As the cause for Martyrs of La Florida Missions, Antonio Inija and 57 companions moves forward, it should be noted that five of the martyrs, including the first Native American martyrs, died during an incident within the bounds of the Diocese of Venice.
Lynn Mangan, Vice Postulator for the Cause for La Florida Martyrs, said the “beautiful martyrdom event that took place in the fall of 1696 near or in the Diocese of Venice. The exact location has not been identified by archaeologists. There are five proposed martyrs, Servants of God, in this event, who, along with the other Martyrs of La Florida, are under review in the Roman Phase by the Dicastery of the Causes of Saints.”
Mangan said of the five martyrs, sadly, only the name of the priest is known today, Father Luis Sanchez, a Franciscan friar.
“Although we do not know the names of these four indigenous martyrs, their stories are known and treasured. Their sacrifice was extraordinary and their gift was no less than that of Father Sanchez,” Mangan said.
The perpetrators of the martyrdom event, like the others of La Florida, wanted to stop the Catholic Faith from being planted and growing in the region.
Father Sanchez was a Franciscan missionary born in Havana, Cuba, in 1661. Father was aware of the risks of ministering in a territory that had few baptized Christians yet volunteered to go with great charity to love the native people, Mangan explained.
Serving among the native Myakka people in an area then known as the Joror region of Florida, south of Orlando near the headwaters of the Kissimmee River, far from the protection of the Spanish in St. Augustine, Father Sanchez endeared himself to people of the area. Not all indigenous people were so receptive.
Oct. 9, 1696, a group of natives from a nearby village attacked Father Sanchez as he was preparing for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with a native sacristan and altar boy, a young cacique (chief) from the town of Aypaja in the Jororo province. The natives were told to denounce their faith under threat of killing Father Sanchez, but they refused. As they were beaten to death, Father absolved them of their sins.
Father Sanchez was then killed, and the assailants tore his bloody habit to pieces. His parishioners came to the site and wept at the loss of their beloved pastor.
A few weeks later, following the martyrdom of Father Sanchez and the two Jororo natives, another revolt would claim the lives of two more indigenous men. They were men of the Guale tribe who traveled on foot approximately 300 miles through the winding paths of Florida’s wilderness from about 125 miles north of St. Augustine in what was at least a 19-day journey. All this to evangelize the indigenous people of these lands of central Florida where so few had heard the Good News.
The details of the martyrdom are available thanks to the journal of a witness, a Quaker named Johnathan Dickinson. Mangan added that one of the assailants who killed the martyrs, before dying of natural causes, requested baptism before his death.
“The Native Americans in this event are the first recorded Native American martyrs in our country,” Mangan said. “Father Sanchez’s martyrdom is honored in a beautiful mural in the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami.”
The cause for Martyrs of La Florida Missions, Antonio Inija and 57 companions, was initiated through the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in 2015 and has been researched as a part of Florida’s Catholic history dating back more than three centuries. The research covers a period from 1549 to 1715 and includes nine Dioceses united in the cause. The martyrdom of the 58 individuals spanned 14 different events. Most were lay people, most Native Americans – as well as priests and brothers from different religious orders. Even an unbron child is listed among the martyrs, and if beatified, will be the first unborn saint. Eight volumes of research have been presented to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in Rome and is currently under consideration.
To learn more about the Martyrs of La Florida Missions, Antonio Inija and the 57 companions, please visit https://www.martyrsoflafloridamissions.org/.
