Lessons from the Father of Americanism and the Minorcans of Florida.
- Roland Flores
- Aug 8
- 17 min read
Updated: Aug 10
Ave María! May Our Lady of the Immaculate Concepcion, the Glorious Queen of heaven,
Pray for us and especially for the conversion of the United States. Much has been said of the Heresy of Americanism, condemned officially by Pope Leo XIII in 1895, though most of its teachings had been condemned since 1864 by Pope Pius IX. However most do not know of Americanism's unfortunate “founder” Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore, the first bishop of the United States. Archbishop Carroll was born on 8 January 1735, at the Carroll plantation in Upper Marlborough, Maryland to Daniel Carroll I and Eleanor Darnall Carroll. At the age of 18 He joined the Jesuits in 1753 and in 1755 he began his studies at a Jesuit seminary in Liège, Belgium. On 14 February 1761, he was ordained to the priesthood in Liège and was formally professed as a Jesuit in 1771. Archbishop Carroll remained in Europe until he was almost 40, teaching at St. Omer in Liège and also serving as a chaplain to a Catholic British aristocrat living in exile. When Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Society of Jesus in 1773, bishop Carroll returned to his family plantation in Maryland. The suppression of the Jesuits was a painful experience for then Father Carroll; who thought that the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith was behind the order. Since the laws of Maryland prohibited the establishment of a Catholic parish, he worked as a missionary in both Maryland and Virginia. In 1774, he built a small private chapel on the plantation dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. In 1776 the Continental Congress asked Charles Carroll
and Benjamin Franklin to travel to British Canada to entice them to join the rebellion and recuirt men for the cause. Charles Carroll invited his first cousin, then Father Carroll, to join them with the goal of persuading the French Catholic population to join the rebellion against the British crown. Father Caroll agreed but like his companions, he primarily found resistance to the revolution and was banned by the Bishop of Quebec. The entire mission to Canada was a failure; the American delegation could not win any political support there and subsequent failed invasions proved that the Frenchmen of Quebec would remain loyal to the Crown. As stated before, His excellency, Jean-Olivier Briand, Bishop of Quebec, banned his priests from meeting with then Father Carroll and barred him from ministering in his diocese. When Franklin became sick, Father Carroll escorted him back from Montreal to Philadelphia, where he gained his admiration,
and then he returned to the family plantation. Father Caroll served as an unofficial chaplain during the revolution. During the colonial period, the Catholic clergy in the Thirteen American colonies were under the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Vicariate of London and after the Revolution, anti-British and anti- Catholic sentiments made it crucial to change that jurisdiction. On 27 June 1783, then Father Carroll held a series of meetings at White Marsh Manor in Bowie, Maryland for the formation of the official Catholic Church in the United States. At the same time, Rome worked to figure out the jurisdiction of the new republic and papal nuncio of France, Cardinal Giuseppe Doria Pamphili, asked Benjamin Franklin, at that point in Paris as American Minister to France, for advice on the matter. Franklin responded that the separation of church and state did not permit the US government to indicate a preference but he privately suggested that the Vatican should appoint a French bishop but also expressed his admiration for Father Carroll.
On 9 June 1784, Pope Pius VI appointed Father Carroll as provisional superior of the missions for the United States, based on advice from Cardinal Pamphili, with the power to celebrate the sacrament of confirmation. On 6 November 1789, Pope Pius VI appointed Carroll as bishop of Baltimore and he was consecrated in the Chapel at Lulworth Castle in Dorset, England by Bishop Charles Walmesley.
When it was established, the Diocese of Baltimore had jurisdiction over what is today the area of the United States east of the Mississippi River. This did not include the area of Spanish Florida or Louisiana, who soon had their own See in New Orleans. Bishop Carroll selected the Church of St. Peter in Baltimore to serve as his pro-cathedral, the first Catholic church in Baltimore built in 1770. In March 1790, Bishop Carroll sent a message of congratulations, along with a blessing, to the newly elected president, George Washington, on behalf of all American Catholics. In 1804, the Vatican gave Carroll jurisdiction over the Catholic Church in the Danish West Indies and in 1805, the Louisiana Territory was added with its preexisting Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas, created under Spanish rule 1793. Bishop Carroll was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in July 1815. Bishop John Carroll died in Baltimore on 3 December 1815 and his remains are interred in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in DC.
