedition, he finally won the support of Queen Isabella of Castille and King Ferdinand of Aragon. Columbus set sail on August 3, 1492, and after the longest voyage ever made out of sight of land, discovered the New World on October 12, 1492.
In his Libro de las profecias (Book of Prophecies), Christopher Columbus wrote:
Most Christian and very high Princes: My argument for the restitution of the Holy Temple to the Holy militant Church is the following:
Very high Princes: at a very early age I went to sea and have continued navigating until today. The art of sailing is favorable for anyone who wants to pursue knowledge of this world’s secrets. I have already been at this business for forty years. I have sailed all the waters which, up to now, have been navigated. I have had dealings and conversations with learned people—clergymen and laymen, Latins and Greeks, Jews and Moors, and with many others of other sects. I found Our Lord very well-disposed toward this desire, and he gave me the spirit of intelligence for it. He prospered me in seamanship and supplied me with the necessary tools for astrology, as well as geometry and arithmetic and ingenuity of intellect and of manual skill to draw spherical maps which show cities, rivers and mountains, islands and ports—everything in its proper place.
At this time I have seen and put in study to look into all the Scriptures, cosmography, histories, chronicles and philosophy and other arts, which our Lord opened to my understanding (I could sense His hand upon me), so that it became clear to me that it was feasible to navigate from here to the Indies; and He unlocked within me the determination to execute the idea. And I came to your Highnesses with this ardor.
All those who heard about my enterprise rejected it with laughter, scoffing at me. Neither the sciences which I mentioned above, nor the authoritative citations from them, were of any avail. In only your Highnesses remained faith and constancy. Who doubts that this illumination was from the Holy Spirit? I attest that He (the Spirit), with marvelous rays of light, consoled me through the holy and sacred Scriptures, a strong and clear testimony, with forty-four books of the Old Testament, and four Gospels with twenty-three Epistles of those blessed Apostles, encouraging me to proceed, and, continually, without ceasing for a moment, they inflame me with a sense of great urgency.
Our Lord wished to perform the clearest miracle in this of the voyage to the Indies, to console me and others in this other of the Holy Temple: I spent seven years in your royal Court arguing the case with so many persons of such authority and learned in all the arts, and in the end they concluded that all was idle nonsense, and with this they gave up; yet the outcome will be the fulfillment of what our Redeemer Jesus Christ said, and had said beforehand by the mouth of his Holy Prophets. And so there is every reason to believe that this other will become manifest; and being sure of what we hope for, if what said done not suffice, I offer as support the holy Gospel, in which Jesus stated that everything would pass away, but not his wonderful Word; and with this he said that it was utterly necessary for all that was written by him and by the prophets to be fulfilled.
I said that I would state the argument I have for the restitution of the Holy Temple to the Holy Church. I tell you that I am disregarding all my navigational skills since an early age, as well as the conversations I have had with many people in many lands and of many sects; and disregarding the many arts and writings that I referred to above, I only hold fast to the Holy and Sacred Scriptures and to some prophetic authoritative citations from certain holy persons, who have said something about this under divine inspiration.
It is possible that your Highnesses and all others who know me and might be shown this writing, who will reprimand me secretly and publicly with varied reproofs, such as uneducated, ignorant, an ordinary man, etc.
I respond to that what St. Matthew said: “O Lord, it was your good pleasure to keep so many things from the wise, and reveal them to the innocent!” And the same St. Matthew: “When our Lord entered Jerusalem, the children sang, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ The scribes, in order to tempt him, asked him if he heard what they were saying, and Jesus replied, ‘Yes,’ saying ‘Did you not know that the truth would be spoken by the mouths of children?’ ” Or later on the Apostles who said such profound things, particularly St. John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, etc.,” words so lofty from persons who were never formally educated.
I say that the Holy Spirit works … not just the learned, but also in the ignorant. In my time I have seen a countryman discern the sky and the courses of the stars better than others who pay tuition to be instructed in it. And I say that not only does the Holy Spirit reveal the future to rational creatures, but he shows us what is yet to come by summoning signs in the heavens, in the atmosphere, and in of wild beasts, just like the prodigies that portended the day of Julius Caesar’s, and in many other ways which would be tedious to recount since they are familiar to everybody.
The Holy Scriptures testify in the Old Testament, by the mouth of the prophets, and in the New, by our Savior Jesus Christ, that this world will come to an end: Matthew, Mark, and Luke have recorded the signs of the end of the age; the prophets had also abundantly foretold it.
St. Augustine says that the end of this world will occur in the seventh millennium following the Creation; the sacred theologians accepts his interpretation, in particular the cardinal Pierre d’Ailly in Verbo XI and in other places, as I will tell below.
From the creation of the world, or from Adam, until the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ figure 5,343 years and 318 days, by the calculation of King Alfonso which is held as the most accurate; P. de A. (Pierre d’Ailly) on Verbo X (Elucidarium astronomice concordie cum theologica et historica veritate). Adding these figures to the approximate 1,501 years, the total is an approximate 6,845 years. According to this calculation, there are but 155 years left for the fulfillment of the seven thousand, at which time I said above, by the authorities cited, that the world will come to an end.
Our Savior said that before the consummation of this world, all that was written by the Prophets must be fulfilled.
