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jtexas
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We all hear that America was founded on Christian values(Anglican I presume). When do we see the Catholic Church enter the picture?.
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VeritasLuxMea
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One of the U.S. colonies, Maryland, was a “Catholic” colony.
Rhode Island was diverse, kind of crazily diverse for the time and probably (though I honestly don’t know for sure) there was a decent enough Catholic population there.
There were minimal amounts of Catholics mixed throughout the other British colonies, and Catholicism must have been a presence in Spanish Florida, French Louisiana (the Louisiana territory, not just the modern day state of Louisiana) and the Spanish/Mexican southwest, all of which would eventually become United States territory.
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corsair
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St. Augustine, Florida was founded in August of 1565 by the Spanish. So you know there was a Catholic presence at least that early. In fact there were early attempts by the Spanish (1513) and the French but St. Augustine, Fl was the first successful establishment.
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lerapt78
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If you’re thinking specifically of “official” Catholic *presence *in the United States, it dates back before the arrival of the English with the Spanish settlements of the west/Midwest and other areas. St. Augustine, Florida, for example, was founded in the mid 16th century.
(I’m not ignoring the already-present Native Americans, nor the traces of Scandinavian presence that may have pre-dated the arrival of the European Catholics here - I’m referring to “official” settlements, as granted by royal charters)
If you’re referring to America (United States) as an official republic comprised of the original colonies however, then it was predominantly Protestant although not under any one official denomination. What’s referred to as our “Christian values” do stem in greatest part from the Anglo-Saxon Protestants.
(As a side note: The state of Maryland was one of the original 13 colonies, and was founded “for Catholics”, to speak a bit loosely. Therefore, you could say that Catholicism had *always *been “in the picture” of the early foundation of the Republic, although it was shadowed greatly by Protestantism.)
As more “Catholic” states, such as Louisiana, were incorporated into the Union, Catholicism entered further into the sphere. I’ll point point out though that Louisiana had a large Catholic population. Other states, like Florida for example, which may have had a Catholic *presence *did not have the equally large *population *of Catholics that states like Louisiana did; therefore, the influence of Floridian Catholicism would have been negligible when incorporated into the Union.
The arrival of large batches of Catholic immigration in the 19th century (Irish, Bavarian Germans) notably increased Catholic presence. And of course, the even larger waves of Catholic immigration coming from other countries in the late 1800’s - 1940’s swelled the population further. I believe (if I’m not mistaken) that Catholicism became the predominant Christian denomination of the country after these tidals.
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Cojuanco
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Don’t forget the conquest of the Southwest. For several decades after Guadalupe-Hidalgo, much of the Southwest had a Catholic majority, mostly Spanish-speaking.
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dmar198
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The earliest Catholic presence in America was in the colonies of New Spain (mid-to-late 1500s) and New France (1600s). Google those for more info, though be aware that English-language resources on them tend to be biased against them, in my opinion. Catholic missionaries built small Indian communities that thrived for years until the Jesuit Suppression and Manifest Destiny destroyed them.
In the English colonies, Maryland was an important early Catholic presence, and produced early American Catholics such as Daniel Carroll and Charles Carroll (the Catholic Founding Fathers) and Archbishop Carroll. He was America’s first bishop, a friend of George Washington, and one of the forces who pushed through the 1st Amendment’s protection of religious liberty.
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PJM
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david_patrick
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interesting is saint elizabeth ann seton in early america…i think her other family name was Baley…and if i remember correctly, she had an Anglican background…good inquiry, thx patrick
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Mumbles140
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Great article about the Brent family: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Brent
If you note the part about moving to Virginia, you’ll see they were granted a lot of land in Stafford County. That land ultimately was given to the Diocese of Arlington and now houses St. William of York, the parish of my childhood. On Route 1 (about 1 mile north of the 610 Intersection), there is a very large crucifix in the median with a historical marker noting their lands.
If you note the part about moving to Virginia, you’ll see they were granted a lot of land in Stafford County. That land ultimately was given to the Diocese of Arlington and now houses St. William of York, the parish of my childhood. On Route 1 (about 1 mile north of the 610 Intersection), there is a very large crucifix in the median with a historical marker noting their lands.
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MissGranger
Guest
There was a small but important Catholic presence in generally Lutheran/Brethren/Methodist York County Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s. One of my ancestors came to PA around 1736 with his family and a group of other Catholic families who had left the Palatinate due to religious persecution. They settled in York and Adams Counties and helped build one of the earliest Catholic churches in the area, the Conewago Chapel/Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It’s the oldest Catholic church constructed of stone in the US.
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ProVobis
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Interesting stats and info.
What it doesn’t state is the number of Catholic immigrants who chose to return to their original countries. I think I read somewhere that in the early 20th century something like 70% of the Poles returned to Poland or wherever else they came from.
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PJM
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Had not even considered that. Thanks,
Patrick
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tcora
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Pretty close, she was a Bayley - born Elizabeth Ann Bayley…
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Tarpeian
Guest
I think one could say The Church entered the picture with the discovery of The America’s. Then ended with the formation of the United States.
Pax,
Tarpeian
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