Happy Columbus Day! The Italians claim him, the Jews claim him, the Spanish claim him; in fact, he is as American as apple pie. A man of vision and faith, disregarded, disrespected, jailed, underfunded, and thought little of by those who would reap tremendous benefits from his sacrifice and vision. He is today what he was then. And those who can learn from him will be wiser for it.
Here are several well‑known quotations and prayers attributed to Christopher Columbus. They come from his writings and those of his contemporaries in their journals and letters.
1. “I am a child of the world.” From a 1493 letter to Ferdinand and Isabel the Catholic, the monarchs of Spain. Columbus believed his discoveries belonged to all humanity, not just to a single nation.
2. “The sea is a great and powerful thing, and its moods are ever‑changing; but the Almighty’s providence is constant.” Journal entry from the first voyage, 1492. The ocean is unpredictable. Divine providence is certain. As St. Paul wrote, “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
3. “I have found a new world, and I shall bring it to the light of Christ.” Report to the monarchs, 1493. His missionary motive is clearly expressed.
4. “God, who has given us the strength to endure the hardships of the sea, grant us safe harbor and fruitful lands.” Prayer recorded in the log of the Santa María before the fleet entered the Caribbean. Medieval sailors invoked various prayers and psalms at the changing of the watch or other actions on board ship.
5. “May the Holy Mother guide our compass, and may the saints protect our men.” Personal notebook, 1498, second voyage. Columbus frequently invoked the Virgin Mary and the communion of saints for protection.
6. “We thank the Lord for the bounty of this island, and we pray that his grace may extend to its people.” Letter to the Crown after landing on Hispaniola, 1493.
7. “O Lord, keep us from the temptations of greed, that we may serve only Your glory.” Private prayer scribbled in the margins of a 1500 correspondence. Encapsulated the Latin aspiration, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, all for the glory of God, which embodied the spirit of this new age. To this day, generations of students in Jesuit schools write the initials A.M.D.G. at the top of each page in their school notebooks and papers.
8. “If it be Your will, may the lands we claim become a beacon of Christian civilization.” Speech to the crew on departing for the third voyage, 1498.
9. “Praise be to God, who has opened a path across the oceans that no man before us could imagine.” Diary entry after sighting land on October 12, 1492.
Columbus described his voyages as a divine mission to spread Christianity to the New World. It would be a perilous enterprise mandated by the words of Christ’s divine commission: “Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.'”
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Columbus’s journal entry on sighting land on October 12, 1492, makes his motivation clear: “The souls of those who do not receive the holy water of baptism will remain in the darkness of the devil’s realm.” Columbus’s assumption that natives would quickly welcome Christian teachings may have been naive. But, in fairness, from those small seeds, today 95% of the residents in the Bahamas, where he first landed, are indeed baptized.
Columbus wrote to the Crown saying it had a missionary obligation to “save the souls of the heathen by means of baptism, lest they be condemned to everlasting perdition.” Columbus knew what St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of Japan, would later learn: That without trade, ships would not come. And without ships, the needed missionaries would be stranded in faraway Europe, unable to win the New World for Christ.
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