His name meant “Christ-bearer,” but it’s fair to say that he often failed miserably to live up to that calling.  For as is often the case for many of us, it was after his triumphant success that he began to forget the God whom he had originally set out to serve, seduced instead by the allure of riches, prestige, and power.   

To be sure, if ever a man was good at what he did, it was Christopher.  In the words of Peter Marshall, Jr. and David Manuel, he was ideally suited for exploration and at his best when in command of a ship, “facing the challenge of uncharted waters and the mysteries of undiscovered lands.”  

And he was likewise tenacious, pursuing for many years what he believed to be a God-given mission to carry the Light of Christ to those who had yet to hear His sweet name.  As he wrote in his journal, the words of Isaiah 49 summarized his calling: “Listen to me, o coastlands, and hearken, ye peoples from afar… I will make you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach the end of the earth.”

Thus, even when he was turned down by numerous royal houses in Europe, he continued to seek a sponsor for his expedition until finally finding two such individuals who had a fervent faith of their own.  For in appreciation for their victory over the invading Moors, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to underwrite his journey as a way of showing gratitude to the Lord for His help.  Indeed, what better way could there be than to help discover new lands for the glory of God and to spread the gospel to the edges of the earth?

Early on the morning of August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus thus knelt on the dock to receive communion before rowing out to the ship where his crew awaited.  And at first, it could not have gone any better.  But as they sailed farther and farther out into waters that no man had ever seen before, the crew began to lose confidence in their captain.  Those on the two other boats in the convoy, in fact, threatened outright mutiny until a tenuous deal was struck:  three days more, and if no land was sighted, they would turn back.

As Marshall and Manuel tell the story in The Light and the Glory, Columbus must have prayed then as he had never prayed before.  And incredibly enough, the first day the three ships set an amazing pace, sailing so fast that the men aboard became even more concerned.  The ships seemed almost to be racing one another, and even elected to sail into the darkness of the night.  Until at two a.m. with less than four hours remaining before the dawn of the third and final day, the cry rang out: “Tierra!  Tierra!”  Land!

Still thinking he had reached the Orient, Christopher Columbus had no idea, of course, that he had actually stumbled upon what he called San Salvador in the Bahamas.  When they landed and went ashore, however, led by Columbus, the first thing they did was to bow their heads and pray, that God’s holy Name might be proclaimed “in this second part of the earth.”  And when the shy inhabitants of the island came forth, Columbus recorded that he knew “that they were a people to be delivered and converted to our holy faith rather by love than by force.”

Unfortunately, of course, in successive encounters, his eyes tainted by the prospect of gold and riches, Columbus failed to remember that resolve.  And the tragic result was that in just a few years, one third of the 300,000 inhabitants of Hispaniola, where Columbus also visited, had died or been killed by fortune-hunters who came from Spain and elsewhere.  It’s understandable thus why some today might not wish to honor the Admiral of the Oceans whose exploration unfortunately opened up the New World not just to the gospel but to the greed and cruelty of others, too.

In the end, however, I rather believe that though Columbus may have turned away from God for a long while, God never turned away from Columbus.  When he died at the age of just 55, thus, just after receiving the sacraments once more, Christopher Columbus hopefully remembered the faithfulness of his Savior and of kneeling with the King and Queen of Spain after his first return from the Americas, where together they sang the praises of God with tears falling down their faces.  

And without excusing all the rest of the story, maybe that is what we might remember on this Columbus Day about the “Christ-bearer.”  For though we may not be sailing into vast unknown waters as that Genoese navigator long ago so courageously did, there are clearly troubled currents in the world today that challenge us, too.  And to all those around us, could it be that we have been called to boldly bear the name of Christ as well?