Misplaced Pages

History of the Catholic Church in Florida

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Rogermx (talk | contribs) at 20:16, 30 December 2024 (Created new article). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 20:16, 30 December 2024 by Rogermx (talk | contribs) (Created new article)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

The history of the Catholic Church in Florida began in the early 1500's with the arrival of Spanish explorers and missionaries in the present-day State of Florida in the United States. After the Spanish spent several decades engaged in warfare with the Native American tribes, Spanish Franciscan missionaries succeeded in converting thousands of natives to Catholicism through an extensive network of missions in Northern and Central Florida. However, during the 1700s this native population was severely decimated by disease and raids from the English colonies to the north.

After the Florida missions closed, the remaining Spanish and native Catholic populations retreated to St. Augustine, their main stronghold in Spanish Florida. However, when the English took control of the colony in 1763, the entire population relocated to Cuba. Spain regained control of Florida from England in 1784, but the population of the colony was now non-Catholic. When Florida was ceded to the United States in 1821, the Catholic population of Florida was still small.

The first diocese in Florida was the Diocese of St. Augustine, founded in 1870. After its founding, the diocese started recruiting more priests and establishing more parishes throughout the state. It sent the Jesuit order into the southern half of Florida to found parishes and Catholic institutions in the growing cities and towns there. After World War II, the Catholic population of Florida started to increase dramatically. The Vatican established new dioceses in Miami, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Palm Beach, Venice, and Pensacola-Tallahassee. The Diocese of Miami was elevated into an archdiocese.

As the American Catholic Church dealt with the sexual abuse scandals of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the Vatican forced two bishops of Palm Beach to resign after they admitted to sexually abusing minors. However, a state investigation in 2018 found no evidence that the Florida dioceses had suppressed or ignored credible accusations of sexual abuse.

1500 to 1550

Main article: Missions in Spanish Florida

The first documented Catholic presence in present-day Florida was that of the expedition of the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, who explored the east and west coasts of Florida in 1513. He called the new land La Florida. When the Spanish landed on the Gulf Coast of Florida, they discovered that the Calusa, the dominant indigenous people of the area, possessed gold. Despite Spanish efforts to peacefully trade for the gold, the Calusa attacked the ships, prompting Ponce de León to sail away.

Convinced that Florida contains sizable amounts of gold, De Leon sailed from Puerto Rico with a colonizing expedition in 1521, landing near either Charlotte Harbor or the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. His two ships carried 200 men, including priests, farmers and artisans. However, before Ponce de León could establish a settlement, the Calusa again attacked the Spanish. Ponce de León was mortally wounded in the battle. The expedition then returned to Puerto Rico.

In 1539, the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto landed near present-day Port Charlotte or San Carlos Bay in La Florida. He named the new territory "La Bahia de Espiritu Santo," in honor of the Holy Spirit. DeSoto led an expedition of 10 ships and 620 men. His company included 12 priests, there to evangelize the Native Americans. According to contemporary accounts, the priests celebrated mass almost every day. However, De Soto was looking to find gold and slaves, not establish missions. Faced with such a large expedition, the Calusa evacuated their settlements near De Soto's landing. The expedition proceeded up the Florida Peninsula, fighting different tribes, burning their villages and enslaving their inhabitants.

Looking to establish missions, the Spanish Dominican priest Luis de Cáncer in 1549 arrived by sea in La Florida with several other Dominican in present-day Bradenton. Encountering a seemingly peaceful party of Tocobaga clan members, the priests decided to travel on to Tampa Bay to the Tocobaga village. Several of the priests went overland with the Tocobaga while Cáncer and the rest of the party sailed to Tampa Bay to meet them.Arriving at Tampa Bay, Cáncer learned, while still on board his ship, that the Tocobaga had murdered the other priests. Ignoring advice from his companions to leave the area, Cáncer went ashore alone to meet with Tocobaga, where he too was murdered. The Spanish attempted to establish another mission in the Tampa Bay area in 1567, but it was soon abandoned.

1550 to 1700

Main article: Spanish Florida

The first Catholics missionaries on the east coast of La Florida were a group of Spanish Jesuits who founded a mission in 1566 on Upper Matecumbe Key in the Florida Keys. After several years of disease and turbulent relations with the Native American inhabitants, the missionaries returned to Spain. The Spanish attempted to establish another mission in the Tampa Bay area in 1567, but soon abandoned it.

In 1565, the Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the St. Augustine presidio, or fort, in La Florida. He then built several presidios along the Florida coastline to protect the colony from French and British attacks. Priests at each of these presidios opened missions, where they would trade goods with the Native Americans for food. De Aviles in 1566 brokered a peace agreement with the Calusa peoples, allowing the construction of a presidio and the San Antón de Carlos mission at Mound Key in present day Lee County. This became the first Jesuit mission in the present day United States. The Jesuit priests Juan Rogel and Francisco de Villareal spent the winter at San Antón de Carlos studying the Calusa language, then started evangelizing among the Calusa in South Florida. The Jesuits built a chapel at the mission in 1567. Conflicts with the Calusa soon increased, prompting de Avilés to abandon San Antón de Carlos in 1569.