What should be understood of the late Bishop Caroll of Baltimore, is that he descended from a very prominenat famiy from Ireland that moved to Maryland. There they established a slave owning plantation and were one of the most prominent Catholic families in the colonies, though many apsotosized to Anglicanism or Puritanism after the fall of Maryland. Notably, the Bishop's cousin, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, was the only Catholic signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Charles’s Carroll also participated in the Freemasonic blessing of the cornerstone by George Washington in DC [2]. Archbishop Caroll's older brother, Daniel Carroll Jr, was a Maryland representative, a financial backer of the Revolution, and was the Freemason Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maryland [2]. The Late Bishop Carrol, is remembered fondly in the modern day as "reformer" as "He insisted that priests perform liturgical readings in the vernacular." Bishop Carrol said: "It may have been prudent, for aught I know, to impose a compliance in this matter with the insulting and reproachful demands of the first reformers; but to continue the practice of the Latin liturgy in the present state of things must be owing either to chimerical fears of innovation or to indolence and inattention in the first pastors of the national Churches in not joining to solicit or indeed ordain this necessary alteration." It is also said of Bishop Caroll, that he was greatly loved and admired by Benjamin Franklin because, according to Franklin, not once did he ever speak of religion or God during their months-long journey to and from Québec.
Which gained for him a public ban of ministering in the Quebec jurisdiction, which lasted until he died. This was the reason Bishop Carrol sailed to England to be consecrated a Bishop rather than just going north to Canada.
Bishop Carroll set the tone for the Church in tje United States and what the Freemasonic empire expects of Catholics. Bishop Caroll did not consider the papal ban on freemasonic lodges, which had been forbidden since 1717 by Pope Clement XII, to be applicable to the Church in the United States [1]. Perhaps echoing President Kennedy’s promise that his faith would not influence his politics, and evidently his personal life. Bishop Caroll is considered a hero of the US revolution and a model for the Church in the US, which brings us to our Florida and it’s role in this same revolution. Florida, the old Catholic state that was constantly besieged by Anglo Protestants both before and after the US revolution. During the US’ revolution, Florida was a possession of the British empire and remained fiercely loyal to the British crown. While British West Florida was being reconquered by Spanish forces from Louisiana, the British in East Florida battled the colonial rebels from Georgia and the Carolinas.
A bit of irony since Florida under Spain had long been besieged by British and colonial forces from Georgia and the Carolinas but was now British and still fighting them. Both the Governor and representatives of Florida declined several calls to join the rebellion. When news of the Declaration of Independence reached St. Augustine, effigies of George Washington, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock along with the US Flag were burned in the streets of the old city. The old struggle between the British in Georgia and the Carolinas and Spain in Florida was about to transfer to the rebels and loyalists. As early as 1776, General Charles Lee with the Continental Army attempted to invade and capture Florida but was recalled almost immediately to support fighting another place. This withdrawal quickly ended the first rebel invasion but it did not stop Loyalist forces from attack the rebels from Florida. Meanwhile, as the war progressed many Loyalists were driven by force from their homes and other fled voluntarily, most fled to Canadia, Florida, or the Bahamas. Again in 1777, after British forces conducted heavy raids into Georgia from Florida, 200 rebels under the militia commander John Baker undertook an official “invasion of east Florida.” On the rebel side men from the 3rd South Carolina Cavalry Regiment, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd North Carolina and Georgia regiments all partook in the invasion. Those loyalists defending Florida were the 1st and 2nd East Florida regiment, East Florida Volunteers, the Minorca Volunteer Company (which was entirely Catholic), and bands of Seminole braves.
The Invasion began on 10 May when the rebels crossed the St. Mary’s river into Florida and the Georgians got into a brief firefight with a patrol of East Florida Rangers. On the night of 14 May a small band of Seminoles attempted to steal the rebel’s horses. At least one of the Seminoles was captured, a Chiaha man, and he was mutilated by the rebels. This confirmed for many Seminoles that the triumph of the rebels would result in their enslavement and annihilation, as many of them had already fled to Florida due to Anglo expansion, some as far as Ohio or Tennessee. The rebels had hoped this would discourage the seminoles from involving themselves in a conflict that wasn't theirs but instead this rallied the Seminoles to the cause of the British. On 16 May a force of 200 British regulars, rangers, loyalist volunteers and Seminoles found the rebels encamped on the banks of the St. Thomas Creek, a tributary of the Nassau River. On 16 May the East Florida rangers and Seminole braves ambushed the rebels while they advanced further into Florida, quickly overwhelming the rebels. The rebels fled the ambush straight into a trap, British regulars and volunteers were waiting for them in lines. Almost half of the rebels fled into the swamps at first shots from the British; including their commander, John Baker. In total 8 rebels were killed, and 31 captured, of whom 15 were later killed by the Seminoles in retaliation. The British recorded no casualties.
