Excerpt from Three Great Events in the History of the Catholic Church in the United States: The Centenary Celebrations, Proceedings of the First American Catholic Congress, Dedication of the Catholic University

The first priest that sailed to what is now the United States, after the discovery of the New World by Columbus, sailed from Bristol with Cabot in 1498, and the first sermon preached in this country was in the English language, and before England fell away from Christian unity.

The next priests came with Ponce de Leon, in I 52 I to minister to the intended settlement in Florida, and to labor for the conversion of the Indians; but the settlement was soon abandoned in consequence of attacks by the savages.

Five years later, two friars of the order of Preachers accompanied the colony of Vasquez de Ayllon, established at or near where James town, in Virginia, was afterwards settled by the English. Ayllon died soon after making a settlement, and the colonists abandoned the country.

Eight priests, who accompanied De Soto, in 1538, as chaplains and missionaries, perished on our soil during the painful march through Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, across the great river to which the Spaniards gave the name of the Holy Ghost.

In 1542, the Franciscan Father, Juan de Padilla, who had set up the Cross and begun a mission to the Indians in New Mexico, fell pierced by their arrows, a victim to his religious zeal. The mission of the Franciscans was afterwards re - established in New Mexico, and more fathers were sacrificed to the savage hate of the Indians, who cried: The devil is more powerful than God and Mary. Five of them were massacred in New Mexico, in 1696, Antonio Car bonel, José de Arbizu, Francisco Corvera, Antonio Moreno, and Francisco Casanas. Fathers Tello and Ruhen, and many Catholic Indians were killed by the pagans in 1751, and several missions destroyed, in Arizona.

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