The Prophets, in their writings, spoke, more or less clearly and in various manners, of things belonging to the future as if past and of things past as future, and in the same way of things present. Many prophecies have double meaning and refer to different events of similar character, some prophecies are figuratively and others literally. Prophecy may be fulfilled partially in the near future of more completely at a much later date. Isaiah is the prophet whom St. Jerome and St. Augustine praise the most, and the other doctors approve of him and hold him in great reverence. They say that Isaiah not only a prophet, but also an evangelist, who, with all diligence, wrote of the future and called all people to our holy Catholic faith.
Many saintly doctors and sacred theologians commented on all the prophecies and on the other books of Sacred Scripture. They greatly enlightened us concerning that which was unknown to us, though they are not entirely in harmony, due to the limitations of understanding.
Again I enter my protest, so as not to be spoken of as presumptuous and unlearned. I am continually drawn to what St. Matthew said: “O Lord, it was your good pleasure to keep secret so many things from the wise, and reveal them to the innocent!” My retort is this, along with my experience which has witnessed to it.
Most of the prophecies and Sacred Scripture have already been fulfilled. God’s Word testifies to it, and the Holy Church testifies to it ceaselessly in a strong voice, and no other testimony is necessary. I will speak of one because it is relevant to me, and every time I meditate on it, I feel rest and contentment.
I am the worst of sinners. The pity and mercy of our Lord have completely covered me whenever I have called for them. I have found the sweetest consolation in casting away all my anxiety, so as to contemplate His marvelous presence.
I have already said that for the execution of the enterprise of the Indies, neither reason, nor mathematics, nor world maps were profitable to me; rather the prophecy of Isaiah was completely fulfilled. And this is what I wish to report here for the consideration of your Highnesses, and because you will be gladdened by what I will tell you concerning Jerusalem by the same authoritative references. If there is faith, you are bound to have the victory from this enterprise.
Your Highnesses, remember the Gospel texts and the many promises which our Savior made to us, and how all this has been put to a test: St. Peter, when he leapt into the sea, walked upon as long as his faith remained firm. The mountains will obey anyone who has faith the size of a kernel of Indian corn. All that is requested by anyone who has faith will be granted. Knock and it will be opened to you.
No one should be afraid to take on any enterprise in the name of our Savior, if it is right and if the purpose is purely for His holy service. He came to rescue of St. Catherine after he saw the test of her. Remember, your Highnesses, that you undertook, at little cost, the enterprise of the kingdom of Granada. The working out of all things was entrusted by our Lord to each person, in conformity with His sovereign will, even though he gives advice to many. He lacks nothing that it may be in the power of men to give him.
O, how good is the Lord who wishes people to perform that for which he holds himself responsible! Day and night, and at every moment, everyone should give Him their most devoted thanks. I stated above that some of the prophecies remained yet to be fulfilled, and I say they are great things in the world. And I say that the sign which convinces me that our Lord is hastening the end of the world is the preaching of the Gospel recently in so many lands.25
Queen Isabella’s commission to Columbus recited:
It is hoped that by God’s assistance some of the continents and islands in the ocean will be discovered26. … for the glory of God.27
On August 3, 1492, according to Bartolomé de Las Casas, every crew member gave his last confession and received Holy Communion, after which:
[Columbus] received the very holy sacrament of the Eucharist on the very day that he entered upon the sea; and in the name of Jesus ordered the sails to be set and left the harbor of Palos for the river of Saltes and the Ocean Sea with three equipped caravels, giving the commencement to the First Voyage and Discovery of the Indies.28
In the typical custom of the age, each day a young sailor would announce the day by singing out:
Blessed be the light of day
And the Holy Cross, we say;
and the Lord of Veritie
And the Holy Trinity.
Blessed be th’ immortal soul
And the Lord who keeps it whole,
Blessed be the light of day
And He who sends the night away.29
Then the sailors would recite the “Pater Noster” (Our Father) and the “Ave Maria,” followed by:
God give us good days, good voyage, good passage to the ship, sir captain and master and good company, so let there be a good voyage; many good days may God grant your graces, gentlemen of the afterguard and gentlemen forward.30
The hourglass, which was turned on the half-hour, marked the time, accompanied by the young sailor proclaiming:
Blessed be the hour our Lord was born,
St. Mary who bore Him,
and St. John who baptized Him.31
In 1492, Columbus opened the journal of his first voyage across the Atlantic by addressing King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella:
In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
Because, most Christian and very Exalted, Excellent and mighty Princes, King and Queen of the Spains and of the Islands of the Sea, our Lord and Lady, in this present year 1492, after Your Highnesses had made an end to the war with the Moors who ruled in Europe, and had concluded the war in the very great City of Granada, where in the present year, on the second day of the month of January, I saw the Royal Standards of Your Highnesses placed by force of arms on the towers of the Alhambra (which is the citadel of the said city),
And I saw the Moorish King come forth to the gates of the city and kiss the Royal Hands of Your Highnesses and the Prince of my Lord, and soon after in that same month, through information that I had given to Your Highnesses concerning the lands of India, and of a Prince who is called Gran Can [Khan], which is to say in our vernacular “King of Kings,” how many times he and his predecessors had sent to Rome to seek doctors in our Holy Faith to instruct him therein, and that never had the Holy Father provided them, and thus so many people were lost through lapsing into idolatries and receiving doctrines of perdition;
And Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes devoted to the Holy Christian Faith and the propagators thereof, and enemies of the sect of Mahomet and of all idolatries and heresies, resolved to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the said regions of India, to see the said princes and peoples and lands and the dispositions of them and of all, and the manner in which may be undertaken their conversion to our Holy Faith, and ordained that I should not go by land (the usual way) to the Orient, but by the route of the Occident, by which no one to this day knows for sure that anyone has gone … 32
Bartolomé de Las Casas, (1474–1566), called “the Apostle of the Indies,” was one of the first Christian missionaries to America. As the first priest ordained in the New World, he became known for his devotion to the oppressed and enslaved natives. In addition to knowing Columbus personally, his father and uncle were shipmates and colonists under Columbus. Bartolomé de Las Casas copied Columbus’s original Journal of the First Voyage (El Libro de la Primera Navegacion) into an abstract, in which is recounted:
October 8, 1492. “Thanks be to God,” says the Admiral; “the air is soft as in April in Seville, and it is a pleasure to be in it, so fragrant it is.”
