Columbus Day

Does Columbus Day still mean anything beyond better traffic in DC due to the federal holiday? In these days of political correctness, how long will the feds continue to get the day off?

I gave two of my daughters (second grade and kindergarten) a pop quiz to see if they knew who Christopher Columbus was. They passed with flying colors with the forgivable exception that the kindergartener thought that one of his ships was named "The Tina".

Years ago at a public rosary around the Washington Monument someone handed me a tract that claimed that Columbus' voyage was a prophecy that predicated the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in Mexico. The tract claimed that the ships' names were the key: Nina (girl), Pinta (paints), Santa Maria (St Mary).

This evening I did a little googling of these terms and, of course, found the theory repeated. I did find some other interesting facts. Did you know that:

It was in the Franciscan Friary of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, Spain that Columbus signed the contract with Queen Isabel to make his first voyage

A copy of Juan Diego's tilma with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was carried on one of the main ships in the battle of Lepanto