Fray Alonso in La Florida, A.D. 1587
From the Poem From "La Florida" by Alonso Gregorio de Escobedo, OFM
A few decades after General Pedro Menéndez de Avilés established the city of St. Augustine, Florida, a group of Franciscan missionaries arrived to evangelize the natives.
The first notable group of these sons of St. Francis arrived in St. Augustine on September 29th, 1587. Among the 13 priests was Fr. Alonso Gregorio de Escobedo. Fr. Escobedo later wrote an epic poem called La Florida, detailing many of the missionary efforts of the Franciscans and the activities of the Spanish. I am not aware of a complete1 English translation of this important poem. A handwritten 16th century manuscript is held by the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
The 24th chapter of La Florida describes the arrival of the friars, their reception and commissioning by the governor2, and the beginning of Fr. Escobedo’s preaching in his assigned mission.
I have translated a short portion3 of that chapter below. Enjoy.
From La Florida, Chapter XXIV
Imitating St. Francis, we set our feet On the bare and dusty sand. We went straight to General Menéndez, Who received us with a bright countenance. We rejoiced to see his health, and he to see ours. Then the great Menéndez, as if he were An apostle of the Lord, spoke: “Franciscan fathers, since you have come So far from our home in the east to occupy This dry and poor nest, where the sun hides its red face, What I humbly ask of you is this: Preach to these indians of the West, Who have the devil as their friend, And God, Who made them, as their enemy.” The General finished speaking, and we kissed His hands for having thus preached to us. We all Professed that we would even die in this endeavor, Stripped of fear, and with daring hearts. We asked our good superior, the commissary To go ahead of us, and divide by lot The land for each friar, that we may begin To wage fierce war on the devil. The lot that fell to me was special. The pleasant place was called: Nombre de Dios, Named for Him Whose death gave death to death, True Man and God of highest renown, Who freed, with His strong arm, Many sons from the first man. For through deceit, the devil had closed The good door, and opened up a door of harm. The devil's cunning would have prevailed, Had not One risen in opposition. We all would have paid a high price For the bite of the apple… But I return to my point. Nombre was my mission And my village had an exceptional chief. He was a friend of the knowledge of the divine law, Which is sustenance and medicine for the soul. This sustenance is the reason the good Jesus gave the law, And for the good of the man who delights in it. If a man weeps for his sins, he is made worthy To vest in the royal livery of God: Brocade sewn with three fine threads, Cut to the measure of the man. Its fit Gives life, as the prophet gave life to the dead child. But my village was dead in idolatry! I grieved to see it. Terrible harm, It was held fast in the chain of ignorance for years. So I began to preach. “Satan did not reap another’s field; He struck one man directly, but, through deceit, all of us, Having himself worshipped as if he were Our God who governs the highest sphere. If the blind lead the blind, Grave harm will befall them: Deceitful mockery, disastrous play, By which they will remain forever condemned. Whoever follows Lucifer will fall into the fire. This is the reward he gives even his closest slaves, To whom the Eternal Lord will say: “Cursed of My Father, go into hell.” To the one who has scorned reason and lacks it, It is a just thing to give him a rest Where rest never was. Let his Unjust soul enjoy such a dwelling. The inferno is such a place, full of Horrible dread and crushing confusion. No better home is given to he who breaks The immaculate and holy law of God. “So tell me of your god, lost people! I want to know, so not to lose the thread Of my mission, for my purpose Will be reached without setback. From what god do you expect eternal life?” They quickly answered, “From the serpent.” “O venomous and savage creature,” I said, “You conquered Adam and now you kill the Indian!” O changing Adam, wandering pilgrim! Your wandering was the occasion for your fall, For not keeping the law of the good God, You became a murderer of yourself and others. Eating made you worthy of death, And unworthy of eternal life. You chose, by pleasure, to lose That which is gained through tribulations. O savage pleasure, filled with poison! Mortifying bite that caused all To taste the mortal venom, And condemned the soul to eternal death! O father Adam, in the pleasant orchard, A single commandment you did not keep; Rather, to please your consort, You gave us the sorrowful sentence of death. The state of innocence Adam lost, Lost for the sake of his Eve, At whose request he was defeated, Though he knew he would be made a murderer. He was foolhardy and bold and is now infamous on account Of that old original sin. Among his children there was not one That was not tainted of his fault, Whether emperor or haughty king, Or a poor ditch digger in rags. The holiest of earth was his captive, None