Father Fisher to Talk about the 1571 Spanish Jesuit Martyrs on November 19, 2024

Father Andrew Fisher, the pastor at Saint Ambrose Church in Annandale, will be speaking on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, at 7 p.m. in our Lyceum Auditorium, 313 Duke Street, on a subject he is very passionate about: the first preaching of the Gospel in Virginia: the 1571 Spanish Jesuit Martyrs of Virginia.

Here’s the back story: In September 1570, a small band of Spanish Jesuit missionaries arrived in Virginia to proclaim the Gospel. They built the first Christan Chapel in Virginia, celebrated the first recorded Mass and baptism, and were the first European settlement (37 years before Jamestown). But within a few months, all but one was killed. Following his rescue, the lone survivor told the story of these heroic martyrs and their attempt to evangelize the indigenous people of modern-day Virginia. Today these eight Jesuits martyrs are now included among a larger group of 59 martyrs known as the Martyrs of La Florida, whose cause of canonization is under consideration in Rome.

Click below to listen to a podcast of Father Fisher previewing his talk: