The topic of Christian evangelization in the Americas is enormous. When studying the history of Hispanic America, the oldest documents one encounters often refer to La Española (the Dominican Republic) and San Juan Bautista (Puerto Rico).
There is a two-volume book series titled Hechos de los Apóstoles de América (Acts of the Apostles of America), written by Padre José María Iraburu, which will soon be available in English. These books document the history of the great Franciscan, Carmelite, Dominican, Mercedarian, and Jesuit missionaries who evangelized these lands.
In terms of the Catholic faith, when you get right down to it, we are like the older brothers to the rest of Hispanic America. Evangelization reached us very early, and many Blessed martyrs passed through here. For example, San Junípero Serra evangelized in San Juan before moving to California, and Fray Jerónimo de Angeli preached here before being martyred in Japan. The history of the Catholic Church in San Juan is remarkable. We never had grand cathedrals—they were destroyed and rebuilt multiple times after English and Dutch invasions, but the Christian history is incredible.
There was an institution called the Patronato Real (Royal Patronage), a historical agreement between the Spanish Crown and the Papacy that granted the monarchy extensive control over ecclesiastical appointments and Church administration. In San Juan, all clergy were appointed by the Spanish monarchy. In my opinion, after the Spanish-American War, one of Washington’s mistakes was expelling all the clergy from San Juan. They didn’t need to do that. The churches were left without priests, yet Catholic Christianity survived because the people kept celebrating feast days and processions. Protestant missionaries arrived, but Catholicism remained dominant. The Church adapted by preserving Spanish traditions while gradually incorporating American influences.
Religion has always been—and will remain—a point of friction in San Juan. Catholics here are like Sylvester watching the canary. What I’m about to tell you can be found in Constitutional History of San Juan Bautista, a five-volume series history written by José Trías Monge, Chief Justice from 1974 to 1985. A Harvard and Yale graduate fluent in Greek and Latin, Trías Monge documented how, after World War II, the United States decided San Juan should have a constitution with self-government. During the constitutional debates, all political sectors in San Juan unanimously agreed that Catholicism would be the official state religion—meaning every boy and girl would receive a Catholic education from the state. Only a small group of Protestants in the assembly opposed this—the same people who now claim the apocalypse is imminent and that we must aid Israel. Although the author doesn’t mention this, I think there was also Masonic influence.
Legal-minded individuals might think this was impossible due to the “separation of church and state” in the U.S. Constitution, and that any such provision would never be ratified by Congress. True—but the delegates in San Juan’s constitutional assembly knew this. For them, it was a matter of principle. They were willing to fight Washington, even if the constitution was rejected. They wanted to plant that Easter egg, so to speak, as good Catholics.
The result? A secularized population with no Christian unity or shared virtues—a colossal cosmological error, in my view. San Juan has never truly been a secular state. As Catholics, we had to appoint two former Vatican canon lawyers to represent us in the Senate and House of Representatives. Secularists in San Juan call them “The Inquisition Ladies.” They had it coming—this secularized, John Locke-inspired “noble savage” Enlightenment and Protestant Reformation nonsense has gone too far. No virtues, just secularized Calvinism and Enlightenment absurdity. I want sealed Catholics leading me—not just nominal Catholics, but those with all sacraments in order, including Confession. If someone won’t go to a priest and confess their sins before God, they have no business leading. That’s the mindset in San Juan. Again, we Catholics have been force into this because of the secularized retarderies. We were taught since childhood to avoid ideologies because they all crumble. We must treat them as the Orthodox treat philosophy: always subordinate to Christian theology.