Old Saint Augustine

Seitenzahl:

100

Gewicht:

159 g

Erschienen bei:

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Kurzbeschreibung

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: III. THE COMING OF MENENDEZ. pN San Pedro's Day, June 29th, 1565, with royal commission and Papal blessing, Menendez set sail from Cadiz. He commanded a fleet of thirty- four vessels and a company of 2,600 men, knights of Biscay and the Asturias, soldiers, seamen, Franciscans, Jesuits and negro slaves. In mid-ocean the ships were overtaken and scattered by a furious tempest; but the expedition, bent on a holy mission, was under divine protection. So reasoned Menendez, and his courage did not falter. Again and again during the voyage, signal manifestations of the heavenly approval were granted them. Once, overcome by terror in the storm, the pilots lost their reckoning and knew not which way to steer, but divine guidance led them to their course again. When they were becalmed, writes Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, chaplain of the expedition, God in answer to their prayers sent them speedy winds again; and Providence ordained that they should come to dangerous shoals in the daytime, that so being aware of their peril they might pass in safety. Again, inthe Bahama Channel the Admiral's galleon, the San Palayo, struck upon a reef, the waters rushed into the hold, the sailors gave themselves up for lost, and the ship must surely have perished, had not the Holy Another in quick response to their supplications sent two heavy waves, which lifted the San Palayo and bore her safely off into deep water again. Yet once more came a token from above. The fleet lay idly drifting on a glassy sea, the captains grew disheartened and the crews began loudly to murmur, when, writes Mendoza, "God showed us a miracle from on high;" for in the night a great meteor blazed out in mid-heaven, and sweeping on before them, its brightness lasting while one might repeat two Credos, sank toward...

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Mehr von:  Charles Bingham Reynolds, Cambridge Scholars Publishing