Florida remained a loyalist stronghold through the war, continuing regular raids into rebel controlled Georgia. In February 1778, Georgia's assembly authorized Governor John Houstoun to organize a third rebel invasion into East Florida. Intrestily, One of the many reasons the assembly gave to justify the invasion was that at least one Catholic priest lived in St Augustine, which was a correct accusation. British East Florida gave a general tolerance to Catholics, similar to that which existed in Quebec, a Catholic priest not only lived in St Augustine and ministred freely but also received an annual salary from the office of the Governor. Many opposed this invasion, as the population of East Florida had no interest in joining the rebellion and would be too costly to effectively occupy. However, sentiments changed when the East Florida Rangers captured and burned Fort Howe in Darien Georgia. This allowed loyalists to travel freely throughout Georgia's backcountry and begin recruiting in Georgia and the Carolinas. In retaliation naval forces from Georgia attacked three British ships anchored at the old Fort Frederica on St. Simons island and went forward with their invasion. On 14 April the rebels then sent 400 regulars with Continental army down to occupy the former site of Fort Howe. By May the rebel forces grew to 1,300 as Georgia militia volunteers and South Carolina Continentals arrived. The March south was horrendous due to the heat and insects, by the time the rebels reached Florida, at least 11 men had been executed for attempted desertion. On 26 June the rebels arrived at the St. Mary’s river, they had engaged in a few skirmishes with the east Florida rangers along the way. Half of the rebel forces marched towards the small fort Tonyn and its British defenders abandoned it and retreated into the swamps. They retreated Just 14 miles south of this Fort to a large bridge across Alligator Creek, a Nassau River tributary, in what is today Callahan, Florida. At this bridge the British placed a Redoubt and placed 200 men, two regiments British regulars and the east Florida rangers under the command of Daniel McGirt, a Scotsman native to South Carolina, who at first was with the rebels and later joined the loyalists. On 30 June a rebel Cavalry charge of over 100 attempted to take the British position at alligator creek. An ambush position waiting for them was betrayed and ambushed, causing the loyalists to flee south. The rebel cavalry chased the rangers straight up to the Rebout and a firefight ensued. The fight did not last long and the rebels called for a retreat. This put the rebel momentum to a full stop. Skirmishes continued however disease and a lack of food forced the rebels to concede and they began to retreat on 14 July. This ended the idea of the rebels gaining control of East Florida. East Florida remained loyal to the Crown until the end of the war, when it was transferred back to Spain in 1783. In both engagements the Minorca Volunteer Company fought on the Loyalist side against the rebellion. The Minorcans of Florida were an ethnically diverse group of indentured servants brought to New Smyrna plantation Florida by Dr. Andrew Turnbull. Exactly 1403 indentured servants crossed the Atlantic, these consisted of Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, Menorcans, Corsicans, and Irish. Collectively, they became known as Minorcans, being primarily fishermen, craftsmen, and farmers and practicing the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox faith. Many of these indentured servants had been bought from the Ottoman Empire by Turnball. With them came two priests, a secular priest from Menorca, Father Pedro Camps and a Spanish Augustinian, Father Bartolome Casanovas OSA. Only 1255 survived the horrendous voyage and when they arrived at the plantation in 1768 things didn't get much better. Besides the heat, insects, and disease, the Minorcans found palm-thatched mud huts for living quarters, little to no food or clothing, and unbearably long working hours. As the months passed many died and promised lodging was not built, to make matters worse they weren't allowed to plant crops or hunt, leading to mass starvation. In the first few years 450 died and many protested for better conditions but were met with cruel punishments including flogging. Through it all the Minorcans kept their Catholic Faith alive, many more converted to the faith, the two priests built a mud-hut Chapel and dedicated it to St. Peter. The two priests continuously catechized the people and preached every Sunday. Father Camps remained with the Minorcans and Father Casanovas often traveled to St. Augustine to say Mass for the Spanish families that remained and the Scottish and English Catholics that settled in Florida.