October 10, 1492. Here the people could stand it no longer and complained of the long voyage; but the Admiral cheered them as best he could, holding out good hope of the advantages they would have. He added that it was useless to complain. He had come to the Indies, and so had to continue it until he found them, with the help of Our Lord.
October 12, 1492. At two hours after midnight appeared the land, at a distance of 2 leagues. They handed all sails and set the treo, which is the mainsail without bonnets, and lay-to, waiting for daylight Friday, when they arrived at an island of the Bahamas that was called in the Indians’ tongue Guanahaní [San Salvador]. …
So that they might be well-disposed towards us, for I knew that they were a people to be delivered and converted to our Holy Faith rather by love than by force, I gave to some red caps and to others glass beads, which they hung around their necks, and many other things of slight value. At this they were greatly pleased and became so entirely our friends that it was a wonder to see. … I believe that they would easily be made Christians, for it seemed to me that they had no religion of their own. Our Lord willing, when I depart, I shall bring back six of them to your Highnesses, that they may learn to talk our language.
October 16, 1492. I don’t recognize in them any religion, and I believe that they very promptly would turn Christians, for they are of very good understanding.
October 28, 1492. The Admiral says that he never beheld so fair a thing: trees all along the river, beautiful and green, and different from ours, with flowers and fruits each according to their kind, many birds and little birds which sing very sweetly.
November 6, 1492. I maintain, Most Serene Princes, that if they had access to devout religious persons knowing the language, they would all turn Christian, and so I hope in Our Lord that Your Highnesses will do something about it with much care, in order to turn to the Church so numerous a folk, and to convert them as you have destroyed those who would not seek to confess the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And after your days (for we are all mortal) you will leave your realms in a very tranquil state, and free from heresy and wickedness, and will be well received before the eternal Creator, to whom I pray to grant you long life and great increase of many realms and lordships, and both will and disposition to increase the holy Christian religion, as hitherto you have done.
November 27, 1492. But now, please our Lord, I shall see the most that I may, and little by little I shall come, to understand and know, and I will have this language taught to people of my household, because I see that all so far have one language. And afterwards the benefits will be known, and it will be endeavored to have these folk Christians, for that will easily be done, since they have no religion; nor are they idolaters. … And I say that Your Highness ought not to consent that any foreigner does business or sets foot here, except Christian Catholics, since this was the end and the beginning of the enterprise, that it should be for the enhancement and glory of the Christian religion, nor should anyone who is not a good Christian come to these parts.
December 12, 1492. [Columbus erected a cross at the mouth of Moustique Bay on the northwest coast of the island of Hispaniola] as a sign that Your Highnesses hold the country for yours, and principally for a sign of Jesus Christ Our Lord, and honor of Christianity.
December 16, 1492. Because they [tribe of the Arawak], are the best people in the world and above all the gentlest, I have much hope in Our Lord that Your Highnesses will make them all Christians, and they will be all yours, as for yours I hold them.
December 22, 1492. The Admiral ordered the lord to be given some things, and he and all his folk rested in great contentment, believing truly that they had come from the sky, and to see the Christians they held themselves very fortunate.
December 24, 1492. Your Highnesses may believe that in all the world there can be no better or gentler people. Your Highnesses should feel great joy, because presently they will be Christians, and instructed in the good manners of your realms; for a better people there cannot be on earth, and both people and land are in such quantity that I don’t know how to write it.33
Columbus christened the first island he landed on “San Salvador,” meaning “Holy Saviour,” and kneeling, prayed:
O Lord, Almighty and everlasting God, by Thy holy Word Thou hast created the heaven, and the earth, and the sea; blessed and glorified be Thy Name, and praised be Thy Majesty, which hath deigned to use us, Thy humble servants, that Thy holy Name may be proclaimed in this second part of the earth.34
On every island that they stopped, Columbus had his men erect a large wooden cross:
As a token of Jesus Christ our Lord, and in honor of the Christian faith.35
According to Columbus’ personal log, his purpose in seeking “undiscovered worlds” was to:
… bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathens.36
On Christmas eve, December 24, 1492, the Santa Maria ran aground and had to be abandoned. Columbus left 40 men on the Island of Haiti, in a settlement he named “La Navidad,” meaning “The Nativity.” He promised to return the next year.
