The historic site of Mission Nombre de Dios (in the Name of God) is where Pedro Menéndez de Aviles landed when he arrived at the area he later named St. Augustine.
Today it is home to a 208-foot stainless steel cross of Christianity and an 11-foot bronze statue of Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales to honor his role in the birth of Christianity. He was the Spanish diocesan priest who created an altar when Menéndez came ashore, then held a high cross and celebrated the nation’s first parish Mass.
St. Augustine is the first permanent Christian settlementUnited States.
Spanish colonists built the Chapel of Our Lady of La Leche to honor Nuestra Señora de la Leche (Our Lady of La Leche, or the Nursing Madonna). It was destroyed by the British then rebuilt and later restored.
The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche is a sacred place and the oldest shrine in the United States.
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