38 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
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7. The Florida Missions. — The first permanent estab-lishment of the Christian religion, in what is now theUnited States, was effected at St. Augustine, Florida, a cityfounded by the Spaniard, Menendez, in 1565. Father Lopezde Mendoza of the Dominican Order, who celebrated thefirst Mass in St. Augustine, on September 8 of that year, wasappointed the first pastor of the parish by the Bishop ofSantiago, Cuba. Efforts had been made to convert thenatives by Father Luis Cancer de Barbastro and otherDominicans in 1549, but while they were making a land-ing near Tampa Bay, the missionaries were all put to death. Spanish Jesuits arrived in Florida in 1566. Father PedroMartinez, one of their number, was slain by the savages.Father Segura, another Jesuit, began a mission on Chesa-peake Bay, where, after a brief success among the natives ofthat region, he too was killed. The Franciscans entered the Florida mission field in 1577.In spite of a general massacre of the missionaries twentyyears later, the work of evangelization was continued andbefore the middle of the seventeenth century thirty-five Fran-ciscans in Florida directed forty-four missions with thirtythousand Christian Indians. THe FreENcH Missions 38. Missions in New France. — The work of spreadingthe Gospel among the natives of New France followed closeupon the coming of the French. The French missionaries,in their efforts to convert the children of the forest to theChristian faith, traversed not only the lands of Canadabut much of New England and the region of the Great Lakesand the Mississippi. The missionaries taught the Indiansthe arts of civilized life as well as the truths of religion.
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