In 1571, after a brief, unsuccessful trip to Northern Florida, the Jesuits abandoned their missionary efforts in La Florida for the time being. Two years later, in 1573, several Spanish Franciscan missionaries arrived in present-day St. Augustine. They established the Mission Nombre de Dios in 1587 at a village of the Timucuan people.As missionaries started establishing missions in La Florida, the Vatican placed them under the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Diocese of Santiago de Cuba in Santiago, Cuba.

In 1693, King Charles II of Spain issued a royal proclamation freeing any enslaved people who fled the English colonies to La Florida and accepted conversion to Catholicism and baptism. Most of these refugees travelled to St. Augustine, but others reached Pensacola. These Spanish policies eventually prompted slave owners in the English colonies to raid Spanish Florida to recover their former slaves.

1700 to 1800

By the early 1700s, the Franciscans had established a network of 40 missions in Northern and Central Florida, with 70 priests ministering to over 25,000 Native American converts.However, the native populations in La Florida were already declining, due to European diseases and the earlier predations of the De Soto expedition. During the Queen Anne's War, raids by English settlers and their Creek Native American allies from the Carolinas decimated the native populations, forcing the missions to shut down . The Spanish eventually retreated to St. Augustine and Pensacola.

After the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, Spain ceded all of La Florida to England in exchanged for the return of Cuba, which the English had captured in 1762. For ease of administration, the English then divided La Florida into West Florida (the Florida Panhandle) and East Florida (the Florida Peninsula). Despite English promises of religious tolerance towards Catholics in the colonies, the entire population of St. Augustine migrated to Cuba.In 1781, during the American Revolution, Spanish forces recaptured much of West Florida. St. Michael the Archangel Parish was established that same year in Pensacola.

After the American Revolution, Spain regained control of West and East Florida in 1784 from England.However, at this time, the population of the Floridas consisted mainly of non-Catholic escaped slaves, Seminole Native Americans and Loyalist refugees from the new United States The Vatican in 1787 transferred the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the two Floridas from the Diocese of Santiago in Cuba to the Diocese of San Cristobal de la Habana in Cuba. In 1793, the Vatican again changed the jurisdiction for the Floridas, moving both colonies from Havana to the Apostolic Vicariate of Louisiana and the Two Floridas. This vicariate was based in New Orleans, then under the Spanish Province of Louisiana. When the United States acquired Louisiana with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, New Orleans and vicariate came under American control.

1800 to 1900

Main article: History of Florida

In the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, Spain ceded both East and West Florida to the United States, which established the Florida Territory in 1821. In 1825, Pope Leo XII erected the Vicariate of Alabama and Florida in Mobile, Alabama. It included the few Catholics left in all of Florida.Pope Pius VIII in 1829 erected the Diocese of Mobile, giving it jurisdiction over the Florida Panhandle. The first Catholic church in Tallahassee, Blessed Sacrament, was finished in 1845.

In 1850, Pope Pius IX erected the Diocese of Savannah, which included Georgia and all of the new State of Florida east of the Apalachicola River. In 1858, Pius IX moved Florida into a new Apostolic Vicariate of Florida and named Bishop Augustin Verot as vicar apostolic. Since the new vicariate had only three priests, Vérot travelled to France in 1859 to recruit more priests. He succeeded in bringing back seven priests. After the end of the American Civil War in 1865, Catholic missionaries from dioceses in Savannah, St. Augustine, and Tampa, began visiting the Venice area. In 1870 the Vatican converted the vicariate into the Diocese of St. Augustine, with Verot as its first bishop.

The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary founded the Academy of the Holy Names, a girls school in Tampa, in 1881. It was the first Catholic school on the Florida Gulf Coast. Arizona jurist Edmund F. Dunne established the Catholic colony of San Antonio in Pasco County in the early 1880s. The community was originally restricted to practising Catholics, most of them were Irish and German immigrants.

