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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A judge in St. Johns County has dismissed the manslaughter charge against Luis Casado in the May 2021 shooting death of Adam Amoia in St. Augustine, according to a court document obtained Friday by News4JAX.

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. — Severe beach erosion from two late-season hurricanes has helped uncover what appears to be a wooden ship dating from the 1800s which had been buried under the sand on Florida’s East Coast for up to two centuries, impervious to cars that drove daily on the beach or sand castles built by generations of tourists. Beachgoers and lifeguards discovered the wooden structure, between 80 feet to 100 feet, poking out of the sand over Thanksgiving weekend in front of homes that collapsed into rubble on Daytona Beach Shores last month from Hurricane Nicole. “Whenever you find...

Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Officials with a national monument in Florida said an unusual object washed up on the beach this week: a vintage streamer trunk from the 1930s. The Fort Matanzas National Monument said in a Facebook post that the trunk was found washed up on a park beach near St. Augustine late last week. "While nothing of interest was found within this trunk, it itself is a unique piece of history," the post said. The post said the trunk was from an aptly-named brand called Neverbreak Trunks. The black trunk dates from the 1930s and was manufactured by...

In Biden's speech, St. Augustine's deep warning about misdirected unity in love of the wrong thing becomes the spiritual equivalent of “c’mon, man.”Yesterday’s remarks from Joe Biden were what we thought they would be: a lot of talk about unity, and a lot of condemnations of other Americans along the way. The unity talk went over just as expected, with Republicans rolling their eyes. Of course there was unity on that dais in Washington, with a thousand of America’s elites — nearly all of them already vaccinated, but wearing masks to send a message — guarded by tens of thousands...

A lawsuit was filed today in Federal Court, along with a request for a request for an Emergency Temporary Restraining Order that seeks to prevent the City of St. Augustine, Florida from removing the oldest Confederate monument in Florida, in the state’s oldest City. The primary plaintiff on the lawsuit is HK Edgerton, past President of the National Association of Colored People “NAACP” in his home town of Asheville, NC and includes 10 counts including violations of the plaintiff’s Constitution rights under the 1st and 14th Amendments. There are nine other plaintiffs in the case including the Ladies Memorial Association...

Reason #7: RELIGION Saint Augustine in his Confessions tells us that after many years of wandering in the desert of indecision, it was Cicero who led him to Christ. Cicero’s Hortensius set him on the path to Christian conversion by implanting in him a longing for the immortality of wisdom. The text of Hortensius did not make it to the modern world and thus is probably the most famous lost treatise in world literature. Wouldn’t we all love to read this work that St. Augustine praises so highly? Well, I have read a lot of Cicero and, like most writers,...

“There are but 155 years left … at which time … the world will come to an end,” wrote Christopher Columbus in his book “Libro de Las Profecias,” composed in 1502 between his third and fourth voyages. Columbus continued: “… The sign which convinces me that our Lord is hastening the end of the world is the preaching of the Gospel recently in so many lands.” Though his predictions were off, Columbus’ writings revealed his motivation for setting sail on his first voyage Aug. 3, 1492, with the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria. He sought to find a sea...

The Coalition of Concerned Catholics, a group of lay faithful primarily concerned with the dissent, heterodoxy and apostasy present in the Church, recently published an open letter to Bp. Felipe Estévez of the diocese of St. Augustine, Florida. They have given Church Militant permission to republish it in full. ******* His Excellency, Felipe Estevez, MA, STL, STD Bishop, Diocese of St. Augustine 11625 Old St. Augustine Road Jacksonville, FL 32258 Friday, March 1, 2019 Dear Bishop Estevez: As committed Catholics, we are concerned that not enough is being done globally about the abuse crisis in our Church. Presently, the issue...

“The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.” Malcolm Muggeridge

Franciscan Media Image: Saint Augustine of Hippo | Line engraving by P. Cool after M. de Vos | Wellcome Images Saint Augustine of Hippo Saint of the Day for August 28 (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430)  Saint Augustine’s Story A Christian at 33, a priest at 36, a bishop at 41: Many people are familiar with the biographical sketch of Augustine of Hippo, sinner turned saint. But really to get to know the man is a rewarding experience.There quickly surfaces the intensity with which he lived his life, whether his path led away from or toward God....

