Church in America

1513- Ponce de Leon, who discovered the "island of La Florida" No priests accompanied this voyage, but as a Catholic layman, Ponce himself dedicated this land to God
1521 - The first authenticated visit of priests when Ponce de Leon finally carried out a commission given him seven years earlier

1565 -St. Augustine." The first pastor of the future United States, Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, offered there a Solemn Mass in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary,Spaniards and Indians in the first communal Thanksgiving of our country's first permanent settlement. It also marked the inception of the Parish of St. Augustine.

1597 - An Indian uprising decimated Georgian Franciscans in 1597, but within the century the Friars Minor organized at least thirty thriving missions at which 26,000 Indians were instructed in European arts and crafts as well as Catholic catechism.

1598- Our nation's second church was erected in 1598-in San Juan, later Saint Gabriel, New Mexico. In that same year, "Nuestra Senora de la Soledad" (Our Lady of Solitude), the first hospital, was built in Florida

1636 - In June, Roger Williams founds Providence and Rhode Island. Williams had been banished from Massachusetts
1646 - In Massachusetts, the general court approves a law that makes religious heresy punishable by death.

1649 The Religious Toleration Law of 1649 establishing toleration for all religions in early Maryland

1652 - Rhode Island enacts the first law in the colonies declaring slavery illegal.

1654 Maryland. In the new colony, religious tolerance for all so-called Christians was preserved by Calvert until 1654. In that year, Puritans from Virginia succeeded in overthrowing Calvert's rule

1656 - Massachusetts, where it was illegal to participate in any faith other than the legally established congregationalism of the Puritan founders of the colony. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521525047

In 1656, the Friends of Society, also called Quakers, arrived in Boston and were greeted by quite a welcome wagon. The Puritans, the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, had them whipped, jailed and hanged for breaking their strict religious codes that they enforced as laws. Yes, these were the folks who a quarter of a century before fled Europe in order to have religious freedom. Once here, however, they only wanted freedom for their own religion. The Quakers were banished from Boston and hung if they returned. Eventually an area called Pennsylvania

Quakers: Persecution in colonial MassachusettsA law was passed at the same time, subjecting every shipmaster importing Quakers or Quaker writings to a heavy fine; adjudging all Quakers who should intrude into the colony to stripes and labor in the house of correction, and all defenders of their tenets to fine, imprisonment, or exile..
http://www.helium.com/tm/364298/firs...-quakers-early

1688 - Quakers in Pennsylvania issue a formal protest against slavery in America.

1692 Maryland's famous Religious Toleration Act officially ended, and the Maryland Assembly established the so-called Church of England as the official State religion
1692 - In May, hysteria grips the village of Salem, Massachusetts, as witchcraft suspects are arrested and imprisoned.

1700 - In June, Massachusetts passes a law ordering all Roman Catholic priests to leave the colony within three months, upon penalty of life imprisonment or execution. New York then passes a similar law

1702 - In Maryland, the Anglican Church is established as the official church, financially supported by taxation imposed on all free men, male servants and slaves.

1706 - South Carolina establishes the Anglican Church as its official church
1728 - Jewish colonists in New York City build the first American synagogue.

1732 - February 22, George Washington is born in Virginia. Also in February, The First Mass is celebrated in the only Catholic church in colonial America, in Philadelphia. In June, Georgia, the 13th English colony, is founded
http://www.scarborough.k12.me.us/wis/teachers/dtewhey/webquest/colonial/colonial%20era%20timeline.htm

Catholic Church in Colonial America
Catholics were a decided minority in the original 13 English colonies. As we see in the first general report on the state of Catholicism by John Carroll in 1785, Catholics were a mere handful. He conservatively estimated the Catholic population in those colonies to be 25,000. Of this figure, 15,800 resided in Maryland, about 7,000 in Pennsylvania, and another 1,500 in New York. Considering that the population in the first federal census of 1790 totaled 3,939,000, the Catholic presence was less than one percent, certainly not a significant force in the original 13 British colonies.
http://www.traditioninaction.org/History/B_001_Colonies.html
FROM COLUMBUS TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
http://www.franciscanfriarstor.com/f...ory_part_I.htm

Sir George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore (1580-1632)
George Calvert was the first person to dream of a colony in America where Catholics and Protestants could prosper together. He was born in Yorkshire, England and studied at Trinity College at Oxford. Sir Robert Cecil, who worked for King James I, hired George to be his secretary. George loved his work. Sir Robert trusted George as a good advisor. King James I then rewarded him with the title of “Knight” for good service in 1617. George became, Sir George Calvert, Secretary of State for King James I.

By the time that King James I died and his son Charles I ruled England, George had distinguished himself as a statesman and loyal subject. He served several terms as a Minister of Parliament. King James I, and later his son King Charles I, gave George lands in Ireland and grants of money. Yet George had a problem: he had become a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Catholics were not permitted to work in high offices for the King of England or to work as Ministers of Parliament.

In 1625, George announced to James I that he had become a Catholic, and so had to resign his job. But King James I liked George so much that he decided to give him another title. Sir George Calvert then became the First Baron of Baltimore, a town on the southern coast of Ireland.

In 1620, George Calvert (1579/80-1632) purchased a parcel of land in Newfoundland from Sir William Vaughan. The land extended from just south of Aquaforte to Caplin Bay (now Calvert). The following year, Calvert's colonists set off for Ferryland under the leadership of governor Captain Edward Wynne. After the colony had been established, Calvert obtained a larger land grant from King James I of England, who awarded him "the Province of Avalon". Although the archaeological history of Ferryland essentially stops with the French raid of 1696, the succeeding two centuries are filled with fascinating characters and events. Many of these are interpreted at the Ferryland Museum

George then asked the King for a grant of land further south near the Chesapeake Bay. He drew a map for King Charles I, showing a territory that he wanted just north of the colony of Virginia. He hoped that this territory would have warmer weather and so be more suitable for an English colony. George died in 1632, before Charles I had time to approve the charter for George’s colony, named Maryland (“Terra Mariae”). George’s eldest son, Cecil, the Second Lord Baltimore helped to bring his father’s dream colony to life. Another son, Leonard, became Maryland’s First Governor.
http://mdroots.thinkport.org/library/georgecalvert.asp
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/avalon/history/default.html