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The Ajacán Mission (Spanish pronunciation: [axaˈkan]) (also Axaca, Axacam, Iacan, Jacán, Xacan) was a failed attempt in 1570 to establish a Jesuit mission on the Virginia Peninsula. They intended to bring Christianity to the Virginia Indians. The effort to found what was to be called St. Mary's Mission predated the establishment of the English settlement at Jamestown by about 36 years. For related events see Timeline of the colonization of North America.
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Early in the 16th century, Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to see the Chesapeake Bay (which the Spanish called "Bahía de Madre de Dios".[1] or "Bahía de Santa Maria"[2]) while in search of the fabled Northwest Passage to India. They named the land now known as Virginia, as Ajacán ("Jacán" in Oré.[3])
The Spanish succeeded founding a colonial settlement in the New World in 1565 at St. Augustine, Florida. It was the first founded by Europeans in what is now the United States. They established small Spanish outposts along the eastern coast into present-day Georgia and the Carolinas. The northern-most post was Santa Elena (today Port Royal, South Carolina). From there Juan Pardo was commissioned to lead expeditions into the interior, founding Fort San Juan in 1567-1568 at the regional chiefdom of Joara as the first European settlement in the interior of North America, in present-day western North Carolina.
In 1561, an expedition sent by Ángel de Villafañe captured a Virginia Indian boy along Chesapeake Bay and took him to Mexico.[4][5] The boy was instructed in the Catholic religion and baptized Don Luis, in honor of Luis de Velasco, the Viceroy of New Spain. The Spanish took the Indian youth to Madrid, Spain, where he had an audience with the King. He received a thorough Jesuit education. Don Luis traveled to Havana with some Dominicans who were headed for Florida as missionaries, but the Dominicans abandoned their plans for Florida.[6]
In 1570, Father Juan Bautista de Segura, Jesuit vice provincial of Havana, had just withdrawn the Jesuit missionaries from Guale and Santa Elena,[6] and wanted to establish a mission in Ajacán without a military garrison, which was unusual. Despite his superiors' concerns, they gave him permission to found what was to be called St. Mary's Mission.
In August 1570, Father Segura, Father Luis de Quirós, former head of the Jesuit college among the Moors in Spain, and six Jesuit brothers set forth from their base in Havana on their Ajacán Mission. The young Spanish boy Alonso de Olmos, called Aloncito, also accompanied the priests. Don Luis served as their guide and interpreter. They stopped partway at Santa Elena for provisioning. On September 10, the party of 10 landed in Ajacán.[7]
Some say that the location they chose was at Queen's Creek on the north side of the Virginia Peninsula, near the York River. Recent findings suggest that St. Mary's Mission may have been in the village of Axacam on the New Kent side of Diascund Creek, near its confluence with the Chickahominy River.[8] Others speculate that the location was on the Delaware Bay.
Don Luis attempted to locate his native village of Chiskiack, which he had not seen in ten years. In the same general area, the Spaniards constructed a small wooden hut with an adjoining room where Mass could be celebrated. Soon after the Spanish ship had departed, Don Luis left the Jesuits, purportedly to seek food. Rather than returning, he rejoined his own people and reportedly resumed his traditional practices.
Another theory places the Jesuit Mission at Aquia Creek, in Patawomeck territory. On October 27, 1935, a bronze tablet was unveiled in their memory at the Aquia Catholic cemetery, listing the names of the slain: "Luis De Quiros, Priest, Baptistan Mendez and Gabriel De Solis, Scholastics, on February 4, 1571. Juan Baptista De Segura, Priest, Cristobel Redondo, Scholastic, Padro Linarez, Gabriel Gomez and Sancho Zeballos, Brothers, February 9, 1571...".
The small band of Jesuits realized that they had been abandoned by Don Luis. The mid-Atlantic region was enduring a long period of famine due to drought conditions. The food they brought with them was in short supply. Immediately they had to depend on Virginia Indians for food.
They successfully traded with some natives for food, but it was increasingly in short supply as the winter months set in. Around February 1571, Don Luis returned with other natives and stole all their clothing and supplies. The natives killed both the priests and all six brothers. Only Alonso, the young servant boy, was spared. Escaping, the young boy made his way to a rival native chief, who lived close to the main coast on the Chesapeake Bay. There he waited until a relief expedition arrived in 1572.
More than a year after the massacre, men from a Spanish supply ship found and rescued Alonso. He gave the only survivor's account of the events. In August 1572, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived from Florida to take revenge for the massacre.[9] His forces never discovered Don Luis, but the Spanish hanged eight other Indians accused of murdering the missionaries.
Following the death of Father Segura and his companions, the Jesuits were recalled from St. Augustine and sent to Mexico. In 1573, governor of Spanish Florida, Pedro Menéndez de Márquez conducted further exploration of the Chesapeake.[10] However, the failed attempt to establish a mission in Virginia effectively spelled the end of Spanish ventures to colonize the area.
In 2002, the Richmond Diocese of the Catholic Church started seeking more recognition of the Spanish martyrs in Virginia. It "opened the cause for their canonization."[8] The diocese has designated St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in New Kent County, Virginia as the new Shrine of the Jesuit Martyrs.[8]
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