remained free from sin, (Excepting her who gave vesture to the King of Glory) As is well known to all men. When a man is traitor to the King, His sons are reckoned traitors too, And as Adam went against the Lord of Heaven, All his own are transgressors. In that state, We live in misery without comfort, Subject to pains and punishment, That our father left us as an inheritance, Outside the garden's flaming sword. For breaking His commandment, Our infinite Lord did not excuse the crime Of Adam, who offended Him, Therefore he was expelled from the garden And from there, he walked in affliction, Clothed in the skins of animals That God slew for the two mortals. Three guilty ones are seen in this tangle: Adam, his wife, and the serpent, who Was sentenced on its belly to crawl, forever. Eve was henceforth, with toil and pain, to give birth, for not having been obedient. And Adam—that food would cost His sweat, and he would return to the dry dust. O mighty hand! Do you wish your creature, Which You made in Your likeness, To collapse on its center? Heavy and firm Is the sentence! This transformation is severe, For it has turned fortune into misfortune. So let the punishment come without delay! Since man is clothed with the borrowed garment of dust Let him, and his lineage, return to his rightful owner. By a direct lineage, we all inherit it Because a son is an heir of his father, And to terrible death we pay Tribute or toll or tax or charter. We walk in death’s current, With speed, to the appointed end; Miserable and sad, bitter and poor, Carrying a funeral shroud to clothe us. With it are clothed the king, the duke, the pope, The powerful count and marquis, The poor, the broken, the ditch digger, And the strong warlike soldiers. Death takes the robe and the pomp Of the bravest of men. She is the last friend in the sepulchre, While all the rest remain outside. Only what is well done remains with you. Death fights for, or against you. For good you will merit to be crowned, Clothed in honored with glory as your livery, And if you are evil, you will be damned Because you have a corrupt and ugly soul. All your deeds in death Follow you to a good or a bad doom. How blessed it will be when it is said to you, “Come, blessed of My Eternal Father!” And how contrary to that, when God curses The souls that go into hell. Let the Indian Who hates my teaching nonetheless hear it (Not mine, but that of Christ Eternal, Who said His “Follow Me”, to Matthew, “for I wish to see you as My disciple.”) "God has a great will to give you the light Of Faith, for He has sent it to your house! Leave the service of Lucifer. Serve my Lord, Who is Purifying Fire. Begin to stop your custom Of your many idolatries. Put an end to them, for I pledge To give you God as your friend."
The La Florida poem is an important monument of the history of my state, our nation, and the Faith. This poem is one that I hope to continue reading and studying for a while (the ANLE edition is 700+ pages).
This excerpt is one of multiple “sermon” sections in La Florida. My level of Spanish is not advanced enough for me to sense the nuances in Spanish poetry, but a few turns of phrase in this poem stood out as beautiful:
que con Su muerte dio muerte a la muerte
[Him] Who with His death gave death to death.
and the lines
y en el sepulcro amiga verdadera, que todos los demás se quedan fuera
which I have paraphrased:
[Death] is the last friend in the sepulchre, While all the rest remain outside.
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a like or a comment, and check out this post:
National Eucharistic Pilgrimage at St. Augustine: On Pentecost Sunday, May 24th, 2026, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage will begin at Misión Nombre de Dios, the very site that Fr. Escobedo was assigned to evangelize. It is just north of the main downtown of St. Augustine, Florida. There will be Mass in the morning, followed by many other events. You can find the schedule and details here or here. If you plan to attend and would like to meet up, please send me a direct message.
I have primarily consulted Dr. Alexandra Sununu’s modern Spanish edition of the manuscript: La Florida. Alonso Gregorio de Escobedo, published by ANLE, which includes normalization of spelling and formatting. The scholarly work that Dr. Sununu has done with this text is great, but sadly, her edition is out of print at the moment. I use her edition and publish this translation with permission. I have used LLMs for the base translation, and carefully reworked in many places for accuracy and poetic effect. Any errors or omissions in the translation are my own.
The governor in 1587 was Pedro Menéndez Marques: the nephew of the great Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, adelanto of La Florida
I have begun my translation from line 137 on page 510 of Dr. Sununu’s edition. La Florida is a rhyming poem. I have left the stanza structure, but have decided against attempting to render it into English verse, at least for this initial translation. My line “outside the garden’s flaming sword” in the 15th stanza is completely my novel insertion to keep the flow of the passage.