and the holy cross we say
and the Lord of verity
and the holy trinity.
Blessed be the immortal soul
and the Lord who keeps it whole.
Blessed be the light of day
and he who sends the dark away.
— Christopher Columbus
(from George Grant's Christopher Columbus: The Last Crusader)
Christopher Columbus left his home in order to find (1) a source of gold in the unexplored West to help fund a crusade to take the holy back for Christendom, (2) an alternate route to flank the saracen, and (3) an opportunity to spread the Gospel to unexplored acres of God's creation and unreached peoples of God's handiwork.
The poem above is the prayer he offered to God upon making landfall after traversing the Atlantic. It is the dawn canticle of a man devoted to Christ and keeping the liturgical hours. Christopher Columbus was, as Dr. George Grant contends, the last crusader. He may not have been able to realize his desire to fund a crusade back to the holy land or find a route to outflank the hoardes of Mohammadan heathen, but he did pave a way for the Gospel to bridge the ocean.
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