Christopher Columbus: America’s Saintly Founder

'Columbus was not a genocidal villain or a nationalist explorer; he was a saintly man who wanted to win souls for Christ.' His Cause was introduced in the 1890s, but it's now dead in the water, along with that of Queen Isabella the Catholic.

From Crisis

By Michael Ippolito

Columbus was not a genocidal villain or a nationalist explorer; he was a saintly man who wanted to win souls for Christ.

Christopher Columbus has become one of the most polarizing figures in American history. Our nation used to revere Columbus as one of America’s greatest heroes. Now, he’s one of the Republic’s greatest villains. 

Leftist revolutionaries depict Columbus as a power-hungry maniac who wanted to enslave and annihilate the natives. Any honor of Columbus—whether it’s a statue or a holiday—must be torn down and replaced, according to the liberal revolutionaries. 

In contrast, the Right depicts Columbus as a nationalist pioneer. The Right defends his legacy as that of a courageous pioneer whose actions led to the eventual formation of the United States of America. However, both sides miss a significant fact from Columbus’ life. 

Columbus was not a genocidal villain or a nationalist explorer; he was a saintly man who wanted to win souls for Christ. Columbus should be revered as America’s saintly founder. 

Columbus, indeed, was a man of Providence. From his landing in the Americas on the feast of Our Lady of Pillar on October 12, 1492, to the etymology of his name, Columbus’ life was guided by the hand of God. Christopher, which means Christ-bearer, and Columbus, which relates to the dove, the common symbol of the Holy Spirit, shows that his name reflected a great mission that God had bestowed on him.

Columbus did not fail to live up to his namesake. He sought to follow the command of the Great Commission and evangelize all the natives he encountered. Often, modern history books fail to discuss Columbus’ desire to evangelize, but this desire served as one of the primary factors for his mission.

An entry in his journal states, 

I gave them many beautiful and pleasing things, which I had brought with me, for no return whatever, to win their affection, and that they might become Christians and inclined to love our King and Queen and Princes and all the people of Spain; and that they might be eager to search for and gather and give to us what they abound in and we greatly need. 

Columbus—like all Catholics at that time—understood that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church and that baptism is essential for salvation. Columbus’ first instinct was not to murder the natives but to save their souls. The pagan natives were in desperate need of a massive reordering of their culture, and Columbus provided them with the path to salvation. While many Spaniards wanted to exploit the natives, Columbus chose to defend their rights and dignity. 

Pope Leo XIII recognized this zeal, as he wrote in Quarto Abeunte Saeculo, “Columbus resolved to go before and prepare the ways for the Gospel, and, deeply absorbed in this idea, gave all his energies to it, attempting hardly anything without religion for his guide and piety for his companion.” 

In a field full of prideful men and arrogance, Columbus remained the shining light for all men to imitate. Samuel Eliot Morison wrote in Admiral of the Ocean Sea that 

Columbus was a Man with a Mission, and such men are apt to be unreasonable and disagreeable to those who cannot see the mission…He was Man alone with God against human stupidity and depravity, against greedy conquistadors, cowardly seamen, even against nature and the sea.

However, Columbus was not motivated just by a desire to evangelize. Many Americans are not informed of the sailor’s desire to obtain enough funds to retake the Holy Land. Yes, Columbus was a crusader. 

In Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem by Carol Delaney, Columbus “recorded in his diary that he hoped the Spanish Crown would ‘spend all the profits of this my enterprise on the conquest of Jerusalem.’” The Italian sailor hoped that the Holy Land could return to Christian hands, just as Spain had returned to Christian hands after the Reconquista. Columbus wished to continue the trend worldwide.

Columbus was not just a crusader for the Holy Land, but his efforts were considered an expansion of Christendom’s might. The Spanish and then the French colonies that followed the fantastic voyage brought the traditions of a unified Christian continent. Queen Isabella would even call the Spanish colonies “The Northern Rim of Christendom.” Unfortunately, the Protestant Revolution and the rise of the nation-state prevented a completely united Catholic continent. However, Columbus’ efforts and desires reflect his incredible level of magnanimity. 

It was Columbus’ brave efforts that opened the doors for the Age of Discovery to begin. Beginning with the Catholic explorers, the Americas would be settled, eventually leading to the creation and rise of the United States of America. But Columbus’ feat was so great that he was almost given sainthood. 

In 1876, Cardinal Donnet, archbishop of Bordeaux, sent a letter to Bl. Pius IX from among the episcopate to introduce Columbus’ cause for canonization. In the letter, it stated: 

The facts and documents on which the impartial historian has based his account are so numerous and so conclusive that they have carried conviction to the mind even of writers separated indeed from Catholic unity, but guided by the love of truth alone. This conviction, Holy Father, has become in a short time so strong, that a large number of the Fathers of the Vatican Council have voluntarily affixed their signatures to the petition for the introduction of the cause.

Unfortunately, this did not manifest due to the potential backlash. In “The 19th Century Movement to Canonize Columbus,” Phillip Campbell wrote, “Columbus could be a Catholic saint or a hero of America’s civic religion, but he could not be both.” Columbus, before the liberal revolutionaries started ripping down his statues, has always had a seat among America’s founding fathers. However, Columbus was more than one founding father; he was America’s founding father. His mission not only opened the doors for discovery but saved millions of souls through their conversion to Christianity. For these efforts, he is a saint. 

Catholics should look to Columbus not just as a nationalistic hero or a great man but as a saint. Pope Leo wrote, “Columbus is ours…so that for this reason also the whole human race owes not a little to the Church.” Yes, Columbus is ours, and his Catholic faith cannot be separated from his accomplishments. 

As revolutionaries attempt to tarnish Columbus’ legacy, it is important to hold fast to the truth about Columbus. He was not the evilest villain in the world, nor was he just a brave explorer. Columbus was America’s saintly founder, and he deserves nothing but praise.