A yellow fever epidemic in Tampa in 1888 killed three of the priests assigned to the southern part of Florida. To fill the void, Bishop John Moore of St. Augustine in 1889 asked the Society of Jesus to assume jurisdiction over all of South Florida. The Jesuits in 1889 established St. Leo University in Tampa, the first Catholic institution of high learning in the state. Jesuit priests then made regular visits to Bradenton, Fort Myers, Arcadia, and adjacent missions. The first missions established by these Jesuits in southwest Florida were:

  • Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (later St. Francis Xavier Parish) in Fort Myers (1878)
  • St. Paul in Arcadia (1882)
  • Sacred Heart in Punta Gorda (1888)
  • Sacred Heart in Bradenton (1888)
  • St. Martha in Sarasota (1889)

The Jesuits sent Reverend Conrad Widman to present-day Palm Beach in 1892 to serve as its first priest. He founded St. Ann Parish, the first parish in the area. The land for the church was donated by the developer Henry Flagler. In 1898, St. Paul's Church was dedicated in Daytona Beach, the first Catholic church in that community.

1900 to present

Main article: Catholic Church in the United States

Saint Mary, Our Lady of Grace, founded in 1908, was the first Catholic parish in St. Petersburg.The first Catholic church in Homestead was Sacred Heart, constructed in 1917. The first Catholic church in Clearwater, St. Cecilia, was dedicated in 1924.The first Catholic church in Brevard County was St. Joseph, dedicated in 1914.

After World War II, Bishop Joseph P. Hurley of St. Augustine started purchasing property throughout Florida to develop new parishes for the increasing Catholic population. He also recruited priests from the Northern United States and Ireland to serve in Florida. St. Ann's, the first parish in Naples, opened in 1950.

Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Miami in 1958. The Cuban Revolution in 1959 triggered a wave of Cuban immigration to South Florida, increasing the Catholic population in the region. During the early 1960s, Bishop Coleman Carroll ended all segregation based on race in the schools for the Diocese of Miami. He was first bishop in Florida to take that action.

As the Catholic population grew in Florida during the second half of the 20th century, the Vatican erected more dioceses in the state. In 1968, Pope Paul VI erected the Dioceses of St. Petersburg and Orlando. At the same time, the pope elevated the Diocese of Miami to the Archdiocese of Miami.Paul VI erected the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in 1975.The Diocese of Venice in Florida was erected by Pope John Paul II in 1984. Recognizing the growth of the Catholic Church in Florida, John Paul II visited Miami in 1987, where he celebrated a mass. It was the first papal visit to the state.

In April 1998, a 53-year-old man informed Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami that Bishop Joseph Keith Symons of Palm Beach, had sexually abused him when he was an altar server decades earlier. When confronted about the allegations, Symons admitted his guilt.

The Vatican immediately asked Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg to go to Palm Beach to hear Symons' confession. During that session, Symons admitted that he had abused four other boys. He also said that he had confessed the abuses to a priest at the time, but the priest simply told Symons to avoid alcohol consumption and sex. According to Lynch, the molestations did not take place in Florida. In June 1998, Lynch announced that John Paul II had accepted Symons' resignation as bishop of Palm Beach.

2000 to present

Main article: Catholic Church sex abuse cases in the United States

On March 8, 2002, Bishop Anthony O'Connell of Palm Beach admitted that he had molested at least two students of St. Thomas Aquinas Preparatory Seminary in Hannibal, Missouri, during his early service there. That same day, O'Connell offered his resignation as bishop of Palm Beach to the Vatican. It was accepted by John Paul II on March 13, 2002.

During the early 2000's, the Jesuits started divesting themselves from operating parishes in Florida, many of which they had founded in the late 1800's. This was due to the shrinking number of priests in the order.

The Office of Statewide Prosecution, part of the Florida Attorney General Office, in late 2018 launched an investigation into sexual abuse allegations by minors against priests in Florida. The investigation had been prompted by the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report in August 2018 that showed coverups of sexual abuse by bishops in that state. The Florida report, released in 2020, "found no evidence of ongoing, unreported, current sexual abuse of minors by church priests in Florida." The report listed 97 priests in Florida with historical accusations of sexual abuse.

As of 2024, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops estimated the Catholic population of the state to exceed 1,900,000, served by 1,175 priests in 472 parishes and 51 missions.

