The 530th Anniversary of Christianity in the Americas
By Roger R. Jean-Charles, MD, KM
Christmas Day, December 25th, is a reminder that Haiti is the birthplace of Christianity in the Americas, when Columbus planted the cross at Môle-Saint-Nicolas, Port-de-Paix in Northwest Haiti on December 4th, 1492. Christmas, Noël, Joy, and Sharing. Let us happily share some special dates:
336 A.D. Rome formally celebrates the Nativity, the birth of Christ.
1492 On December 24 – 25, Christopher Columbus and the Pinzon brothers, natives of Palos de la Frontera in Huelva, Spain, settled La Navidad in Môle-Saint-Nicolas from Santa María materials, according to Christopher Minster and the text below:
“On the night of December 24-25, 1492, Christopher Columbus’ flagship, the Santa María, ran aground off the northern coast of the island of Hispaniola and had to be abandoned. With no room for the stranded sailors, Columbus was forced to found La Navidad (Christmas), the first European settlement in the New World. When he returned the following year, he found that the colonists had been massacred by natives.”
1539 The first Christmas celebration on US land takes place in Tallahassee, Florida, led by Hernando De Soto
1870 Christmas is declared a federal holiday in the United States
2022 We celebrate 530 years of Christianity and Catholicism in the Americas, with Haiti as the birthplace.