Florida Epithets
Florida, which has been bedewed in the East and in the West, in the North and in the South with purest blood of martyrs! —Augustin Verot, first bishop of Florida1
I have lived in Florida all my life. To most of the world, we are a state of beaches, tourists, theme parks, and highways. We are the nightclub scene in Miami. We are Disney in Orlando. To them, we are Florida: Land of Universal Studios!
But to the Spanish, we were flowers, sand, and a people to evangelize. To the early English, we were Papists and Indians to shoot. To the later English, we were beautiful cattle-plains and navy ports. To the American Yankees, we were spring-side towns for winter homes. To old Florida locals, we are the swamps that stayed about the same through the War Between the States.
To me, we are a cozy house on a cul-de-sac. We are rivers, warm sunshine, and family. We are scrub-brush hikes with Dad, and refreshing rain.
Patrimony of La Florida
Our Spanish patrimony is especially important. The Spanish gave us our name and our first permanent settlements. Spanish La Florida offers an important heritage to a state that can sometimes seem like a massive suburb for tourist attractions. It is also an important distinctive for our part of the United States. St. Augustine predates Jamestown by half a century.2
We don’t have the same Founding Fathers indentity as New England. We don’t have the same frontier identity as the American West. We don’t exactly have the same agricultural and cultural identity as the American South. Along with the Florida Cracker3 and Florida Seminoles, our patrimony as La Florida is crucial to apprehend.
Those who named our state and our earliest cities are, in some way, Florida's fathers. We owe them, with all their imperfections, a degree of filial piety. But, we owe them even more, for they gave us Christianity: the Pascal Faith, established in the name Pascua La Florida. They were zealous for the spread of the message of the Cross of Christ. They brought the saving gospel here. They sang the Te Deum Laudamus on this land, exorcizing demons of unimaginable number and antiquity.
The Naming of Places
Epithets and toponyms are essential to culture and story. The naming of places belongs to the makers and re-makers of civilization. In Sacred Scripture, we see this in poetic language about Jerusalem: Zion, Moriah, City of David, Beloved. Tolkien knew the importance of this for the creation of his Middle-Earth Legendarium. The name Rivendell: Imladris, The Last Homely House East of the Sea, does more to draw us in than many pages of description would.
I have composed a few epithets to bring some Floridian treasures, some Floridiana, into the present from our patrimony. They are not meant to exaggerate the perfection of our past but rather to bring the many glories of the past into our present. Patriotism is an art form, distinct from history. Christian people know this art—because we believe that God is making all things new. Our Lord taught us to bring out old and new treasures.4
Florida is a special place. The name we received is not without significance. Pascua La Florida, “Flowery Easter.” May we consider it as we chart the course for our future. There is the hand of Providence in such a name. May it be a truthful name, like the name Peter—Rock. May it not prove us treacherous, showing our contradiction: Judas means Praise.
La Florida, may you attain to your name, and bloom in Easter sunshine.
Epithets
Here are a few epithets, pertaining specifically to Florida’s early Spanish history. Most of the inspiration comes from the journal of Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, Michael Gannon’s excellent book “The Cross in the Sand”, and Fr. Alonso Gregorio de Escobedo’s poem “La Florida.” I will put some details in the footnotes.
Maiden land of Maiden Mother! Balmy sands of God’s One Son! Thy Pascal shores are sprouting flowers Bedewed with purest Martyr Blood!
Shores of the Doctor of Grace!5
Tierra de San Agustín!
O Tierra Florida, Sighted on the feast Of the Doctor of Grace!
Timucua, Redeemed!
La Florida Apostólica!
Peninsula of the Sons of the Stigmata!6
La Florida, Tierra Pantanosa!7
Fruitful Field of Fr. Cancer!8
Flowery Sands Beneath the Cross!9
Protectorate of the Pascal Victor!
Choir-Hall of the Te Deum!10
Gem of General Aviles!
Stat crux dum volvuntur harenae!11
Easter Land!
Thank you for reading. Florida history is deep and wide, and I am just scratching the surface. Share your book / resource reccomendations below!
Bishop Augustin Verot, Florida’s bishop during the Civil War, in his Pastoral Letter, 1858. He wrote this in reference to the many martyrs (mostly Franciscans at the hands of natives and native converts at the hands of the English) that died in the 16th and 17th centuries in La Florida. See Martyrs of La Florida.
St. Augustine: September 8, 1565. Jamestown: May 14, 1607.
“Early Florida pioneers, mainly small farmers and cattle ranchers”. They have continued on as a distinct cultural expression. See Florida Memory.
Matthew 13:52
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés’ ships from Spain first sighted land on August 28, the feast day of St. Augustine, doctor gratiae.
Fr. Alonso Gregorio de Escobedo in his 1598 poem La Florida makes specific mention of many Florida Franciscans, drawing attention to thier imitation of St. Francis of Assisi.
“Marshy” Florida. A phrase used by Fr. Alonso Gregorio de Escobedo in La Florida.
Fr. Luis Cancer O.P. spent many years as an evangelist in other parts of the New World. He came to Florida with other missionaries in the 1540s, with zeal for sharing Christ without any military support. After a short period of preaching, he was killed by a native with a club. “Thus died a remarkable missionary, a messenger of peace, and a noble, brave, and gifted man.” See Michael Gannon, The Cross in the Sand.
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the first governer of Florida who established St. Augustine, had a chaplain on his ship named Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales. This Fr. Lopez recounts in his journal:
“As I had gone ashore the evening before, I took a cross and went to meet [General Aviles], singing the hymn Te Deum Laudamus. The general marched up to the cross, followed by all who accompanied him, and there they kneeled and embraced the cross.”
See previous footnote.
A modification of the Carthusian motto, Stat crux dum volvitur orbis—”The world changes, the cross stands firm,” to “The sands turn, the cross stands firm.”
This offers a sweet grounding to us. We find our home and it is God.
I wish someone would do the same for California. The missiins are still wonderful, and I'm not even Roman Catholic