The Original Mission Church

The Original Mission Church. . , Located Here on the Park Grounds , The settlers of St. Augustine moved twice before finally settling at the town's present-day location south of the plaza in 1572. Franciscan friars arrived in 1573 and later established the first Mission of Nombre de Dios, now recognized as the first Catholic mission established in the continental United States. This Mission was located here on the Fountain of Youth grounds, just behind the living history Timucuan Village exhibit. Eventually the Mission area expanded to encompass the La Leche Shrine area to the south by the big cross. , This replica of the Mission of Nombre de Dios was built using historically correct methods of construction wherever possible. The large rounded beams are locally harvested cypress, used by the Spanish for its natural resistance to local wood-eating insects. , The Franciscan friar assigned by the order to construct the first Mission of Nombre de Dios was Friar Antonio de Escobedo. There are no paintings or portraits that are known to exist of friar Escobedo, but this 1615 work by the famed Dutch painter Pieter Pauwel Rubens captures the essence of a typical Franciscan friar of the mid sixteenth century. , Lost in Time for Hundreds of Years , The site of the Mission Church of Nombre de Dios was lost to time until 1934 when a gardener planting trees discovered a number of human burials. Walter Fraser, the owner of the Fountain of Youth Park during this time, contacted the Smithsonian Institution. They dispatched archaeologists who excavated more than a hundred burials. The remains were on display for several years before being re-interred. , Efforts to convert the Timucua to Christianity began in the vicinity of the former Spanish St. Augustine settlement after 1577, four years after the first Franciscan friars arrived in Florida. The Timucuan town of Seloy (just north of the Spanish city) was renamed Nombre de Dios by the Spanish and in 1587 the first mission was established there and given the same name. , This detail from the Hernando de Mestas Map of 1593 shows the Mission of Nombre de Dios illustrated as several buildings at the edge of the water surrounded by fields. A severe outbreak of smallpox in 1654-1655 probably prompted the abandonment of this location.