From The Times Colonist:
Newfoundland and Labrador’s top archeologist has revealed plans to search for the remains of a 510-year-old church on the western shore of Conception Bay
From The Times Colonist:
Newfoundland and Labrador’s top archeologist has revealed plans to search for the remains of a 510-year-old church on the western shore of Conception Bay
“…the discovery of North America’s earliest Christian settlement (Carbonear) would join the 1,000-year-old Viking site…” This statement assumes that there were no Christians prior to Cabot. I highly doubt this to be true.
While the Vikings were visiting Newfoundland, they were nearing the end of a transition from being pagan to Christian. Many historians believe that it is very likely that Newfoundland Vikings were Christians, at least in part, and carried out Christian rituals in Newfoundland about 500 years before Cabot. As a result, there is a replica Viking Christian Church built in at the L’Anse-aux-Meadows site.
There are also legends that say Saint Brendan, an Irish Monk famous for sailing the North Atlantic, with a group of fellow monks discovered Newfoundland about 500 years before the Vikings. While evidence is scare, evidence of the Vikings was scare for centuries. In the 1970s an adventurer sailed from Ireland to Newfoundland using tools available in about 500. How long they stayed is in question.
There are other claims to the discovery of Newfoundland made by other Christians. These include explorers from Wales, Portugal, Spain, France (the Basque), Scotland, and England (other than Cabot). These claims range from the 1100s to 1400s. All of these would have been Christian.
I guess if any of the others actually made it to Newfoundland, Cabot just had the best “Public Relations and Media Campaign” of them all.
The above statement in question also rules out Christopher Columbus who was a Christian and discovered North America 5 years before John Cabot.
I guess that one of the legs of the statement is how the word “settlement” is defined. I understand that the (Christian) Vikings and post-Cabot “settlers” did not winter in Newfoundland. Therefore, if Saint Brendan, or any of the others actually arrived, stayed a little while, they could be called Christian settlers in Christians settlements.
The other leg of the statement is how the word “Christian” is defined. If any of the explorers before John Cabot converted any of the local native population, they should be considered Christians and factored into the above statement. Since explorers did their jobs for God, King, and Self, it is highly likely they engage in some missionary activity, even if only informally and unorganized.
I should note that in this sense the words “Christian” and “Catholic” are interchangeable. The Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ Himself about 2000 years ago. The only Christian Church to exist prior to some Protestants choosing to make their own rules and churches was the Catholic Church. The exception being the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe stated as a branch of Catholicism in 1054, but this does not apply to the Western Europe explorers. The Protestant Deformation did not happen until after North America was discovered.
But, I still applaud this academic team for