It is interesting, and very appropriate, that the oldest historical writing that has ever been discovered in America has written on it the prayer, "Hail Virgin Mary, save us from evil." This was found carved in the well-known Kensington Stone, which was found by a farmer on his farm near Kensington, Minnesota, in 1898. Inscribed on the stone is "Year (of Our Lord) 1362"- dating it to one hundred and thirty years before Christopher Columbus came to America at the other end of the continent.

It was around 1354. News came to King Magnus of Norway and Sweden that a band of Greenland colonists had deserted their settlement. Leaving for a more favorable climate and habitable land, the colonists had left, going further to the west. The king was more concerned at reports that these colonists had not left their land for that reason alone. These settlers had also left the Church, and they were returning to the practice of worshipping their false gods. King Magnus, who was a devout Catholic, was worried by this distressing news. In search of the straying colonists, the king sent an expedition to follow and rescue them from these dangers- most especially from the evils that now threatened their souls. Paul Knutson was the leader of the expedition, and the instructions given to him from the king still exist to this day.

Sailing past Greenland and going further west, the expedition traveled in search of the heathen colonists. On they went, sailing around Newfoundland and Labrador and entering the Hudson Bay. Down the Nelson River they sailed, feeding into Lake Winnipeg. Continuing through and into the winding Red River of the North, they came upon the wooded areas of Minnesota. They made camp on the shore of a lake. After having settled, half of them went out to hunt in the surrounding area.

When the hunters returned from their trip, they found their camp smoldering in ashes. All of their companions that had stayed behind had been slaughtered. The grieving survivors prepared to leave immediately. With their camp destroyed and half of their company dead, they endeavored to escape, as quickly and safely as possible, this unknown hostile land.

But before abandoning the area, the remainder of the expedition found a large stone and, with great sorrow, carved into it an account of all that had taken place - leaving a record of their journey behind them. It was this same stone which was discovered nearly five hundred and forty years later, buried and entangled in the roots of a tree in Minnesota. The stone is thirty-one inches tall and sixteen inches wide. Six inches thick, the stone weighs a little over two-hundred pounds.

There are many unique characteristics to the Kensington Stone. Easy to see is the effect left by roots of the tree, as several ridges efface the front of the stone. Then, carved on both the front of the stone and on one of the sides, there are distinct Gothic characters.

But as one glances down the writing on the front of the stone, it is striking to see three distinct letters, "AVM", stand out from the old Gothic lettering that the rest of the inscription is written in. These three letters, "AVM", are a classic Medieval abbreviation which stand for the words: "Ave Virgo Maria", which when translated reads: "Hail Virgin Mary". It is the only Latin on the stone. Writing up the account of their voyage, the last sentence the surviving explorers ended their chronicle with was a plea to Mary. The entire sentence reads: "Hail Virgin Mary, save us from evil."

Little did they know - those Catholics on that expedition of so long ago - that their prayer to the Mother of God would survive and still be read today - over six and half centuries later.

And what of the explorers? What became of these men who begged for Mary’s aid in their hour of great need? Mary heard their prayer. After many months, the remainder of the expedition returned safely home. An account of Paul Knutson’s expedition is still in existence and is kept in Norway.

How interesting it is then that the Kensington Stone, the most ancient text to be discovered in America, concludes with a prayer carved by Catholics to Our Most Blessed Virgin Mary - "Hail Virgin Mary, save us from evil."