September 01, 2023
Priory Orlando
In 1565, Menendez landed at that spot and claimed the site for Spain and the Catholic Church. It was here that he knelt to kiss a wooden cross presented to him by Father Lopez who was chaplain of Menendez’s expedition and founding pastor of the parish of St. Augustine. A diocesan priest from Jerez de Frontera, Spain, he celebrated the first Mass in the new colony on Sept. 8, 1565.