On January 13, 1493, Columbus described in his journal their first encounter with the cannibalistic tribe of the Canibs, or Caribs, from which “Caribbean” originates. (The English word “cannibal” is derived from the Spanish word “caribe,” which means cannibal or piranha.37)
Seeing them [Caribs] running towards them, the Christians … gave an Indian a great slash on the buttocks, and wounded another in the breast with an arrow. Seeing that they could gain little, although the Christians were not more than seven, they [Caribs] 50 and more, began to flee, until not one remained, one leaving his arrows here, and another his bow there. The Christians would have killed many of them, it is said, if the pilot who went with them as their captain had not prevented it. The Christians returned to the caravel with their boat, and when the Admiral knew of it he said that on the one hand he was sorry and on the other not, since they would have fear of the Christians, because without doubt, says he, the folk there are bad actors (as one says), and he believed that they were Caribs, and ate men.38
On February 15, 1493, near the end of his return voyage from having discovered America, Christopher Columbus sent correspondence to their Highnesses, the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, from on board the ship Caravel anchored off the Canary Islands. Included in this correspondence was a letter, also intended for the eyes of their Majesties, written to Luis de Sant Angel, Treasurer of Aragon and Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had helped substantially in fitting out Columbus’ expedition:
As I know you will be rejoiced at the glorious success that our Lord has given me in my voyage, I write this to tell you how in the thirty-three days I sailed to the Indies with the fleet that the illustrious King and Queen, our Sovereigns, gave me, where I discovered a great many islands, inhabited by numberless people; and of all I have taken possession for their Highnesses by proclamation and display of the Royal Standard without opposition.
To the first island which I found I gave the name San Salvador [Holy Savior], in recognition of His Heavenly Majesty, who marvelously hath given all this; the Indians call it Guanahani. …
From that point I saw another isle to the eastward, at eighteen leagues’ distance, to which I gave the name Hispaniola. I went thither and followed its northern coast to the east, as I had done in Juana, one hundred and seventy-eight leagues eastward, as in Juana. This island, like all the others, is most extensive. It has many ports along the sea-coast excelling any in Christendom. …
At everpoint where I landed, and succeeded in talking to them, I gave them some of everything I had. … I forbade that they should be given things so worthless as pieces of broken crockery and broken glass, and lace points, although when they were able to get them, they thought they had the best jewel in the world; thus it was learned that a sailor for a lace point received gold to the weight of two and a half castellanos, and others much more for other things which were worth much less; yea, for new blancas, for them they would give all that they had, although it might be two or three castellanos’ weight of gold or an arroba or two of spun cotton; they even took pieces of the broken hoops of the wine casks and, like animals, gave what they had, so that it seemed to me wrong and I forbade it, and I gave them a thousand good, pleasing things which I had brought, in order that they might be fond of us, and furthermore might become Christians and be inclined to the love and service of Their Highnesses and of the whole Castilian nation, and try to help us and to give us of the things which they have in abundance and which are necessary to us.
And they know neither religion nor idolatry, with the exception that all believe that the source of all power and goodness is in heaven, and they believe very firmly that I, with these ships and people, came from heaven, and in this belief they everywhere received me, after they had overcome their fear.
And this does not result from their being ignorant (for they are of a very keen intelligence and men who navigate all those seas, so that it is wondrous the good account they give of everything), but because they have never seen people clothed or ships like ours. …
As for monsters, I have found not a trace of them except at the point in the second isle as one enters the Indies, which is inhabited by a people considered in all the isles as most ferocious, who eat human flesh. They possess many canoes, with which they overrun all the isles of India, stealing and seizing all they can. …
Praise be to our eternal God, our Lord, who gives to all those who walk in His ways victory over all things which seem impossible; of which this is signally one, for, although others have spoken or written concerning these countries, it was all conjecture, as no one could say that he had seen them—it amounting only to this, that those who heard listened the more, and regarded the matter rather as a fable than anything else.
But our Redeemer has granted this victory to our illustrious King and Queen and their kingdoms, which have acquired great fame by an event of such high importance, in which all Christendom ought to rejoice, and which it ought to celebrate with great festivals and the offering of solemn thanks to the Holy Trinity with many sincere prayers, both for the great exaltation which may accrue to them in turning so many nations to our holy faith, and also for the temporal benefits which will bring great refreshment and gain, not only to Spain, but to all Christians.
