August 28: A Day to Celebrate

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Today is August 28th, and our story is A Day to Celebrate. Land. It was a sight Pedro Menendez de Aviles had long waited to see. Months earlier, in the spring of 1565, the Spanish admiral set sail from Cadiz along with more than 800 men and women. They'd seen almost nothing but ocean ever since. On August 28, 1565, however, the cry went up. A sailor had glimpsed land on the horizon. A week later, Menendez's fleet sailed into Matanzas Bay.

A small landing party disembarked soon afterward to build temporary fortifications, which would allow Menendez to unload both his people and their supplies in safety. On September 8th, Menendez himself disembarked. Immediately, he knelt and kissed the crucifix presented to him by Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grijales, chaplain of his expedition.

He then claimed the land for Spain and named it St. Augustine, in honor of the saint whose feast the church celebrated on the day his crew spotted land. After that, 500 soldiers, 200 sailors, 100 settlers, and three more Franciscan friars disembarked to join the admiral for Holy Mass.

After mass, the men quickly set about unloading their goods and building a small fort to protect their party, both from the country's native inhabitants and from the French, who had settled up the coast on present-day Paris Island, South Carolina, and were none too happy about the Spanish moving in.

Ongoing conflict with both the French and the English eventually forced the Spanish of San Augustine to abandon their initial landing spot and move to more defensible ground. The Spanish settlers, however, continued to honor the place where Menendez first knelt. They built Mission Nombre de Dios there in the mid-16th century, and in the early 17th century, they constructed the first Marian shrine in the United States, Our Lady of La Leche, at the mission. Both the mission and the shrine still stand today.

And there, where the first residents of St. Augustine celebrated Mass 450 years ago, Mass is celebrated still. The founding of St. Augustine shows how faith can accompany courage and exploration. Celebrating milestones rooted in faith helps anchor our daily lives in gratitude and purpose. Find a moment today to celebrate or give thanks for a milestone in your life or faith journey.

Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader Podcast. Join us tomorrow, August 29th, for another story of faith and courage in America.