I do not dispute the monitary and even power goals of the Spanish Queen in funding Columbus' voyage. I also do not dispute the damage done by the Conquistadors on the indigenous people of the America's. Even the Catholic clergy who accompanied the Conquistadors did irrepreable harm when they destroyed perhaps thousands of Mayan and Aztec codexes and other items of religious and historical importance because they saw then as pagan. They tried to bring Christianity by the sword and as history has shown time and time again, that in itself is un-Christian.
Setting that aside, I want to look at the spirit guiding, perhaps even driving, Columbus. It begins with his Christian name, Christoforo [Christopher,] which means a vessel bearing Christ. Columbus took that to be part of his mission to carry Christ to the unknown parts of the world.
Columbus did not feel that he was perfect in any way. In fact, he wrote:
I am a most noteworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvellous [sic] Presence.[1]
Nevertheless, he undertook the task because he felt called to do so.
No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service.[2]
In a letter to a friend, he explained further:
God made me the messenger of the new heaven and the new earth, of which He spoke in the Apocalypse of St. John after having spoken of it by the mouth of Isaiah, and he showed me where to find it.
He bestowed the arts of seamanship upon me in abundance, and has given me what was necessary from [astronomy], geometry, and arithmetic; and has given me adequate inventiveness in my soul, encouraging me to go forward, and without ceasing they inflame me with a sense of great urgency.[3]
He was quoted as saying:
The only thing that sustains me is my hope in him who created everyone; his support has always been near. On one occasion not long ago, when I was deeply distressed, he raised me with his right arm, saying: ‘O man of little faith, arise, it is I, do not be afraid.[4]
Columbus kept accurate notes of his mission as he saw it. Between the third and fourth voyages, Columbus actually complied many of these notes and spiritual promptings in what he called Libro de las profecias or Book of Prophecies. He wanted others to understand “the historical and prophetic meaning of his discoveries and his own role as ‘Christ-bearer.’”[5]
Columbus may not have understood the American Covenant of which I speak, but he certainly did understand the spiritual nature of his vision and mission.
© Gebara Education, June 2017 All rights reserved.
[2] Ibid
[3] Columbus to Doña Juana de la Torre, Raccolta di documenti e studi pubblicati della R. Commissione Colombiana, pt. I, vol. ii; I Scriti di Cristoforo Colombo, ed. Cesare de Lollis (Rome: 1894), p. 82 Quoted in the Ensign, October 1992
[4] Cristóbal Colón, Textos y documentos completos: Relacionesde viajes, cartas y memoriales, ed. Consuelo Varela (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1989), pp. 137–38. Quoted in the Ensign, October 1992
[5] “Columbus and the Hand of God,” Ensign magazine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, October, 1992
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