Done on board the Caravel, off the Canary Islands, on the fifteenth day of February, Fourteen hundred and ninety-three. At your orders,
The Admiral.39
On March 15, 1493, Columbus wrote in his journal:
Of this voyage, I observe … that it has miraculously been shown, as may be understood by this writing, by the many signal miracles that He has shown on the voyage, and for me, who for so great a time was in the court of Your Highnesses with the opposition and against the opinion of so many high personages of your household, who were all against me, alleging this undertaking to be folly, which I hope in Our Lord will be to the greater glory of Christianity, which to some slight extent already has happened.40
In 1493, Columbus wrote a letter to Gabriel Sanchez, Spain’s General Treasurer:
That which the unaided intellect of man could not compass, the spirit of God has granted to human exertions, for God is wont to hear the prayers of His servants who love His precepts even to the performance of apparent impossibilities. Therefore, let the king and queen, our princes and their most happy kingdoms, and all the other provinces of Christendom, render thanks to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.41
Columbus viewed himself as:
Servant … of the Most High Saviour, Christ, the Son of Mary.42
Queen Isabella informed the Pope of Columbus’ attempt:
To bear the light of Christ west to the heathen undiscovered lands.43
On April 9, 1493, Columbus wrote to the King and Queen about plans for a second voyage. He recommended that approximately 2,000 colonists accompany him to settle three or four villages, according the custom of Spain each with its own notary and magistrate, and that:
There be a church and abbots or friars to administer the sacraments, perform divine worship, and convert the natives.44
On May 29, 1493, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella granted Columbus’ request for a second voyage, pronouncing:
It hath pleased God, Our Lord, in His abundant mercy to reveal the said Islands and Mainland to the King and Queen, our Lords, by the diligence of the Don Christopher Columbus, their Admiral, Viceroy and Governor thereof, who hath reported it to Their Highnesses that he knew the people he found residing therein to be very ripe to be converted to our Holy Catholic Faith, since they have neither dogma nor doctrine; wherefore it hath pleased and greatly pleaseth Their Highnesses (since in all matters it is meet that their principal concern be for the service of God, Our Lord, and the enhancement of Our Holy Catholic Faith); wherefore, desiring the augmentation and increase of our Holy Catholic Faith, Their Highnesses charge and direct the said Admiral, Viceroy and Governor that by all ways and means he strive and endeavor to win over the inhabitants of the said Islands and Mainland to be converted to our Holy Catholic Faith. …
[Clergy are to be sent] to see that they be carefully taught the principles of Our Holy Faith. …
[The Admiral is to] force and compel all those who sail therein as well as all others who are to go out from here later on, that they treat the said Indians very well and lovingly and abstain from doing them any injury, arranging that both people hold much conversation and intimacy, each serving the others to the best of their ability.
Moreover, the said Admiral shall graciously present them with things from the merchandise of Their Highnesses which he is carrying for barter, and honor them much; and if some person or persons should maltreat the said Indians in any manner whatsoever, the said Admiral, as Viceroy and Governor of Their Highnesses, shall punish them severely by the virtue of the authority vested in him by Their Majesties for this purpose.45
On September 25, 1493, Columbus set sail from Cadiz, Spain, with 1,200 colonists and 17 ships. They landed in the Indies on November 3, 1493, where Columbus continued his discovery of the islands of Dominica, Mariagalante, Todos los Santos and St. Maria de Guadalupe.
In returning to the settlement of the La Navidad on the island of Haiti, where he had left the 40 men from the wrecked Santa Maria, Columbus’ worst fears were realized. The Caribs had attacked the fort and had killed all his men. Thereafter, Columbus had to resist a growing apprehension amongst the colonists, who previously had anticipated only the marvelous conditions reported from the first voyage.
In 1495, Michele de Cuneo, a young Italian nobleman who had accompanied Columbus on this second voyage, recounted in a letter further evidence of the cannibalistic Caribs who inhabited the islands:
In that island [Saint Maria de Guadalupe] we took twelve very beautiful and very fat women from 15 to 16 years old, together with two boys of the same age. These had the genital organ cut to the belly; and this we thought had been done in order to prevent them from meddling with their wives or maybe to fatten them up and later eat them. These boys and girls had been taken by the above mentioned Caribs; and we sent them to Spain to the King, as a sample. …
The Caribs whenever they catch these Indians eat them as we would eat kids [goats] and they say that a boy’s flesh tastes better than that of a woman. Of this human flesh they are very greedy, so that to eat of that flesh they stay out of their country for six, eight, or even ten years before they repatriate; and they stay so long, whenever they go, that they depopulate the islands. …
We went to the temple of those Caribs, in which we found two wooden statues, arranged so that they look like a Pieta. We were told that whenever someone’s father is sick, the son goes to the temple and tells the idol that his father is ill and the idol says whether he should live or not; and he stays there until the idol answers yes or No. If he says no, the son goes home, cuts his father’s head off and then cooks it; I don’t believe they eat it but truly when it is white they place it in the above-mentioned temple; and this they do only to the lords. That idol is called Seyti. …
According to what we have seen in all the islands where we have been, both the Indians and the Caribs are largely sodomites, not knowing (I believe) whether they are acting right or wrong. We have judged that this accursed vice may have come to the Indians from those Caribs; because these, as I said before, are wilder men and when conquering and eating those Indians, for spite they may also have committed that extreme offence, which proceeding thence may have been transmitted from one to the other.46
Dr. Diego Alvarez Chanca, the chief physician on Columbus’ second voyage, described with disgust their encounter with the Caribs:
We inquired of the women who were prisoners of the inhabitants what sort of people these islanders were and they replied, “Caribs.” As soon as they learned that we abhor such kind of people because of their evil practice of eating human flesh, they felt delighted …
They told us that the Carib men use them with such cruelty as would scarcely be believed; and that they eat the children which they bear them, only bringing up those whom they have by their native wives. Such of their male enemies, as they can take away alive, they bring here to their homes to make a feast of them and those who are killed in battle they eat up after the fighting is over.
They declare that the flesh of man is good to eat that nothing can compare with it in the world; and this is quite evident, for the human bones we found in the houses, everything that could be gnawed had already been gnawed so that nothing remained but what was too hard to eat; in one of the houses we found a man’s neck cooking in a pot …
In their wars of the inhabitants of the neighboring islands these people capture as many of the women as they can, especially those who are young and handsome and keep them as body servants and concubines; and so great a number do they carry off that in fifty houses we entered no man was found but all were women. Of that large number of captive females more than twenty handsome woman came away voluntarily with us.