See also

References

  1. ^ Turner, Samuel (2013). "Juan Ponce de León and the Discovery of Florida Reconsidered". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 92 (1): 1–31. ISSN 0015-4113.
  2. Davis, T. Frederick (1935). "History of Juan Ponce de Leon's Voyages to Florida". Florida Historical Quarterly. 14 (1): 51–66.
  3. Grunwald, Michael (2007). The Swamp. Simon & Schuster. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-7432-5107-5.
  4. ^ Robert S. Weddle (2006). "Soto's Problems of Orientation". In Galloway, Patricia Kay (ed.). The Hernando de Soto Expedition: History, Historiography, and "Discovery" in the Southeast (New ed.). University of Nebraska Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-8032-7122-7. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  5. Dye, David H. (1989). "DEATH MARCH of HERNANDO de SOTO". Archaeology. 42 (3): 26–31. ISSN 0003-8113.
  6. ^ Burnett, Gene (1986). Florida's Past, volume 1. Pineapple Press. p. 156. ISBN 1561641154. Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  7. ^ "History of our Diocese". Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  8. "History of the Parish 1556–1850". Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea. Archived from the original on 2014-05-29. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
  9. Thompson, Victor; Thompson, Amanda D. Roberts; Marquardt, William; Walker, Karen J.; Newsom, Lee A. (2018). "Discovering San Antón de Carlos: the Sixteenth Century Spanish Buildings and Fortifications of Mound Key, Capital of the Calusa". The Digital Archeological Record.
  10. "History | Florida State Parks". www.floridastateparks.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  11. "The Church and the Missions". St. Augustine: America's Ancient City. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
  12. "Santiago de Cuba (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  13. Smith, Bruce (March 18, 2012). "For a century, Underground Railroad ran south". Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 21, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  14. "Expansion of Missions and Ranches". St. Augustine: America's Ancient City. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
  15. M. A. Young, Gloria The Expedition of Hernando De Soto West of the Mississippi, 1541–1543. University of Arkansas Press, 1999. p. 24.
  16. "Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Archived from the original on 2024-12-20. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  17. "Introduction". St. Augustine: America's Ancient City. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
  18. "Exodus". St. Augustine: America's Ancient City. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  19. "Parish History – Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel". stmichael.ptdiocese.org. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  20. "Introduction". St. Augustine: America's Ancient City. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
  21. "New Arrivals". St. Augustine: America's Ancient City. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  22. ^ "New Orleans (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
  23. "European Exploration and Colonization – Florida Department of State". dos.myflorida.com. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  24. "Mobile (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  25. "History". Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  26. "Savannah (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  27. Michael V. Gannon, The Cross in the Sand (University of Florida, 1983) pp. 167-168.
  28. "Saint Augustine (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  29. "Mission and Vision - Academy of the Holy Names". www.holynamestpa.org. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  30. Horgan, James J. (1990). Pioneer College: The Centennial History of Saint Leo College, Saint Leo Abbey, and Holy Name Priory. Saint Leo, FL. Saint Leo College Press. ISBN 978-0-945759-01-0
  31. "About Saint Leo | Saint Leo University". www.saintleo.edu. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  32. Reddy, Bob (2021-03-24). "Built of Living Stones: New church dedicated in Arcadia". Florida Catholic Media. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  33. "About". Sacred Heart Catholic Parish in Punta Gorda. 2020-01-03. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  34. "Know Our Parish". Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  35. "St. Martha Catholic Church » Our History". www.stmartha.org. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  36. Beaulieu, Maurice (2021-09-16). "Oldest Palm Beach Church has rich history and promising future". Florida Catholic Media. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
  37. "History and Statistics : About Us : Diocese of Palm Beach". www.diocesepb.org. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
  38. "History | Basilica of Saint Paul". Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  39. Wonders, Lincoln Ho | Catholic (2021-01-18). "Oldest Catholic Church in St. Petersburg". Catholic Wonders. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
  40. "Catholic Church | Sacred Heart Catholic Church | United States". Sacred Heart. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  41. "About". Cecelia Clearwater, FL. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
  42. "First Roman Catholic Church in Brevard County Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
  43. "HISTORY". stannschool. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  44. The Archdiocese of Miami (2007). History of the Archdiocese of Miami 1958-2008. Editions du Signe. p. 27. ISBN 978-2-7468-1935-1.
  45. "History of our Diocese". Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  46. "Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee". GCatholic.org. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  47. "Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. October 24, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  48. "Venice (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  49. Suarez, Carlos (2014-01-25). "Reports: Pope Francis to possibly visit US". WPLG. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  50. "A History of Papal Visits to America". Newsweek. 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  51. "Bishop Symons Sinner and Saint, by Jeff Houck, Palm Beach Post (Florida), June 7, 1998". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  52. "Catholic Bishop Resigns after Admitting to Sexual Abuse of Children". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  53. Navarro, Mireya (June 4, 1998). "Parish Seeks to Salve Hurts From Bishop's Molestations". New York Times. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
  54. Ross, Brian; Schwartz, Rhonsa; Schecter, Anna (15 April 2008). "Victims: Pope Benedict Protects Accused Pedophile Bishops". ABC News. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  55. Bishop Anthony Joseph O'Connell. Catholic-Hierarchy. Retrieved on April 17, 2010.
  56. Diocese of Palm Beach. GCatholic. Retrieved on 17 April 2010.
  57. "DWINDLING NUMBERS HAVE JESUITS DEPARTING ST. ANN'S PERMANENTLY". Sun Sentinel. 2000-08-12. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  58. "Florida closes investigation into Catholic Church, alleged sexual abuse by priests". ABC Action News Tampa Bay (WFTS). 2020-11-06. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
  59. "Church in Florida Statistics". Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved 2024-12-30.