Posted on 07/29/2015 12:31:45 PM PDT by BlatherNaut
After 400 years in the Virginia dirt, the box came out of the ground looking like it had been plucked from the ocean. A tiny silver brick, now encrusted with a green patina and rough as sandpaper. Buried beneath it was a human skeleton. The remains would later be identified as those of Captain Gabriel Archer, one of the most prominent leaders at Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America. But it was the box, which appeared to be an ancient Catholic reliquary, that had archaeologists bewildered and astonished...
...It’s the kind of discovery that makes historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and other academics giddy with curiosity. But it raises even bigger questions, too—ideas that could rewrite our understanding of the intersection of religious and cultural identities in colonial America.
The English settlement of the New World is most often remembered as a Protestant endeavor. But if indeed there were Catholics at Jamestown, then, from the very beginning, it was a project pursued by those of multiple faiths, seeking new opportunities.
“There is this sense that American Catholic history begins in the 19th century with a wave of immigrants from Germany and Ireland in the 1820s and 1830s, but there is a history of earlier Catholicism,” said Maura Jane Farrelly, an associate professor of American studies at Brandeis University. “What’s captivating about it is the notion of the secretive nature. If he’s secretly Catholic, what does that faith mean to him that he’s willing to hold onto it even though it’s dangerous?”
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I read years ago Anglicans still had rosary devotions. So this may not be a Catholic person but an Anglican who had a rosary.
Or maybe it was just a box.
Very interesting.
Boy, is my face red! I missed that paragraph entirely.
The supposition that I criticized is most logical.
Not to self: Less skimming, more reading.
Quite intereesting. Thanks for posting it.
You are very welcome.
My pleasure.
England had been Protestant for only about 70 years at the foundation of Jamestown. This relic could have been in the family for many years and was still being passed down after England became Protestant.
Plus, there were and are different kinds of Anglicans. In the early 17th Century some Anglicans were Calvinist and would have regarded worshiping with relics idolatry. Other Anglicans were high church who worshiped almost like Catholics but followed Protestant teaching on the Eucharist. King James tended to favor the high church approach to worship.
So, finding a reliquary with this man does not necessarily mean he was a Catholic. Maybe, maybe not.
The way to research the issue would be to go to England and see if any family history could be located that would shed light on the family's political and religious history. In the 17th Century there was a considerable struggle over whether England might revert to Catholicism or if would remain Protestant just what kind of Protestant. The English Civil War was fought over the issue and another King was deposed in the Glorious Revolution.
Well put.
The family history (per Smithsonian Magazine) indicates that
Archer’s father was a Catholic.
From post #20:
“...Gabriel Archer’s father was among the Catholics, called a “recusant” and cited in court for failing to attend Anglican services. Archer had learned resistance at home...”
Christopher Columbus was, of course, Catholic, but many people don’t know he is also recognized for a life of heroic virtue and designated a “Servant of God” (step 1 of 3 on the “path” to sainthood) by the Catholic Church.
I didn’t know that, either. Thanks for the info.
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