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St. Augustine, Florida: The Real ‘Fountain Of Youth’

St. Augustine St. Augustine
Photos by Tom Tracy

How many hours, how much money and effort pour into the illusive preservation of our fleeting youth? Legend has it that the Conquistador, Ponce de Léon, sought the Fountain of Youth along the Atlantic coast of Florida, making landfall in the northern part of the state in 1513. Today, just outside the historic center of St. Augustine, you can visit the alleged site of his fountain. Instead of youth, however, the Spaniard found death, pierced by a poisoned arrow on another voyage in Southwest Florida, near present-day Fort Myers. But even the name he bestowed on his discovery, La Florida, honoring the festival of Paschal flowers, points to a deeper source of youthfulness, one that does not fade.

The Spanish brought the true fountain of youth with them, establishing America’s oldest city in St. Augustine decades after Ponce de Léon’s visit in 1565. The waters of baptism began flowing in North America from the spot that President John F. Kennedy dubbed our “sacred acre” adjacent to Ponce de Leon’s previous landfall. The founder, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, declared that he would found the colony “in the name of God,” trumping the Spanish king in honor of the Creator. This apt move pointed to a source of unity that could bring people together, and even overcome the insatiable lust for gold the Spanish brought like a plague. God, the eternal one, neither young nor old, pours out his life into us, drawing us into an undying youth through rebirth in “water and Spirit” (Jn 3:5).

St. Augustine
Tom Tracy Photos

St. Augustine, the city that rose up adjacent to the Nombre de Dios (Name of God) mission, offers an alternative foundation narrative for our country. A later shepherd of this first foothold of faith, Bishop John Mark Gannon, called us to rediscover our lost heritage rooted in this foundation: “Not wishing to detract in the least from the worth and importance of the English contribution to American culture, we are now awakening to the fact that the dignity and sublime greatness of American civilization flows, not so much from the dry rock of Plymouth, as from the cradle of Catholic martyrdom, which antedated the Pilgrim arrival by nearly a century.” This youthful branch of the Church took root and its shoots blossomed across the entire region, with over 30 missions stretching all the way north to Virginia.

La Florida’s greatest fruits stemmed from its martyr— laymen and priests, Spaniards and natives– who died defending the missions from the encroachment of settlers from the English colonies to the north. These raiding colonists would wipe out the memory of these missions for a time, gobbling up the vision and story of the first founding and subordinating it to Jamestown and Plymouth. Yet, any great story contains both its heroes and villains. Selfless Franciscan friars sowed the Faith throughout the American Southeast, though occasionally Spanish governors fell into oppressing the people. Then, in the early 18th century, during Queen Anne’s War, English raids from Carolina, led by Colonel James Moore, destroyed Florida’s missions. Europeans brought savagery with them, it seems, annihilating peaceful settlements dedicated to the Christian faith.

The Chapel of Our Lady of La Leche Shrine, Nombre de Dios Mission, St. Augustine, Florida, USA

Yet, out of the ashes of this tragedy, American Catholics will discover long-lost heroes of faith, coming down to us as the true fruit and treasure of St. Augustine. I hope that soon Antonio Cuipa will become a household name, a native layman who has given his name to the canonization cause of 86 Florida martyrs. The group, martyred between 1549 and 1715, includes religious, such as Father Luis Cáncer, OP, and many laymen. Cuipa, an educated layman, carpenter and musician, assisted both in the governance of his native village and assisted the friars in their missionary work, giving his life when the mission of San Luis near present-day Tallahassee was attacked. The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee is erecting a beautiful shrine to the martyrs that will serve as an important place of pilgrimage alongside historic St. Augustine.

St. Augustine
Tom Tracy Photos

A place of unity through faith

Spanish Florida left us a spiritual legacy, which we must take up and renew. And, it is a timely one. Even after the destruction of the missions, the area became a refuge both for oppressed Indians from the English colonies, who coalesced as the Seminoles, and for escaped slaves fleeing oppression in the English colonies who established America’s first free Black settlement at Fort Mose, just north of St. Augustine. This is the Catholic way, building unity through faith. To be Catholic means to embrace the rich diversity of human life and culture, ordering all things together to the glory of God. Despite the sins of colonists, Catholic and Protestant both, we can say that God wanted the Christian faith to come to the New World to share the redemption of his Son with all nations. We did our best to ruin his plan, but Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in 1531 to show her particular love for the American people, reassuring them of their place in God’s family, the Church.

St. Augustine, as a place of pilgrimage, has much to offer Catholics today, bestowing a richness of martyrs, unity across cultures and devotion to Our Lady. Mary’s love became apparent here as well, with the oldest shrine in the United States forming in 1609 at the Nombre de Dios mission dedicated to Our Lady of La Leche (Milk). Here again, we find ourselves as youths coming to be nourished by Our Mother. She is the mother of all Christian peoples, who teaches us how to preserve a childlike attitude before the Lord. In a way, her shrine presents us with a choice. Will we come to God as docile children, or will we turn away rebelliously to seek our own way?

