Faith
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On Pentecost Sunday, May 26, 1539, Hernando de Soto sailed into Tampa Bay and named it “Bahia Espiritu Santo” (Holy Spirit Bay). A decade later, it is believed that the Dominican missionary Father Luis de Cancer was martyred nearby after spending 6 weeks in the area in an attempt to spread the Gospel among the native peoples. Twenty years later, St. Augustine founder Pedro Menendez de Aviles came here with a fleet of ships, leaving a captain, 30 soldiers, and a Jesuit priest who erected a chapel with the intention of ministering to the native Tocabaga. The mission had to be abandoned within a few years because of hostility and distance. Nearly 400 years later, the present parish was established on this knoll overlooking Old Tampa Bay, close to the site of the ancient Spanish mission on Bahia Espiritu Santo.
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Safety Harbor, Florida · United States
