Christopher Columbus was an amazing, admirable man. It is a serious injustice that some so malign him.
On this day I am reminded of when I was at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and went to the place where Columbus landed on one of his voyages.
I didn’t have a real appreciation of Columbus until I met The Great Roman™ who had already forgotten more about Christopher Columbus than I, the American, had ever known.
No… he had NOT forgotten, because The Great Roman™ doesn’t forget.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
on Some not Vatican news notes: “I heard a rumor that the Gower nuns may be expanding to Southwest Indiana. I hope it’s true.”
on 13 May: St. Robert Bellarmine – Pray for us!: “Found a copy on eBay. Bought to read and then donate to our parish library.”
on Some not Vatican news notes: “The monks at Benedictine are so much better than the nuns. They’ve learned to celebrate the TLM, and have it…”
on Some Vatican news notes: “I’ll stick with our Lady on this one. Yes, when she chastises clerics of all levels it’s because they are…”
on Some Vatican news notes: ““Conservative is one who clings to something” I guess poor St. Paul will now be cancelled: “Therefore, brothers, stand firm…”
on Some not Vatican news notes: “Looks like a typical Canadian parish. No men, aging out. Heard of a parish here that had a gathering and…”
on Some Vatican news notes: “Coincidentally I have just noticed the French say “pour vous et pour la multitude”” on Some Vatican news notes: “Does pro multis mean for all ? NO, just as hoy polloy does not mean all. BUT they both mean…”
on Some not Vatican news notes: “I wonder at what point in their 161-year history someone would first have ventured to make such a vague yet…” on Some Vatican news notes: ““Conservative is one who clings to something” – the Holy Father reminds me of Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff’s response to…”
on Some Vatican news notes: “I don’t understand. This new document now means that the Vatican will no longer definitively say if an apparition is…”
on Some Vatican news notes: “Sigh. I’m so weary of this. I don’t care what Pope Francis thinks of me. I do care what Jesus…”
on Daily Rome Shot 1022: “laymen, vagabonds or dirty people”: “For those of you who are confused, the Northern European attitudes toward deportment in Church which we are accustomed to…”
on Some Vatican news notes: “Well, how about the words of our Lady of La Salette? They’ll strongly disagree, I guess. And soon, very soon…”
on Each day it is a little harder to recognize our world.: “The English Monarch is the head of Free Masonry. Free Masonry is all about the destruction of the Catholic Church.…”
Loading ...
A Daily Prayer for Priests
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265
PLEASE subscribe via PayPal if it is useful. Zelle and Wise are better, but PayPal is convenient.
A monthly subscription donation means I have steady income I can plan on. I put you my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I often say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
Loading ...If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
Loading ...
They find you a pro-life agent in your area who commits to giving a portion of the fee to a pro-life group!
Help Monks in Wyoming (coffee – UPDATED LINK) and Norcia (beer) and the wonderful "Soap Sisters" of Summit, NJ!
Please follow me on Twitter!
Use my code for a discount
Visits tracked by Statcounter
since Sat., 25 Nov. 2006:
J. J. Barry’s “Life of Christopher Columbus” is an old but most enlightening biography, based on the research for Columbus’ cause for beatification. It’s been republished by Loreto Publications in both print and e-book form.
Amazing? Yes. He was brave, intrepid, good at promotion and selling an idea (also of promoting himself). So far as I know, he was also earnest and honest.
He was, perhaps, a little deficient in Euclid, cartography, and navigation.
—
I don’t favor tearing down “Columbus Day” (or statues) in favor of “indigenous peoples’ day”. I don’t begrudge folks some ethnic ancestry celebration, and mostly I just view it with the lens of celebrating the spirit of exploration and discovery (after all – Leif and Brendan had their voyages long before Chris).
—
But…
Admirable? Not so much.
His voyages brought misery, ruin, and death to many.
Disease. Transporting people as curiosities and slaves. Certainly not the biggest or worst (or even close) in any of that, but he did have his place in beginning it there.
[So, you have imbibed the kool-aid.]
Columbus was a brilliant navigator, intrepid explorer, and admirable person. His story is amazing and inspiring.
@Charivari Rob
“He was, perhaps, a little deficient in Euclid, cartography, and navigation.”
Actually not true. Columbus did a lot of research for his voyage. However, instead of Eratosthenes’ circumference calculations, he chose to follow those of another (I believe Arabic) geographer which were smaller. He landed in the new world exactly were he would have landed in India had the estimate he chose been the correct one.
Defective by modern standards, yes. But we hardly run around accusing Hippocrates of being a bad doctor.
I have read a claim that Columbus repeatedly raped female slaves; even, that it is recorded in (his?) journals. From the first I have doubted these claims as malicious libel, but I don’t know what the truth of the matter is. Can someone point me to what are likely to be the source(s) of these claims, and how we know whether they are groundless or have some merit? Is there anything in his own journals or those of his shipmates / colleagues that suggests this? Is it wholly a fabrication made up later?