When the Caribs take away boys as prisoners of war they remove their organs, fatten them until they grow up and then, when they wish to make a great feast, they kill and eat them, for they say the flesh of women and youngsters is not good to eat. Three boys thus mutilated came fleeing to us when we visited the houses.47
Columbus, after establishing the settlements of Isabella and Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola, proceeded to explore for five months, leaving the colony under poor supervision. Supplies in the colonies began to diminish, tropical diseases were spreading, and the colonists grew discontent. By the time the next fleet left for Spain, 200 colonists, most in bad health, left with it. Their complaints resulted in a royal investigation in October of 1495, much to the outrage of Columbus. In March 1496, Columbus left for Spain to defend himself.
On Thursday, February 22, 1498, in his Testament of Founding Hereditary Family Estate, Christopher Columbus stated:
Also I order to said Don Diego, my son, or to him who will inherit said mayorazgo, that he shall help to maintain and sustain on the Island of Espanola four good teachers of the holy theology with the intention to convert to our holy religion all those people in the Indias, and when it pleases God that the income of the mayorazgo will increase, that then also be increased the number of such devoted persons who will help all these people to become Christians. And may he not worry about the money that it will be necessary to spend for the purpose.48
On May 30, 1498, Columbus left from Spain on his third voyage with six ships. He decided that the first new land he discovered would be named in honor of the Trinity. Sighting an island off the coast of Venezuela, which coincidentally had three peaks, he gave it the name Trinidad; a named which it has retained to this day.
On October 18, 1498, Christopher Columbus wrote to his Sovereigns, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand:
Your Highnesses have an Other World here, by which our holy faith can be to greatly advanced and from which such great wealth can be drawn.49
Columbus directed his son, Don Diego, to give Queen Isabella of Spain the first pieces of gold found in the New World:
Return it to her so that she may see the miracle of the Lord and remember to whom she ought to thank for it.50
When Columbus finally arrived at the island of Hispaniola, he was greeted by a revolt, due to the disease and privation on the island. His brother Bartholomew and Don Diego, who were left in authority, were helpless to put it down. Himself being in bad health, Columbus conceded to the demands of the distraught colonists and gave them two ships to return home. In the midst of despair, Columbus wrote:
The day after Christmas Day, 1499, all having left me, I was attacked by the Indians … and was placed in such extremity that fleeing death, I took to sea in a small caravel. Then Our Lord aided me, saying, “Man of little faith, do not fear, I am with thee.” And he dispersed my enemies, and showed me how I might fulfill my vows. Unhappy sinner that I am, to have placed all my hopes in the things of this world!51
Due to the turbulent reports they had received, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella appointed Francisco de Bobadilla as governor of the Indies in the place of Columbus. He arrived in Hispaniola on August 23, 1500 and arrested Columbus and his brothers, put them in chains and sent them back to Cadiz, Spain.
In October 1500, during the most humiliating moment of his life, Columbus wrote to a friend and confidante of the Queen, Dona Juana de Torres:
Hope in Him who created all men sustaineth me: His succor hath always been very near. At another time, not long ago, when I was in great distress, He helped me up with his right hand, saying, “O man of little faith, arise, for it is I; fear not.”
I came with such cordial affection to serve these princes, and I have served them with unheard of and unseen devotion. Of the New Heaven and Earth which Our Lord made, as St. John writes in the Apocalypse, after he had spoken it by the mouth of Isaiah, He made me the messenger thereof and showed me where to go.
… I undertook a new voyage to the New Heaven and World which hitherto had been hidden. And if, like the rest of the Indies, this is not held in high esteem over there; this is no wonder, since it came to light through my exertions.
The Holy Spirit inspired St. Peter and, with him, the others of the Twelve, and they all struggled in this world, and many were their labors and their hardships; in the end they triumphed over all. …
They judge me there as a governor who had gone to Sicily or to a city or town under a regular government, where laws can be observed in toto without fear of losing all; and I am suffering grave injury. I should be judged as a captain who went from Spain to the Indies … where by divine will I have placed under the sovereignty of the King and Queen our Lords, an Other World, whereby Spain, which was reckoned poor, is become the richest of countries.
I ought to be judged as a captain, who for so long a time, up to the present day, hath borne arms without laying them down for an hour, and by knights of the sword and not by [men of] letters, unless they were Greeks or Romans or others of modern times, of whom there are so many and so noble in Spain; for otherwise I am greatly aggrieved, since in the Indies there is neither a town nor settlement.52
When the King and Queen saw Columbus, they immediately ordered his chains removed, restored the property Bobadilla had confiscated, restored the one-tenth of the revenues which he had been promised, and restored to him the title, “Admiral of the Ocean Sea,” although they realized he could not continue to govern the Indies. Bobadilla, who had previously chained Columbus, was removed as governor, although his actions were not condemned. In an ironic turn of events, during his fourth voyage, Columbus warned the governor of Hispaniola of an impending hurricane. His counsel was spurned and 24 ships were sunk, killing 500 people, among whom was Bobadilla.
