Note 453 — Chapter II

The very name he bore had a divine significance, according to the fanciful interpretation of his son, Don Ferdinand Colon. For as the name Christopher, or Christophorus,—the Christ-bearer,—was bestowed upon the Saint who carried the Christ over deep waters at his own great peril, so had it fallen upon him, who was destined to discover a new world, “that those Indian nations might become citizens and inhabitants of the Church triumphant in heaven.” Nor less appropriate was the family name of Columbus, or Colomba,—a dove,—for him who showed “those people, who knew him not, which was God’s beloved Son, as the Holy Ghost did in the figure of a dove at Saint John’s baptism; and because he also carried the olive-branch and oil of baptism over the waters of the ocean like Noah’s dove, to denote the peace and union of these people with the Church, after they had been shut up in the ark of darkness and confusion.” Saint Christopher carrying Christ, appears as a vignette on Cosa’s chart.