Catholics at Jamestown

A spring-break trip to historical sites gave Marya Hayes and her family new insight into the history of Catholicism in the colonial US.

For spring break we took our boys to Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown, Virginia. We toured a few museums, and at Jamestown I noted some Catholic religious objects in the museum. I was surprised to see these objects since this settlement was known to have been anti-Catholic.

In 1997 many noly Catholic objects were found at Jamestown, including crucifixes, rosary beads, and medallions. Jet crucifixes, such as this one found in 2007, prove Catholics were among the settlers from the very start -- and one of them became the first person executed in Virginia.

The jet crucifix found in an excavation called Pit 3, (not pictured here) bears three figures: the body of Christ beneath a horizontal plaque, a praying woman (probably Mary), and what appears to be a death’s head above crossed bones. The death’s head was used to describe immortality in the 15th-17th Centuries.

In August of 2015 another discovery was made: a box was buried with Captain Gabriel Archer after his death between 1608 and 1616. Captain Gabriel Archer was one of the most prominent leaders at Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America. That box appears to be a Catholic reliquary.

After a CT Scan was performed, forensic historians were able to identify shards of bone and the lead ampulla inside. Clearly this was a Catholic relic, as the ampule would have held blood, holy water, or holy oil. He was buried in a hexagon wooden coffin with his head pointing east. This was usually the sign of a cleric. He might have been a Catholic priest.

The majority of the first settlers there were mostly members of the Church of England, and Jamestown was fundamentally anti-Catholic. There was also much fear about the Catholic Spaniards coming to invade. There is the possibility that this person was outwardly an Anglican, but secretly a Catholic. Possibly Archer was part of a secret, hiding sect of Catholics. He probably attended Anglican services, and possibly Catholic services as well. By doing this he would avoid the fines for not attending Anglican services. However, neither religion liked these types of people because they felt they weren’t being true Anglicans, or true Catholics.

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Maybe there were more secret Catholics than we are even aware of in those early days of colonial America. #catholicmom

Other Catholics in the early days of the British colonial North America included English gentry, Jesuit priests, Irish field hands, maids and African slaves, among others. Maybe there were more secret Catholics than we are even aware of in those early days of colonial America.

Copyright 2021 Marya Hayes
Images copyright 2021 Marya Hayes. All rights reserved.