Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul: With a Memoir of His LifeBaker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
Religion
Sermons of the Rev. Francis A. Baker, Priest of the Congregation of St. Paul: With a Memoir of His Life
Baker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
Baker, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius), 1820-1865; Catholic Church -- Sermons; Sermons, American -- 19th century
the United States, and the resident inhabitants are Minorcans,
negroes, and a small number of settlers from the other portions
of the United States. The Minorcans are descendants of a body of
colonists, brought to Florida under false pretences by an English
speculator, who enslaved them, and kept them for a long time in
that state before they became aware that there was any way of
escaping from it. When they did take courage to shake off the
yoke, they removed to the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, where
they retain their language, a dialect of the Spanish, with their
ancient, simple character and habits. The illustrious Spanish
names which some of them bear amused us greatly. Sanchez was the
proprietor of a line of slow coaches. Suarez had charge of F.
Madeore's farm, and Ximenes served Mass. The church is a large
Spanish structure, built, as are most of the houses, of soft
concrete formed from sea-shells. On a green in front of it stands
the only remaining monument, erected in commemoration of the
formation of the Spanish Constitution of 1814.
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The tower has a chime of small bells, which are rung in a most
joyous, clashing style, according to the Spanish custom, for
festive occasions, and with a peculiarly plaintive peal for
deaths and funerals. The cemetery is called Tolomato, which was
the name of an Indian village formerly occupying its site. The
ruins of an ancient mission chapel are still to be seen there,
where F. Roger, a French Jesuit, was murdered by an apostate
Indian chief and his warriors. After killing F. Roger, the band
proceeded to another chapel, called Nuestra Señora de Leche,
where they found a priest just robed for Mass. He requested the
chief to allow him to say Mass, and his desire was granted, the
savages prostrating themselves with their faces to the ground
while he performed the holy function, lest the sight of him
should soften their hearts. After Mass he knelt at the foot of
the altar, and received a blow from the tomahawk which made him a
martyr.
Tolomato contains also the beautiful tomb erected by the Cubans
over the grave of the Rev. Dr. Varela, a learned, holy, and
patriotic priest, a native of the Island of Cuba, and a member of
the Spanish Cortes which established the Constitution. Banished
from his native country, where his memory has always been fondly
cherished, he passed the greater part of a long life as a
laborious parish priest in New York, and died in St. Augustine.
There is a beautiful chapel over his grave, with an altar of
marble and mahogany, and a heavy marble slab in the center of the
pavement, containing the simple but eloquent inscription: "_Al
Padre Varela los Cubanos_"-The Cubans to Father Varela.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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