St. Augustine
Tom Tracy Photos

America’s first mission

Florida continues to serve as the destination for youth seekers throughout our country. Young and old process across the nation’s highway system, not to visit America’s oldest city, but to relive our youthful dreams in Disney World. We could even say that the Disney trip constitutes the pilgrimage of America’s new religion, which Christian Smith has dubbed “moralistic-therapeutic-deism”: Be nice and feel good the best you can, since God remains mostly absent from our daily lives. In contrast to the heroes who gave their lives for God, we find in Disney’s characters hollow figures who pursue their selfish dreams with no real consequences. America’s new religion tells us to look inside to find and fulfill our own dreams. Disney speaks to our immature desire to remain like children in the wrong sense, moved by our feelings to build a kingdom in this world.

Disney’s youthful dreaming even offers its own anthem:

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do.

This kind of youthfulness seeks endless possibilities with no limits. Nothing is too extreme if it arises from our own hearts. Contrast this with the childlikeness of the martyrs, who remained humble and confident in God’s protection, even in the face of death. They turned the selfish dreams of the heart upside down by their complete gift of self to God, breaking out of an obsessive focus on the self. They found the true source of their heart’s desires that will never be taken away from them.

Florida also remains a place of travel and discovery. Beyond the flow of tourists to Disney and the state’s endless beaches, Cape Canaveral represents our new age as well. Nothing represents the boundlessness of the future more than setting off into space. No limits, just like the limitless possibilities of our own freedom. But, unlike the founding of St. Augustine, we do not set out into space in the name of God, but in our own name. The future America seeks focuses primarily on the power and comfort that technology brings, though now unmoored from the true order of all things to the glory of God.

St. Augustine, as a place of pilgrimage, has much to offer Catholics today, bestowing a richness of martyrs, unity across cultures and devotion to Our Lady.

We could say to America with St. Hildegard of Bingen: “You are foolish because you want to live in this world. You do not search for a life where the beauty of youth lasts forever and where old age never comes. You do not have any light; you are surrounded by a black fog” (“The Book of Life’s Rewards”). We seek youth in the wrong ways; new paths rather than turning back to what we’ve forgotten. We have forgotten God, and, therefore, lose sight of who we are as well. Only he can enable us to live forever, not in a self-serving childish state, but as a child who throws himself into the arms of his heavenly Father, finding security and peace in his heart.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

If you make a pilgrimage to St. Augustine, you can visit the alleged site of Ponce de Léon's spring, the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park, which contains legitimate archeological interest. It's adjacent to the Nombre de Dios mission site, where Pedro Menéndez de Avilés landed on Sept. 8 (Our Lady's birthday), 1565, and the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, which contains an historic shrine and cemetery, a cross marking the landing site, and museum.

You also will want to visit the 17th-century stone fort, Castillo San Marcos, which is a national historic site, and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, constructed in the 1790s as a continuation of America's oldest parish. You will find this jewel of a city offers us a deep spiritual encounter at a place Catholics should be able to call home.

A short stroll south of the cathedral will take you to the Father Miguel O'Reilly House Museum (reopening soon, according to their website). Housed in a historic structure surrounded by a lush heritage garden (open now), the museum is dedicated to telling the story of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, heroic French nuns with a legacy of fighting racism and anti-Catholic sentiment.

To catch a glimpse of La Florida as the natives and first settlers would have seen it, visit nearby Anastasia State Park, which offers canoe and kayak rentals, sandy beaches and easy day-hikes amid gnarled trees draped with Spanish moss.

Finally, if you're into eating fresh seafood while looking at the clear blue waters from whence it came, St. Augustine is home to some unmatched waterfront dining. The 100-year-old Aunt Kate's serves up steak and steamed oysters amid a rambling grove of live oaks on the banks of the Tolomato River. The art-deco-style Pesco Vilano blends Latin and American flavors with spicy sophistication. In search of island vibes? Visit The Conch House for Caribbean-style cuisine served beachfront. And the list goes on.

America has grown old. Decrepit, we have become senile and have lost our way. To move forward, therefore, we will have to return home. Much awaits us that we have lost. At St. Augustine, we can return to the youthfulness of the Church, rediscovering our lost heritage in order to take up our current mission. It is up to us to continue spreading the Faith on this continent, bringing the true kingdom to this melting pot of a nation. We can continue to overcome division through the grace of God and to teach the lost the true meaning of freedom. Our Lady awaits to nourish us at her shrine on the grounds of America’s first mission. Let us return to our true Alma Mater.