Nombre de Dios (mission)

Nombre de Dios is a Spanish Catholic mission in St. Augustine, Florida, United States. The mission traces its origins to September 1565, when Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the city of St. Augustine. A formal Franciscan mission was founded near the city in 1587, perhaps the first mission in the continental United States.^[1] The mission served nearby villages of the Mocama, a Timucua group, and was at the center of an important chiefdom in the late 16th and 17th century.

Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, chaplain of the Menéndez expedition, presided over the first Catholic Mass in what became the United States in 1565. First the Jesuits and later the Franciscans ministered to the resident Spanish colonists, and made some efforts to evangelize the local Mocama and Agua Dulce peoples near St. Augustine. They were particularly successful in the Mocama village known as Nombre de Dios, converting the chief and her daughter. In 1587, at the beginning of the Franciscans' first major missionization push, a mission was founded at Nombre de Dios, served by a resident friar.

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References

1. ^ Spiritual Florida: A Guide to Retreat Centers and Religious Sites in Florida p. 25 By Mauricio Herreros