Christopher Columbus Revisited

"What you did not learn in school"

If you were fortunate enough to have had a classical, Catholic education, with all its accoutrements, its priests and professors who were willing to teach outside-the-box, willing to teach those “controversial, uncomfortable truths,” then this essay will not shock you. Most of our readers will be shocked, however, because they have been told, at some point in life, by some ignorant, pretentious, academic, that Columbus was a “gold-grubbing, whoring, captain, looking out for his own interests.” This is not an accurate account of Columbus, and the truth should be known.

Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy, to Domenico Colombo and Susanna Fontarossa, both ardent Catholics. The church of his baptism, St. Stefano’s, was built in the 10th century and is located 1,273 ft. away from his boyhood home; over the doorway of the home there is a sign which reads, Christophorus Columbus Puertiam Primamque Iuventam Transecit, “Christopher Columbus passed his first boyhood and youth here.” That Columbus had his flaws, as does every man, we do not deny. The purpose of this short essay is to dispel, in general, several of the myths concerning Columbus:

1. In May 1476, at the age of 24, Columbus embarked as a sailor on a Genoese fleet headed for England. Aside from one failed attempt when he was fourteen, this was his first voyage. During that voyage Columbus’ fleet was attacked by a Franco-Prussian war fleet, causing him to jump overboard. One author says, “After an all-day battle, seven ships of the convoy were sunk. Columbus leaped into the sea, seized a log, and swam over six miles to shore. From Lagos he headed for Lisbon where his younger brother Bartholomew had a map-making shop…for nine years Columbus studied everything in Lisbon that pertained to navigation.”¹

Columbus liked the women?

2.  At the age of 28 he married Felipa Perestrello y Moniz, whose mother and father were of Portuguese and Italian aristocratic families. From this marriage they had one child, Diego, but Felipa died shortly thereafter. Columbus later lived in a common-law relationship with Beatriz Enriquez de Harana, a commoner from Cordoba, Spain. He was faithful to her during all his voyages. In fact, when he died in 1506, he had escaped Syphilis, a disease which claimed the lives of many of his crew. The canonization process of Columbus spanned from 1856 to 1918, but was halted, mainly because the Church authorities could not find the marriage record for Columbus’ second union with Beatriz.  This fact does not prove, however, that Columbus lived in concubinage, as common law marriages were not always recorded.²

Was he in it for himself?

3.  When Columbus set foot on the first island in the New World, Guanahani, on October 12^th, 1492 (the Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar), he renamed the island San Salvador, in honor of the Savior of Spain.³

The popes are against Columbus?

4. Pope Leo XIII said of Columbus in his 1892 locution, Quarto Abeunte Saeculo, in honor of America’s Quadricentennial celebration, “For Columbus is ours; since if a little consideration be given to the particular reason of his design in exploring the mare tenebrosum, and also the manner in  which he endeavored to execute the design, it is indubitable that the Catholic faith was the strongest motive for the inception and prosecution of the design; so that for this reason also the whole human race owes not a little to the Church.”⁴

Was Columbus a gold thief?

5.  The little amount of gold which Columbus sent to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in 1498 was in turn donated to Rome. The gold now ornaments the ceiling of Saint Mary Major in Rome.

6.  The Dominican priest, Bartolome de las Casas, spoke of Columbus’ passionate heart for the Indians which he found in the New World. Fr. Bartolome speaks of his “sweetness and benignity,” saying of him, “Truly I would not blame the admiral’s intentions, for I knew him well and I know his intentions were good.”⁵

7. Upon hearing the news of the death of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Columbus wrote a letter dated Dec. 3^rd, 1504, to his son Diego, “The most important thing is to commend lovingly and with much devotion the soul of the Queen our lady, to God.  Her life was always Catholic and holy, and prompt in all things in His holy service.  Because of this we should believe that she is in holy glory, and beyond the cares of this harsh and weary world.”⁶

The poor innocent natives

8. Robert Royal says, “Yet the evidence for some pretty nasty behavior among the Caribs is difficult to explain away. On the second voyage, Columbus and his medical expert, Dr. Diego Alvarez Chanca, came upon bones in villages and other indications of human sacrifice and cannibalism. The Caribs also routinely raided Arawak tribes for concubines. In fact, Columbus freed some of the women on the island now known as Guadeluope and returned them to their villages during the second voyage…Columbus and Chanca also met up with captive boys who had apparently been gelded in order to fatten them up for eating.”⁷

And what did America do in 1892 to celebrate the fourth centennial of Columbus?

a. Francis Bellamy of Rome, New York, composed the Pledge of Allegiance

b. President Benjamin Harrison declared October 12th, the day Christopher Columbus discovered America, a legal holiday - Columbus Day.

c. 6,000 knights of the Knights of Columbus marched in the New Haven Columbus Day Parade to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Columbus’ founding of the New World.

And in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue!

1. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506): Forty Facts. Gilda Geiss. 1992.

2. ibid. pg. 4.

3. ibid. pg. 5.

4. Vatican.va. Quarto Abeunte Saeculo. accessed 10-3-2023.

5. Columbus on Trial. Robert Royal. Young America’s Foundation. 1993.

6. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506): Forty Facts. Gilda Geiss. 1992. p. 13.

7. Columbus on Trial. Robert Royal. Young America’s Foundation. 1993.