Traditionally 1621 was the year of the "first" American Thanksgiving, and was celebrated by Protestants, right? Well, that really depends upon your definition of America at that time.
Most Americans believe that following a terrible struggle trying to adjust to "The New Land" where Protestants (actually Separatists) escaping English religous laws had come, a Native American man named Squanto came out of the woods, taught them how to grow corn and capture the native wildlife for food. Several months later the settlers celebrated a feast of thanks to God, with the native peoples. While most of that is fairly accurate, it was not the first "Thanksgiving" celebrated in America.
The 1621 celebration of the harvest in Massachusettes which Americans think of as the 'First Thanksgiving' may actually be the fourth recorded one in what is now the United States, and the first non-Catholic one. The 1621 celebration was not even repeated the following year, or regularly after that until 1863, when President Lincoln declared the fourth Thursday of November "a day
of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the
heavens" (after Sarah Josephina Hale had written to several successive presidents for 16 years).
The first well known Thanksgiving in the US was held in 1621, and because the English speaking Native American known as Squanto had come out of the woods and helped the Separatists, they did not parish, as they surely would have without his guidance. That is widely known. What is not widely known is that Squato had a Catholic background. Squanto had been rescued by Spanish Franciscan Friars when he was about to be sold into slavery in Spain. The friars mostlikely baptised him, and taught him Catholicism. These same friars arranged for Squanto's passage to England (which would have been easier to get him to England if he was Catholic and also thanks to the papal bull "Sublimis Dei" by Pope Paul III that forbit any Catholic Government to enslave or mistreat "Indians" from the Americas). England is where Squanto learned the Separatists' language. Upon his return to America, after finding that his whole village has been decimated by disease and was dead, including his entire family, he stayed with a neighboring Wampanoag tribe who sent him to help the Seperatists. Divine Intervention? The Seperatist thought so, and it certainly seems to be.
Much less well known Catholic celebrations of Thanksgiving in what is now the United States, began as much as 80 years before the celebration in Massachusetts. On April 30, 1598, Don Juan de Oñate declared a day of Thanksgiving to be commemorated by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and a feast of thanksgiving in what is now modern-day Texas. Also in Texas there is a record of Fray Juan Padilla (of the expedition of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado) in May 1541, celebrating Holy Mass followed by a feast in either Palo Duro Canyon or Blanco Canyon, however, it may have been the Feast of the Assuption that they were actually celebrating there.
On September 8, 1565, Native Americans and Spanish settlers led by Spanish Adm. Pedro Menendez de Aviles and Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales celebrated the first Holy Mass, which was followed by a feast of thanksgiving, in St. Augustine Florida.
While Thanksgiving is not a Holy Day of Obligation, it just seems right that Catholics go to Mass on Thanksgiving. Remember that in Greek is
Eucharistia means thankfulness or the giving of thanks. The Eucharist, or the Body and Blood of
Christ are the true “Thanksgiving Meal”. And as you celebrate your Thanksgiving tomorrow remember that there are Catholic roots in the Traditional "Protestant" Thanksgiving that you learned about as a child, and share that knowledge with someone, a family member, a friend, or perhaps a new guest at your table.
If you are looking for a prayer for your Thanksgiving Celeberation, the following
Thanksgiving Prayer as well as a few others are available from American Catholic's
website.
This Thanksgiving let those of us who have much and those who have little gather at the welcoming table of the Lord. At this blessed feast, may rich and poor alike remember that we are called to serve one another and to walk together in God's gracious world. With thankful hearts we praise our God who like a loving parent denies us no good thing.
Amen
Did you know that there is a relatively new order called the Contemplatives of Saint. Joseph? There is and I am going to share some information about them.