Subtitle : 'And it happened 50 years before Plymouth!' September 8, 1565. “When the first Spanish settlers landed in what is now St. Augustine on September 8, 1565, to build a settlement, their first act was to hold a religious service to thank God for the safe arrival of the Spanish fleet… After the Mass, Father Francisco Lopez, the Chaplin of the Spanish ships and the first pastor of St. Augustine, stipulated that the natives from the Timucua tribe be fed along with the Spanish settlers, including Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the leader of the expedition. It was the...

Never Give Up: St. Augustine’s Stirring Call to Pastors Msgr. Charles Pope • October 2, 2016 • Today I would like to present excerpts from a stirring sermon that St. Augustine delivered to the priests and people of Hippo. In times like these we must all be reminded of the need to preach the Word of God even if the recipients of that word revile us, labeling our very proclamation of love “hate speech.” This is not new; St. Augustine calls us to be resolute and to preach the Word of God in season and out of season. This...

St. Augustine, Florida, is a small city with a lot of “firsts” to its credit. It was the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States. It was the site of the first Mass in the U.S. It is the place where the first shrine to Our Lady was erected (it stands on the grounds of the Mission Nombre de Dios). It was from here that the first Catholic mission to American Indians was launched. And, now, here comes the surprise — St. Augustine was the site of the first Thanksgiving celebration in America. As you’d...

Monday, August 24, 2016: Live streaming coverage of the Donald J. Trump for President rally in St. Augustine, FL at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. St. Augustine Amphitheatre Monday, October 24, 2016: Live streaming coverage of the Donald J. Trump for President rally in Tampa, FL at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater. Live coverage begins at 7:00 PM ET. MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater

A billboard in St. Augustine, Florida, that criticizes Islam is causing international outrage. The words 'Islam Bloody Islam' are written in a red, tattered font on a black background across the 14-foot high sign. Written in in white below the red words the billboard reads: 'Doomed by its doctrine'. . . . 'This is horrifying because this tells me that they want everyone in our whole city to read this,' she said. A petition, started by a woman named Becky Williams, hopes to bring the sign down. 'We should always stand up for those in our community who are shown...

<p>One customer received an unexpected comment on their Starbucks coffee cup label.</p> <p>When an order for a a grande cup of white chocolate mocha came with the message, “Diabetes here I come,” one customer said he was taken aback.</p> <p>“That first word just automatically brought the picture of both sisters in my head,” said the Starbucks customer.</p>

Bone fragments found during a utility dig in a section of historic downtown St. Augustine are linked to a Catholic church cemetery that served the city from 1572 to 1702. "The bones that we recovered were associated with people who were buried in the Los Remedios cemetery," said Carl Halbirt, archaeologist for St. Augustine. "Based on the bones that we have, we know we have both adult as well as possible children." The bones were found along Charlotte street as city crews prepared the area for utility work. More digging is planned. Those buried at Los Remedios included Spaniards, Native...

Msgr. Charles Pope 12/30/2015 Augustine and Calvin? Q. I know that St. Augustine wrote about predestination, and that John Calvin wrote about double predestination. Can you explain what they both taught and what the Church says about it? What are some things to think about as we reconcile free will with God’s omniscience? Graham, via e-mail A. Predestination is a proper biblical concept which indicates that God chose us and called us before we were ever made to be His own. It does not deny that we freely chose Him, but it does insist that He first chose us,...

The Greeks invented philosophy. They gave us Herodotus, the father of history, too. Their philosophy of history was cyclical, meaning they believed history had highs and lows, but lacked purpose. The Christian intellectual tradition first proposed that history moves in a linear fashion, corresponds with progress, and culminates with a utopian end point. Modern day “progressives” have inherited this Christian philosophy, and merely substituted their values. It was the great St. Augustine who initially posited a comprehensive teleological (with an end) philosophy of history. Drawing upon Old Testament conceptions of history, Augustine divided the past into epochs, one following the...

The Greatness of Little Things: A Reflection on a Quote From St. Augustine By: Msgr. Charles PopeI have found that one of my favorite quotes from St. Augustine  is not all that well known. Here it is in Latin, followed by my own translation: Quod minimum, minimum est, Sed in minimo fidelem esse,magnum est.What is a little thing,  is (just) a little thing.But to be faithful in a little thingis a great thing. (from St. Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana, IV,35)I first saw this quote on the frontispiece of a book by Adrian Fortescue. Fortescue applied it to the intricate details of celebrating...