The presence of Franciscans in Florida is recorded as early as 1573, but for a number of years they made only limited progress. The courageous friars endured many hardships and privations in attempting to carry the peaceful message of Christ deep into the Florida wilderness, where they lived alone far from civilized comforts and companionship. Some suffered torture and martyrdom at the hands of those they sought to save, but all went resolutely forth from St. Augustine eager to reap a glorious harvest of savage souls.
The first Franciscan missions were established along the coast north of St. Augustine, where they could be reached readily by boat. If the Indians proved tractable and friendly, a crude chapel was built and the peal of a mission bell went out over swamp and woodland calling them to prayer.
By 1595 the Franciscans claimed a total of 1,500 Indian converts. Two years later their success was interrupted by an Indian revolt incited by a young chief, who had been publicly censured for his desire to have more than one wife. Five Franciscans were clubbed or tomahawked to death.
Approximate location of the principal Franciscan Missions in about 1650.
The Glorious Harvest of Savage Souls
One of the highlights in the early religious annals of Florida was its first visitation by a Bishop in 1606. Bishop Altamirano arrived at St. Augustine from Cuba shortly before Easter. Impressive religious ceremonies followed with candles burning brightly on the flower-decked altars. On Easter Saturday the Bishop ordained twenty young men as clerics, some of them natives of the settlement. On Easter Sunday he celebrated Mass and confirmed 350 Spaniards. After a week’s rest, the Bishop made a leisurely tour of the outlying Franciscan missions, confirming a total of 2,000 Indian converts.
Each year this peaceful conquest of Florida continued to expand, and by the middle of 1600’s extended into north central Florida, a region known as Apalache, in the vicinity of present Tallahassee. This was a rich agricultural area and at times furnished St. Augustine with supplies, which were brought around the peninsula by boat, or were carried overland on the backs of Indians to the capital. The missions also embraced a large section of Guale, or southeastern Georgia. When Bishop Calderon visited Florida in 1674-75, a remarkable total of 13,152 Indian converts were presented to him for confirmation.
Aside from its religious significance, the missionary movement had other far-reaching effects. Through the missions St. Augustine, with its relatively small garrison, was able to control a wide territory, holding the numerically strong Indian tribes in check. It was said that a lone Franciscan, with no weapons other than his Cross and Bible, could do more with the Indians than a hundred men at arms. The missions also served as outlying posts that could warn the capital of approaching strangers or enemies. When the abandonment of the settlement was again seriously considered in 1602, the existence of the missions proved a strong argument in favor of maintaining St. Augustine as their protective center.
While the Franciscan missions of Florida were more numerous and of earlier origin than those of California, they have received little emphasis, possibly because they were built of wood and no physical evidence of them remains.