The Ajacán Mission () (also Axaca, Axacam, Iacan, Jacán, Xacan) was a Spanish attempt in 1570 to establish a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

mission in the vicinity of the Virginia Peninsula to bring Christianity to the Virginia Native Americans. The effort to found St. Mary's Mission predated the founding of the English settlement at

Jamestown, Virginia The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...

, by about 36 years. In February 1571, the entire party was massacred by Indians, except for Alonso de Olmos. The following year, a Spanish party from Florida went to the area, rescued Alonso, and killed several Indians.

Spanish exploration

Early in the 16th century, Spanish explorers were the first recorded Europeans to see the mouth of the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

, which the Spanish called ''Bahía de Madre de Dios'' or ''Bahía de Santa Maria.'' They were searching for a

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...

to India, and they named the land ''Ajacán'', also called "Jacán" by Luis Jerónimo de Oré. The Spanish succeeded in founding a stable settlement in 1565 at St. Augustine, Florida, the first founded by Europeans in what would become the United States of America. In 1566, they established a military outpost and the first Jesuit mission in Florida on an island near Mound Key, called San Antonio de Carlos. They subsequently established small Spanish outposts along the eastern coast into Georgia and the Carolinas, the northernmost at '' Santa Elena'' on an island off Port Royal, South Carolina. From there, Juan Pardo was commissioned to lead expeditions into the interior looking for a route to Mexican silver mines. He founded Fort San Juan in 1567–68 at the regional chiefdom of

Joara Joara was a large Native American settlement, a regional chiefdom of the Mississippian culture, located in what is now Burke County, North Carolina, about 300 miles from the Atlantic coast in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Joara is n ...

as the first European settlement in the interior of North America in western North Carolina and five other interior garrisons. In 1561, an expedition sent by Ángel de Villafañe kidnapped an Indian boy from the Chesapeake Bay region and took him to Mexico. The boy was instructed in the Catholic religion and baptized Don Luis, in honor of Luís de Velasco, the Viceroy of New Spain. The Spanish took him to Madrid, Spain, where he had an audience with the King and received a thorough

education. Some Dominicans heading for Florida as missionaries took Don Luis with them, stopping at Havana where they abandoned their plans for Florida.Lowery:360

Mission

In 1570, Father Juan Bautista de Segura was the Jesuit vice provincial of

Havana, Cuba Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Guale and Santa Elena. He wanted to found a mission in Ajacán without a military garrison, which was unusual. His superiors expressed concerns but permitted him to establish what was to be called St. Mary's Mission. In August, he set out with Father Luis de Quirós, former head of the Jesuit college among the Moors in Spain, six Jesuit brothers. A Spanish boy named Alonso de Olmos called ''Aloncito''. Don Luis went with them to serve as their guide and interpreter. They stopped at Santa Elena for provisioning. On September 10, the party landed in Ajacán on the north shore of one of the lower Chesapeake peninsulas. Lowery on page 471 lists the "scant evidence" that exists as to the precise location of the 1570 mission, declaring that it could have been on any of the southern Chesapeake tributaries. They constructed a small wooden hut with an adjoining room where Mass could be celebrated.

Location undetermined

Historians have tried to determine the Ajacán Mission site, but no archeological evidence has been found to reach a firm conclusion. Some say that the location was at Queen's Creek on the north side of the Virginia Peninsula, near the York River. Recent findings suggest that it may have been in the village of ''Axacam'' on the New Kent side of Diascund Creek, near its confluence with the Chickahominy River. Another theory places St. Mary's Mission near the Occoquan River and

Aquia Creek Aquia Creek () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the tidal segment of the Potomac River and is located in Northern Virginia. The creek's ...

, in the territory of the Patawomeck tribe in

Stafford County, Virginia Stafford County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is approximately south of Washington, D.C. It is part of the Northern Virginia region, and the D.C area. It is one of the fastest-growing and highest-income counties in ...

. On October 27, 1935, a bronze tablet was unveiled at the Aquia Catholic cemetery in memory of the Jesuits, listing the slain's names. This site had a significant nearby Indian village, a navigable stream flowing from the north, and white cliffs. Stratford Hall also has white cliffs looming over the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

near its confluence with the Chesapeake Bay and the

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the enti ...

Abandonment and massacre

Don Luis tried to locate his native village of Chiskiack, which he had not seen in ten years. He was said to recognize distant relatives among the Indians onshore, so the missionaries disembarked. He soon left the Jesuits, settling with his own people at a distance of more than a day's travel. When he failed to return, the Jesuits believed that he had abandoned them. They were frightened to be without anyone who knew the language, although they could barter for some food. The mid-Atlantic region was enduring a long period of drought which led to a famine. Around February 1571, three missionaries went toward the village where they thought Don Luis was staying. Don Luis murdered them, then took other warriors to the main mission station where they killed the priests and the remaining six brothers, stealing their clothes and liturgical supplies. Only the young servant boy Alonso de Olmos was spared, and he was put under the care of a chief.

Aftermath and veneration

A Spanish supply ship went to the mission in 1572. Men came out in canoes dressed in clerical garb and tried to get them to land, then attacked. The Spaniards killed several people, and the captives told them about the young Spanish boy who survived. They exchanged some of their captives for Alonso, who told them about the mission brothers' massacre. Floridian Jesuit Missionary Father Juan Rogel wrote an account to his superior

Francis Borgia Francis Borgia (; ; 28 October 1510 – 30 September 1572) was a Spanish Jesuit priest. The great-grandson of both Pope Alexander VI and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, he was Duke of Gandía and a grandee of Spain. After the death of his w ...

, dated August 28, 1572. That month, Floridian Governor

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (; ; 15 February 1519 – 17 September 1574) was a Spanish admiral, explorer and conquistador from Avilés, in Asturias, Spain. He is notable for planning the first regular trans-oceanic convoys, which became known as ...

arrived with armed forces from Florida to avenge the massacre of the Spanish and hoping to capture Don Luis. His forces never discovered Don Luis, but forcibly baptized and hanged eight other people. The Spanish then abandoned plans for further activity in the region. Rogel noted that it was more densely settled than more southern areas of the East Coast and that the people lived in settlements."Letter of Juan Rogel to Francis Borgia"
, 28 August 1572, Virtual Jamestown Project, University of Virginia Library, accessed January 8, 2015 Remaining Jesuits were recalled from St. Augustine and sent to Mexico. In 1573, Spanish Florida's governor Pedro Menéndez de Márquez conducted further exploration of the Chesapeake Bay but did not attempt further colonization. In 1587, English settlers tried to establish a colony on Roanoke Island off the Virginia coast. Relief supplies were delayed for nearly three years when

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

attempted to invade England, and all available ships were pressed into service to repel the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, ) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat without previous naval ...

. A relief ship finally arrived, but the Roanoke colonists had disappeared. The English did not found Jamestown until 1607. The Martyrs have been declared Servants of God by the Catholic Church.National Catholic Register
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References

Bibliography

*Lowery, Woodbury. (1959) ''The Spanish Settlements within the Present Limits of the United States: Florida 1562–1574.'' Russell & Russell. *Oré, Luís Gerónimo de, O. F. M. Translated by Maynard Geiger, O. F. M. "The Martyrs of Florida." In David Hurst Thomas. (1991) Ed. ''Spanish Borderlands Sourcebooks 23: The Missions of Spanish Florida.'' Garland Publishing, Inc.