Did you know that the first church built in what is now the United States was founded in the city St. Augustine, Florida, as early as 1565? That’s 55 years before the Mayflower even landed at America’s shores! This is because the Protestant settlers were not the first to colonize the New World. Catholic missionaries and explorers from Europe had arrived long before them. Many of these brave missionaries were from Spain - and hence we find many Spanish titles for geographical locations, rivers, cities and towns throughout the South West of the United States.

Over time, these foreign names have gotten abbreviated for the English speaking American, but if one looks carefully at the original Spanish, it is not unusual to find many religious themes in these names. These show us very interesting and important traces of the deeply Catholic spirit that first civilized the New World. For instance, if you are at all familiar with Spanish, you may know that the words ‘Los Angelos’ mean ‘The Angels’. Do you recognize that name? It is the name of the largest city in California and its full title in Spanish reads something like: "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula", meaning "Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angels of the little Portion."

As we have seen, the oldest church in the U.S. was founded in Florida. The second Catholic Church to be founded was on the other side of the country - in New Mexico in 1598. This church was near Santa Fe, but built so quickly that Santa Fe had not even been founded yet! (Formally founded in 1610, Santa Fe is actually the second oldest town founded in the United States and the oldest state capital in the whole country.)

And to add to the record - the next two eldest churches in the U.S. were built around 1606 and in 1627… both of these also being in Santa Fe, New Mexico - making this city the home of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th oldest Churches in the country. And when one studies the translation of the name of this city - we find that it means "Holy Faith". In fact, "Santa Fe" is another example of title abbreviation - and the original given name for this faith filled city was - La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Assisi - "The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi".