Mission Nombre de Dios is a Roman Catholic religious center in St. Augustine, Florida. It was established as a settlement parish and as a center for converting the Indians of northeastern Florida to Christianity. The Spanish explorer Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés claimed the site for Spain and for the church in 1565. He founded St. Augustine, the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States.
In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon claimed for Spain the area on the east coast of Florida. Menéndez sighted this area on Aug. 28, 1565, the feast day of Saint Augustine. His expedition totaled about 800 soldiers, sailors, and settlers. A little over a week later, he sent some of his soldiers ashore. Historians think the men were greeted by Timucuan Indians and began fortifying a small Indian village at the site. On September 8, Menéndez came ashore with the rest of his expedition and formally founded the city as St. Augustine. The settlers soon built a mission, Nombre de Dios, which means Name of God in Spanish.
At the mission site, the expedition’s chaplain, Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales, celebrated the first parish Mass in what is now the United States. For this reason, some people call the mission site “America’s most sacred acre.”
None of the original mission buildings, which were made of wood, remain. Archaeologists have discovered some evidence of the city’s earliest fortifications on the grounds. Other early mission buildings were destroyed by hurricanes, fires, and attacks. The English naval commander Sir Francis Drake looted and burned the settlement in 1586. The British also attacked St. Augustine in 1702 and 1740.
Today, the mission grounds include the Prince of Peace Church and a cross that rises 208 feet (63 meters) high. The mission is also the site of the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, the first shrine dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the United States. It recognizes Mary as a nursing mother, a devotion (religious observance) particularly important to the settlers of St. Augustine and the converted Timucuan Indians. Pilgrims and other visitors come to the shrine to pray for mothers and mothers-to-be.
