from the Tallahassee Democrat, 3/7/06

While excavating the floor of an ancient mission church in Tallahassee, archaeologists expected to find only the bodies of the people believed buried beneath the church floor from 1656 to 1704. That’s when Mission San Luis was home to Apalachee Indians and Spanish friars, soldiers, and families.

According to one scientist, they were astonished to discover an intricately decorated cross, about three inches tall and carved from a single piece of crystal quartz. The cross is now an icon of the Catholic church.

The cross’s significance is that it appears to have been carved by an Apalachee Indian using Spanish tools. Experts say that makes it one of the earliest symbols of a merger between American Indian and European Christian cultures.

It is considered exceedingly rare for two other reasons. First, quartz crystal held special properties for Native Americans. To have a material that was traditionally sacred to the Apalachee tribe fashioned into a cross is highly unusual. Second, the marks on the cross indicate that it was created with a variety of tools. When the cross was discovered, archaeologists assumed it was a European-made artifact given to an Apalachee Indian. But in 1996, a Florida State biophysicist (go, ‘Noles!) examined it under a high-powered microscope and discovered marks made by both European tools and the more primitive boring tools used by the Apalachees.

God’s Unconditional love crosses ethnic and cultural boundaries, and we can learn much when we are willing to be open and inclusive.

Pastor Art