When you think about Christopher Columbus, you probably picture a guy in a funny hat staring at the horizon or maybe a controversial figure who changed the map of the world forever. But if you really want to understand why he did what he did, you have to look at his head and his heart. People always ask, what was Christopher Columbus religion, thinking there’s a simple one-word answer. It’s not that easy.
He was Catholic. That’s the short version.
But saying he was "just a Catholic" is like saying the ocean is "just some water." It doesn't capture the intensity, the weirdness, or the apocalyptic vibes he carried with him. Columbus didn't just sail for gold or spice; he sailed because he thought the world was ending and he was the one chosen to save it.
The Official Story: A Devout Son of the Church
To the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus presented himself as a champion of the Cross. He lived in a time when the "Reconquista"—the Christian reclaiming of Spain from Muslim rule—had just finished. Religion wasn't a weekend hobby back then; it was the entire framework of existence.
Columbus was deeply pious. He prayed the Divine Office daily. He wore the habit of a Franciscan friar in his later years, choosing the rough cloth of a monk over the silk of an admiral. This wasn't a performance. Honestly, he seemed to believe he was literally "Christ-bearer," which is what his first name, Christopher (Christophorus), actually means.
He took that name seriously. Really seriously.
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The Book of Prophecies
If you want to see the real Christopher Columbus religion in action, you have to look at a weird manuscript he wrote called the Libro de las Profecías (Book of Prophecies). He compiled this between 1501 and 1502. It’s a messy collection of biblical texts and ancient poetry.
In it, he argues that his voyages weren't just about navigation. He believed he was fulfilling prophecies from the Book of Isaiah. He thought he was opening the way for the conversion of all races to Christianity, which he believed had to happen before the Second Coming of Christ. He calculated that the world only had about 155 years left.
Imagine sailing across an unknown abyss because you think the literal end of the world is on a countdown timer. That's a different level of motivation than just wanting to get rich.
The "Marrano" Theory: Was He Secretly Jewish?
Now, here is where things get spicy. For decades, historians like Salvador de Madariaga and Simon Wiesenthal (yes, the famous Nazi hunter) have argued that Columbus was actually a "Converso."
A Converso was a Jew who had converted to Catholicism to avoid persecution but might have been practicing Judaism in secret. This theory about what was Christopher Columbus religion is a rabbit hole that never quite ends.
- The Signature: Columbus had a cryptic, triangular signature that some scholars claim mimics a Hebrew prayer for the dead. He told his son to never reveal its meaning.
- The Timing: He delayed his departure in 1492 until the day after the deadline for Jews to leave Spain under the Edict of Expulsion.
- The Language: He wrote in Castilian Spanish, even to his brothers in Italy, which was common among Sephardic Jewish families.
- The Wills: In his will, he left money to a Jew who lived at the entrance of the Lisbon ghetto.
Is it a smoking gun? Not quite. Most mainstream historians, like Samuel Eliot Morison or the more recent Felipe Fernández-Armesto, find these clues interesting but not definitive. The reality is that a lot of people in 15th-century Spain had Jewish ancestry. It was a melting pot of hidden identities.
Messianic Ambitions and the Jerusalem Goal
One thing people often overlook is that Columbus wanted to fund a Crusade.
He didn't just want to find a shortcut to India. He wanted to use the gold from the "Indies" to pay for a massive army to retake Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire. He was obsessed with the Holy Sepulcher. In his mind, his religion was a tool for global restoration.
He saw himself as a "Messenger of the New Heaven," a role he described in a letter to the nurse of Prince John. He felt he was being guided by the Holy Spirit. This wasn't just a metaphor for him. He claimed to hear voices and receive divine revelations during storms.
The Conflict Between Faith and Actions
It’s hard to talk about the religion of Columbus without addressing the massive elephant in the room: how he treated the people he "discovered."
He claimed to be bringing the light of Christ to the Taino people, yet his administration of Hispaniola was brutal. Slavery, forced labor, and violence were rampant. This creates a massive paradox. How can a man who spends his nights reading the Bible spend his days enslaving people?
He justified it through a lens of "medieval mission." To Columbus, bringing people into the Catholic fold was more important than their physical freedom. It's a dark, uncomfortable reality of the era's theology. He believed that if they were "vassals" of the Spanish Crown, they could be saved.
His faith didn't make him a saint in the modern sense; it made him a zealot of his time.
A Fragmented Legacy
History isn't a neat line. It’s a tangle.
We know Columbus was a man of the Middle Ages living on the cusp of the Renaissance. His religion was a blend of medieval mysticism, apocalyptic dread, and rigid institutional Catholicism. Whether he had secret Jewish roots or was the ultimate Catholic crusader, his spirituality was the engine of his life.
He died in 1506 in Valladolid, still insisting he had reached Asia and still believing his discoveries were part of a divine plan. He was buried in a Franciscan habit, a final nod to the humble piety he tried—and often failed—to live up to.
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Actionable Insights for History Enthusiasts
If you're digging deeper into the religious motivations of explorers, stop looking at them through a 21st-century lens. It doesn't work. To truly understand what was Christopher Columbus religion, you need to look at the primary sources.
- Read the Book of Prophecies: Don't rely on summaries. Look at the verses Columbus chose. It reveals a man who was terrified and inspired by the Bible.
- Examine the 1492 Context: Research the Alhambra Decree. The expulsion of the Jews and the voyage of Columbus happened in the exact same window of time, which explains why the "Converso" theories exist.
- Visit the Archives: If you're ever in Seville, the Archivo General de Indias holds the original logs. Seeing his handwriting—and those strange signatures—changes how you view his "faith."
- Compare with Contemporary Explorers: Look at Vasco da Gama or Magellen. You'll see that while everyone was "religious," Columbus had a specific, apocalyptic flavor of faith that was unique even for his era.
Understanding Columbus's faith isn't about giving him a pass for his crimes or canonizing him as a hero. It’s about seeing the "why" behind the "what." He was a man driven by a desperate, end-of-the-world certainty that pushed him across an ocean he wasn't even sure ended.