The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-02-08
THE MOTHER SEE OF THE
CHURCH IN THE NEW
WORLD.

AL CNCAG VI IlO1C GIlOI OIu1udI y
Importance to the Church not only
in the United States but also
throughout the Western world
will be commemerated on the
twenty-third of this month. On
that day there will be held in the
Cathedral Of St. John the Baptist
in the city of San Juan, Porto
Rico, a solemn religious celebra-
ton in honor of the four hundreth
anniversary Of the founding of the
Diocese Of Porto Rico and the
landing of the first Bishop on what
is now American territory.
This event carries us back al
most to the beginning Of our his
tory. The Diocese of Porto Rico
was erected by Pope Julius III, on
August s, 1911, less than score
of years after the epoch-making
discovery of Christopher Column
bus, and more than a century be-
fore the Pilgrim Fathers set foot
on the Eastern seaboard. The
establishment Of the Diocese of
Porto Rico four hundred years ago
shows the solicitude of the Catho-
lie Church for the spiritual well
fare of the aboriginal inhabitants
of the New World, and her desire
to promote the missionary activ-
ity of the jealous priests who were
the first to offer up the homage
Of this newly-discovered land to
the Eternal God. The first Bishop
of this Mother See of the Cath
Ollie Church in the Western Henri
sphere was the Right Reverend
Alonzo Manzo, Of Salamanca,
Spain, who took possession of his
diocese in February, 1913.
"No small part did Porto Rico
play in the establishment Of Chris
tianity in this Western world, .
says the New Orleans Morning
Star" "The Island Of Borinquen,
as it was called, was first seen by
Columbus, November Is, 1893, on
his second voyage to the new
world. Columbus feet anchored
in the port near Aguadilla. A
monument erected in the fourth
century of the discovery, shows
where Columbus took possession
Of the Island in the name of his
sovereign. He called the island
San Juan, in honor of st. John the
Baptist. The first colonizer and
first governor Of the island was a
companion of Columbus, Juan
Ponce, surnamed de Leon, after
his birthplace In Spain. In 1905
he secured permission from Spain
to COLOMBO the island, and taking
with him fifty chosen men, on
August II he landed in the har-
Dor of San Juan, then unknown to
Europeans. He named the island
Puerto Rico on account of the
rich advantages it offered for col
onization and civilization. He
made special request to have a
party of priests assigned for his
assistance. He established the
first European settlement at Ca
para, now Pueblo Viejo. 1t re-
NAMED the capital Of the island
until it was officially transferred
to the present site of San Juan,
in 1919. On August s, 1911, Pope
Julius ii erected the first &c
clesiastical province in the New
World. comprising the Sees of
Santo Domingo and Conception de
La Vega, and the Island of San
Juan or Porto Rico. The new do
ceses were made suffragan to the
Diocese of Seville in Spain. Fa-
ther Alonzo Manzo, Canon of the
Cathedral of Salamanca. was ap-
pointed to the See of San Juan.
He took possession of the See two
years later, arriving in 1913, at a
time when there were only two
European settlements on the is
land, two hundred white people,
and some FIVE hundred native
Christians. He was the first Bish-
on m cof Foot IN +ho Now World