Columbus applied the Sacred Scriptures to his own life and adventures.53 That religious elements played a great part in Columbus’ thoughts and actions is evident from all his writings. His concept of sailing west to reach the Indies was less the result of geographical theories than of his faith in certain biblical texts – specifically the Book of Isaiah.54 In his book, Libro de las profecias (Book of Prophecies), written around 1501, between his third and fourth voyages, Columbus cited the following Scripture passages:
The LORD reigneth, let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof (Psalm 97:1).
Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof (Isaiah 42:10).
Listen, O isles, unto Me; and hearken, ye people from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name (Isaiah 49:1).
I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth (Isaiah 49:6).
My righteousness is near; My salvation is gone forth … The isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust (Isaiah 51:5).
Surely the isles wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee (Isaiah 60:9).
I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not; I said, Behold Me, behold Me, unto a nation that was not called by My name (Isaiah 65:1).
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world (Matthew 28:19, 20).
But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).55
In May of 1502, Christopher Columbus, along with his brother Bartholomew, and son Don Ferdinand (who was thirteen years old), set sail on his fourth voyage. With the express purpose of finding Asia, they explored the coasts of Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Sailing along the coast of Panama, Columbus did not realized how close he was to discovering the Pacific Ocean.
His health failing, Columbus had a makeshift cabin built on deck so he could direct the crew and observe the ocean. With worm-eaten planks in his ship, they became stranded on the coast of Jamaica for over a year (June 25, 1503, to June 29, 1504).
On July 7, 1503, while shipwrecked and in pain, Christopher Columbus related his many afflictions in his Lettera Rarissima to the Sovereigns from Jamaica, not knowing whether anyone would read his letter:
In January the mouth of the river became obstructed. In April, the vessels were all worm-eaten, and I could not keep them above water. At this time the river cut a channel, by which I brought out three empty ships with considerable difficulty. The boats went back into the river for salt and water. The sea rose high and furious and would not let them out again.
The Indians were many and united and attacked them and in the end killed them. My brother and all the rest of the people were living on board a vessel which lay inside. I was outside very much alone, on this rude coast, with a high fever and very fatigued. There was no hope of escape. In this state, I climbed painfully to the highest part of the ship and cried out for help with a fearful voice, weeping, to Your Highnesses’ war captains, in every direction; but none replied. At length, groaning with exhaustion, I fell asleep, and heard a compassionate voice saying,
“O fool, and slow to believe and serve thy God, the God of every man! What more did He do for Moses or for David his servant than for thee? From thy birth He hath ever held thee in special charge. When He saw thee at man’s estate, marvelously did He cause thy name to resound over the earth.
“The Indies, so rich a portion of the world, He gave thee for thine own, and thou has divided them as it has pleased thee. Of those barriers of the Ocean Sea, which were closed with such mighty chains, He hath given thee the keys. Thou was obeyed in so many lands, and thou hast won noble fame from Christendom. What more did He do for the people of Israel, when he carried them out of Egypt; or for David, whom from a shepherd He raised to be king over Judea?
“Turn thou to Him and acknowledge thy faults; His mercy is infinite; thine old age shall not hinder thee from performing mighty deeds, for many and vast heritages He holdeth. Abraham was past 100 when he begat Isaac, and Sarah was no young girl. Thou criest out for succor with a doubting heart.
“Reflect, who has afflicted thee so grievously and so often, God or the world? The privileges and promises which God bestows, he doth not revoke; nor doth He say, after having received service, that this was not His intention, and that it is to be understood differently. Nor doth He mete out suffering to make a show of His might.
“Whatever He promises He fulfills with interest; that is His way. Thus I have told thee what thy Creator hath done for thee and what He doth for all men. He hath now revealed a portion of the rewards for so many toils and dangers thou hast borne in the service of others.”56
In his Lettera Rarissima to the Sovereigns, written from Jamaica, July 7, 1503, Christopher Columbus recounted:
The tempest was terrible and separated me from my vessels that night, putting everyone of them in desperate straits, with nothing to look forward to but death. Each was certain the others had been destroyed. What man ever born, not excepting Job, who would not have died of despair, when in such weather seeking safety for my son, my brother, shipmates, and myself, we were forbidden the land and the harbors which I, by God’s will and sweating blood, had won for Spain? …
I was taken prisoner and thrown with two brothers into a ship, weighed down with irons, stripped of my clothing, cruelly treated, and without being called before a court of justice for a hearing! …
I began my service at twenty-eight, and I now have not a single hair on my head that is not white. My body is infirm, and all that was left to me and to my brothers, even to our coats, was taken and sold, to my great dishonor and injury. …
Because of the very sincere intentions I have always had in serving your Majesties and the most unmerited affronts I have suffered, I cannot remain silent much as I might wish to do. As I have said, I am now worn out.
Heretofore I have wept for others; may Heaven now have pity upon me and may the earth weep for me! In things temporal I have not even a farthing for the offering; and as to spiritual things, I have stayed here in the Indies in the manner I have described; isolated in this sorrow, ill, daily awaiting death, and surrounded by a horde of savages and enemies of ours, and so far removed from the holy sacraments of the holy church that my soul would be forgotten by it if it were to depart from my body.
Let those who have charity, justice and truth weep for me! I did not come on this voyage for gain, honor or wealth, that is certain; for then the hope of all such things was dead. I came to Your Highnesses with honest purpose and sincere zeal; and I do not lie.
I humbly beseech your Highnesses that if it please God to take me from this place, you will have the goodness to arrange for me to go to Rome and on other holy pilgrimages. May the Holy Trinity guard your life and exalt your high station! Christ-bearer.57
In his work, Libro de las profecias (Book of Prophecies), Christopher Columbus wrote:
My hope in the One who created us all sustains me: He is an ever present help in trouble. … When I was extremely depressed, He raised me with His right hand, saying, “O man of little faith, get up, it is I; do not be afraid.”58
Christopher Columbus’ real name was Cristobal Colon. He encased his signature in an enigmatic triangular pattern, which has been interpreted many ways, the most likely of which is: S.S.A.S. being an abbreviation for Servus Sum Altissimi Salvatoris (Servant I am of the Most High Savior); X being abbreviation of the Greek name for Christ; M being an abbreviation for Mary; Y being an abbreviation for either Yosephi (Joseph), Yesu (Jesus) or Ysabel (Isabella):
. S .
(Servus)
.S. A .S.
(Sum Altissimi Salvatoris)
X M Y
(2)
:X.p.o. FERENS./
(3).59
Ferdinand Columbus, the son of Christopher, wrote in the biography of his father, The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus, an explanation of the meaning of his name:
So the surname of Colon which he revived was a fitting one, because in Greek it means “member,” and by his proper name Christopher, men might know that he was a member of Christ, by Whom he was sent for the salvation of those people.
And if we give his name its Latin form, which is Christophorus Colonus, we may say that just as St. Christopher is reported to have gotten that name because he carried Christ over deep waters with great danger to himself, and just as he conveyed over people whom no other could have carried, so the Admiral Christophorus Colonus, asking Christ’s aid and protection in that perilous pass, crossed over with his company that the Indian nations might become dwellers in the triumphant Church of Heaven.
There is reason to believe that many souls that Satan expected to catch because they had not passed through the waters of baptism were by the Admiral made dwellers in the eternal glory of Paradise. …
The Admiral was a well built man of more than average statute, the face long, the cheeks somewhat high, his body neither fat nor lean. He had an aquiline nose and light-colored eyes; his complexion too was light and tending to bright red. In his youth his hair was blonde, but when he reached the age of thirty, it all turned white.
In eating and drinking, and in adornment of his person, he was very moderate and modest. He was affable in conversation with strangers and very pleasant to the members of his household, though with a certain gravity. He was so strict in matters of religion that for fasting and saying prayers he might have been taken for a member of a religious order.
He was so great an enemy of swearing and blasphemy that I give my word I never heard him utter any other oath than “by St. Ferdinand!” and when he grew very angry with someone, his rebuke was to say “God take you!” for doing or saying that.
If he had to write anything, he always began by writing these words: IESUS cum MARIA sit nobis in via. And so fine was his hand that he might have earned his bread by that skill alone.60
In his Historie de las Indias, Bartolomé de Las Casas described Christopher Columbus:
In matters of the Christian religion, without doubt he was a Catholic and of great devotion, for in everything he did and said or sought to begin, he always interposed “In the name of the Holy Trinity I will do this,” or “launch this” or “this will come to pass.”
In whatever letter or other thing he wrote, he put at the head “Jesus and Mary be with us on the way,” and of these writings of his in his own hand I have plenty now in my possession. His oath was sometimes “I swear by San Fernando;” when he sought to affirm something of great importance in his letters on oath, especially in writing to the Sovereigns, he said, “I swear that this is true.”
He observed the fasts of the Church most faithfully, confessed and made communion often, read the canonical offices like a churchman or member of a religious order, hated blasphemy and profane swearing … seemed very grateful to God for benefits received from the divine hand, wherefore, as in the proverb, he hourly admitted that God had conferred upon him great mercies, as upon David …
He was extraordinarily zealous for the divine service; he desired and was eager for the conversion of these people, and that in every region the faith of Jesus Christ be planted and enhanced. And he was especially affected and devoted to the idea that God should deem him worthy of aiding somewhat in recovering the Holy Sepulchre …
He was a gentleman of great force of spirit, of lofty thoughts, naturally inclined (from what we may gather of his life, deeds, writings and conversation) to undertake worthy deeds and signal enterprises; patient and long-suffering (as later shall appear), and a forgiver of injuries, and wished nothing more than that those who offended against him should recognize their errors, and that the delinquents be reconciled with him; most constant and endowed with forbearance in the hardships and adversities which were always occurring and which were incredible and infinite; ever holding great confidence in divine providence.
And verily, from what I have heard from him and from my own father, who was with him when he returned to colonize Hispaniola in 1493, and from others who accompanied and served him, he held and always kept on terms of intimate fidelity and devotion to the Sovereigns.61
On November 7, 1504, Columbus returned from his fourth and last voyage. Weakened in his flesh, he suffered from gout, arthritis and feverish deliriums. Just 19 days later, his heart was further saddened by the news of Queen Isabella’s death. Over the next few years, Columbus occupied himself securing his house, as well as obtaining positions for his descendants.
On May 20, 1506, he took a sudden turn for the worse. He called to his bedside his brother Diego, his sons Ferdinand and Diego, and his loyal captains. Christopher Columbus, as recorded by his son Ferdinand, uttered as his last words the last words of Christ:
In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum. (Into your hands, Father, I commend my soul.)62