The British Governor granted a tolerance for the priests but in 1774, Father Casanovas was arrested and deported to Cuba by Turnbull for alleged insubordination to colony officials. In reality Father Casanovas had been reporting grievances to British officials but to no avail, as many had been bought off by Turnball. Turnbull warned Father Camps that speaking to the governor would cause him to suffer the fate of deportation. Father Camps became the sole catholic priest in all of East Florida. However, the same year father Casanovas was deported, Governor Patrick Tonyn assumed the office of East Florida, which meant Turnball lost his ally. In 1777, two Minorcans built a makeshift boat so they could get to St. Augustine but Instead of reaching St. Augustine, the two men were picked up by a British ship sailing to Baltimore. When they reached St. Augustine and met with the governor, he showed them great empathy for their plight. Governor Tonyn sent British regulars to Turnball's Plantation and took numerous written depositions. Governor Tonyn issued orders releasing the Minorcans from their contracts due to the mistreatment, which meant the virtual dissolution of the plantation. Turnbull gave these half starved people four days to get out of his plantation. They marched on foot, the women, children, and aged walked in the center while the men, armed with stakes, took up the flanks. Three days later they were in St. Augustine. When they had arrived in 1768 they numbered 1255 but by this time only about 600 reached St. Augustine which included children who had been born at the plantation. According to Father Camps 930 Minorcans, including infants and children, died at New Smyrna. Father Camps stayed behind with the sick and became a virtual prisoner of Turnbull. He was refused his salary which he received from the Office of the governor and was not allowed to say Mass, as his sacred vessels and vestments were all seized by Turnball. Father Camps was released under order of the Governor in November of 1777. In St Augustine he began a new parish dedicated to St. Peter, the only Catholic Church in East Florida at the time. Despite their slave-like treatment by Plantation owner Turnball, when the rebellion of 1776 came to Florida, the Minorcans chose the Royalist cause, to the suprise of Governor Tonyn. The Minorcans estbalished for themselves a volunteer Milita to fight the rebels from Georgia and the Carolinas. The Minorcans were mostly Catholic but Catholicism was not exculsive to just them. In 1784, when the British withdrew from East Florida, according to Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 37, Issue 1, there was 1992 adults living in St. Augustine, of whom 445 were Catholic Minorcans and 35 were land owning British or scottish Catholics. This means 25% of the capital of the East Florida Colony was Catholic. This percentage is larger than any other colony besides Quebec and some in the Caribbean. This inlcudes Maryland who had a massive population of Catholics including 15,000 adults and 9,000 slaves but only consisted in 10% of the total population. Many of these Florida Catholics were notable figures such as Sie John Gordon, a wealty Catholic englihsmen who attempted to buy the San Augustin parish and actually bought the old Spanish rectory but was refunded by the government because the Anglican Church claimed it as part of the parish property. Regardless, Sir Gordon hosted the majority of Masses on his estate. This was not an isolated case of Catholics choosing the loyalist side either. Besides the French Catholics in Quebec, another notable story is that of Sir William Johnson, the British superintendent of Indian affair, who settled the Mohawk valley of New York. Within his estates lived many Scottish and Irish Catholics, including an Irish priest Father John Mckelly. However in the winter of 1776, the rebels expelled Sir Johnson and the Irish, due to their Loyalism, forcing them to march to Montreal. On the long March many of their women, children, and elderly died due to the harsh conditions, including a number of pregnant women. Once there, many of the men volunteered and became a regiment within the Royal Highland Emigrants Unit. These men returned in 1777 to New York to raids in retaliation and with them was Father McKelly, as a commissioned Chaplain. The first officially commissioned Priest to serve the British army since 1588. While it would be a lie to say Catholics weren’t fighting the British empire and aiding the rebellion, as is the case with Spain and France, much of that was too weaken Britain and regain lost territory. When the continental Congress thanked Governor Bernardo Galvez for his operations against the British in recapturing West Florida and the Bahamas from Britain, they said of his operations: “disinterested conduct towards these states". However in the Anglo sphere it can be said that Catholics were largely against the revolution. This was mainly because the revolution was against them and the Church. In 1774, in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress condemned Catholic life as one of the Intolerable Acts: “establishing the Roman Catholic religion in the Province of Quebec, abolishing the equitable system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there.” This was nothing new, only 5 of the 13 colonies tolerated Catholcism, Georgia boasted a "relgious tolerance" for all ”Christian” denominations except Catholicism. This hatred of Cathoslcism, personifed by the relatioshhip between the rebels and the French Quebec, found it's way into the US Declaration of Indepedence. We read in the Declaration of indpedence: "Abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government..."This is a direct refrence to the siutation with French Quebec but why was there such a hatred twoards Quebec if Cathcolism was atleast tolerated in a few colonies? The answer lies in this, Catholcism is not the enemy of the Revolution, Catholic life is. Catholics living in Pennysvnnia or North Carolina moved there as immgrants and existed within English rule. Maryland was defeated, by 1688 there were no public Churches and laws were passed to ensure the only Catholic colony was governed by non-catholics. However, the Quebec act of 1774, meant the Crown allowed the French Catholics of Quebec to run things as they did since the colony was founded. As long as the Freemason and Protestant oligarchs controlled the culture and ruled, they did not care what Church you went too. The perfect environment for Bishop Caroll and his private faith. Priests are pillars of society in Christendom, as seen by Father Camps of St. Augustine, this face is incompatible with the Sentimenrs of the US revolution. After all as founding father Thomas jefferson said: “All priests are the enemies of true liberty [4].” It doesnt take a theologian to understand that the United States was established on the ideals of liberalism, a heresy repeatedly condmend by the Church. The errors found in the declaration of Indpedance and US constitution are against Catholic soicety and the teachings of our Lord Jesus. Finally, we can learn from the example of the Loyaist Minorcans of Florida, one which ties back into Americanism. Americanism finds its roots in the principles espoused by the US Revolution, Chief in error among them that authority comes from the natural law and not the supernatural, which directly contradicts Sacred scripture. “And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Matthew 28:18.” This of course comes from the teaching of the English Protestant John Locke, the spiritual father of the US ideals. His teachings on separation of Church and State, ecumenism , and his views on God Himself are all visible in the founding of our Republic. The US’ secular and spiritual identity is intertwined with these errors.
Hence we see Catholics, for the most part,
fighting against the revolution, not in favor of Britain but because it is our obligation to resist errors against Christ and his Church. This includes Liberalism, which is rooted into our government and nation. It is evident that by history that the Minorcans did not favor the British crown, the vast majority of them stayed in Florida when it was transferred back to Spain. They merely gave us an example of how a catholic people react to error.m, much like Quebec who fought off many attempts of the revolution to gain traction in Canada. Perhaps another angle of St. Thomas More’s famous saying: “I die the King’s good servant, and God’s first.” Again the United States did not merely adopt liberal principles or rewrite its identity, it was created by liberalism and there we find a thin line in upholding our obligations to God to both love our homeland and resting error. Let us confluence words of Holy Father, Pope Leo Leo XIII: “For it would give rise to the suspicion that there are among you some who conceive and would have the Church in America to be different from what it is in the rest of the world.
But the true church is one, as by unity of doctrine, so by unity of government, and she is catholic also. Since God has placed the center and foundation of unity in the chair of Blessed Peter, she is rightly called the Roman Church, for “where Peter is, there is the church.” Wherefore, if anybody wishes to be considered a real Catholic, he ought to be able to say from his heart the selfsame words which Jerome addressed to Pope Damasus: “I, acknowledging no other leader than Christ, am bound in fellowship with Your Holiness; that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that the church was built upon him as its rock, and that whosoever gathereth not with you, scattereth.
We having thought it fitting, beloved son, in view of your high office, that this letter should be addressed specially to you. It will also be our care to see that copies are sent to the bishops of the United States, testifying again that love by which we embrace your whole country, a country which in past times has done so much for the cause of religion, and which will by the Divine assistance continue to do still greater things. To you, and to all the faithful of America, we grant most lovingly, as a pledge of Divine assistance, our apostolic benediction.” Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, 22 January 1899.
Prayer for the Conversion of the United States.
O Mary, mother of mercy and refuge of sinners, we beseech thee,be pleased to look with pitiful eyes upon poor heretics and schismatics.
Thou who art the seat of wisdom, enlighten the minds that are miserably enfolded in the darkness of ignorance and sin, that they may clearly know that the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church is the one true Church of Jesus Christ, outside of which neither holiness nor salvation can be found.
Finish the work of their conversion by obtaining for them the grace to accept all the truths of our Holy Faith, and to submit themselves to the Supreme Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth; that so, being united with us in the sweet chains of divine charity, there may soon be one only fold under the same one Shepherd; and may we all, O glorious virgin, sing forever with exultation: Rejoice, O virgin Mary, thou only hast destroyed all heresies in the whole world.
Reference list.
Comments