Missionary Zeal
Scholars have been quick to point to the influence of Marco Polo’s Book of the Marvels of the World upon Columbus and his contemporaries, and rightly so. Yet the chapter which most influenced Columbus himself was the introduction. In it, we read of Polo’s father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, travelling to the Orient while Marco was still an infant. Their extensive travels eventually put them into contact with Kublai Khan, referred to in the book as the Great Khan. The Great Khan questioned them about life in Western Europe and the Catholic Faith, in which he took an interest. Upon their departure, he entrusted them with a letter to the Pope requesting 100 missionaries to instruct his kingdom in the Catholic faith, along with oil from the lamp at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. On the return of the Polos to the West in 1268, they discovered Pope Clement IV had died, and the long interregnum which followed prevented the Khan’s requests from being fulfilled.
Scholars have been quick to point to the influence of Marco Polo’s Book of the Marvels of the World upon Columbus and his contemporaries, and rightly so. Yet the chapter which most influenced Columbus himself was the introduction. In it, we read of Polo’s father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, travelling to the Orient while Marco was still an infant. Their extensive travels eventually put them into contact with Kublai Khan, referred to in the book as the Great Khan. The Great Khan questioned them about life in Western Europe and the Catholic Faith, in which he took an interest. Upon their departure, he entrusted them with a letter to the Pope requesting 100 missionaries to instruct his kingdom in the Catholic faith, along with oil from the lamp at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. On the return of the Polos to the West in 1268, they discovered Pope Clement IV had died, and the long interregnum which followed prevented the Khan’s requests from being fulfilled.
In his
petitions to Ferdinand and Isabella over a period of 7 years, it was Columbus’
desire to fulfill the Great Khan’s request which finally persuaded the
sovereigns to approve the journey. Aboard his flagship was a letter to the
Great Khan from the king and queen, and Columbus went to great lengths in order
to deliver it. In the prologue to the report on the first voyage, Columbus
directly addresses this evangelistic mission:
“I had given [a report] to Your Highnesses about the lands of India and about a prince who is called ‘Grand Khan,’. . .how he had sent to Rome to ask for men learned in our Holy Faith in order that they might instruct him in it, yet the Holy Father had never granted his request, and thus so many people were lost, falling into idolatry and accepting false and harmful religions; and Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes, lovers and promoters of the Holy Christian Faith. . . thought of sending me, Cristobal Colon. . . to see how their conversion to our Holy Faith might be undertaken.”
“I had given [a report] to Your Highnesses about the lands of India and about a prince who is called ‘Grand Khan,’. . .how he had sent to Rome to ask for men learned in our Holy Faith in order that they might instruct him in it, yet the Holy Father had never granted his request, and thus so many people were lost, falling into idolatry and accepting false and harmful religions; and Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes, lovers and promoters of the Holy Christian Faith. . . thought of sending me, Cristobal Colon. . . to see how their conversion to our Holy Faith might be undertaken.”
On six
separate occasions, Columbus wrote to the Holy Father requesting missionaries
be sent to the recently discovered islands, a request which was fulfilled. On
January 6, 1494, the Feast of the Epiphany, the first Mass in the Americas was
offered by a Benedictine who had accompanied the second voyage.Yet the
mission to complete the Khan’s request for missionaries was but one aspect of
Columbus’ desire to spread the Gospel. As Bartolome de las Casas wrote, “He was
extremely zealous for the honor and glory of God; he deeply yearned for the
evangelization of these peoples and for the planting and flourishing everywhere
of people’s faith in Jesus Christ.”6 Upon his first encounter with the natives
on San Salvador, Columbus concludes, “I recognized that they were people who
would be better freed [from error] and converted to our Holy Faith by love than
by force.”
Five centuries after the
fact, American Jesuit Fr. John Hardon would remark, “It is one thing to say
that Columbus discovered America. It is something else to realize that he
opened the door to the most phenomenal spread of Christianity since the time of
St. Paul.”
Crusader Spirit
A question arises from the modern reader: “What about the quest for gold?” As Columbus makes clear in his log, the finding of gold, spices, and other valuables is central to his mission, but not for the reason most are taught.
On
December 26, 1492, Columbus had established a makeshift settlement named La
Navidad on the north end of the island of Hispaniola from the wreckage of the
Santa Maria, run aground on a reef. Seeing the hand of Divine Providence, he
then proceeded to write of his desired result:
“I hope to God that when I come back here from Castile. . . I will find a barrel of gold, for which these people have traded, and that they will have found the gold mine, and the spices, and in such quantities that within three years the Sovereigns will prepare for and undertake the reconquest of the Holy Land. I have already petitioned Your Highnesses to see that all the profits of my enterprise should be spent on the conquest of Jerusalem, and Your Highnesses smiled and said that. . . even without the expedition they had the inclination to do it.”
“I hope to God that when I come back here from Castile. . . I will find a barrel of gold, for which these people have traded, and that they will have found the gold mine, and the spices, and in such quantities that within three years the Sovereigns will prepare for and undertake the reconquest of the Holy Land. I have already petitioned Your Highnesses to see that all the profits of my enterprise should be spent on the conquest of Jerusalem, and Your Highnesses smiled and said that. . . even without the expedition they had the inclination to do it.”
Now that
Spain was finally free from Muslim domination (Jan. 2, 1492), the great desire
to take the fight to the enemy and complete the liberation of the Holy Land
could finally be completed. By sailing west, Columbus was aiming to outflank
Islam, gaining access to the riches of the East so as to finance the retaking
of Jerusalem. Since the fall of Constantinople in 1453, while Columbus was
still a child, calls had come from all corners of Europe to renew the Crusade.
Columbus saw himself as the instrument to fulfill the longed-for end.
In
a letter to Pope Alexander VI, Columbus reiterates the seriousness of his
intentions:
“The enterprise must be undertaken in order to spend any profits therein for the redemption of the Sepulcher and the Temple Mount unto Holy Church.”
“The enterprise must be undertaken in order to spend any profits therein for the redemption of the Sepulcher and the Temple Mount unto Holy Church.”
Historian George Grant succinctly concludes, “Clearly, the motivations of Columbus were shaped by the eons long conflict between Christendom and Islam. The evidence is inescapable. He sailed, not to discover a new world, but to find a way to recover the old one.”
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