On September 8, 1565 a small band of Spaniards celebrated Mass on the shores of North Florida in preparation for starting a settlement there. They named their new home St. Augustine in honor of the saint on whose feast day they sighted land. Thus were the seeds of Christianity first sown in North America.

It is here our story begins. It is a story that takes place 55 years before the landing of the Puritan Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, 40 years before the British settled the colony of Jamestown, and more than 210 years before the American Revolution. It is a story filled with well-known names of men and women, clergy and religious, who shaped the Catholic history of "La Florida." St. Augustine is the site of the first permanent parish church, now the Cathedral-Basilica.

The famed Santa Fe Trail originated here. It was from here that Franciscan missionaries began the trek North and West to proclaim the Good News. It was here that the first schools and hospitals were opened. It was not until March 11, 1870 that Florida, east of the Apalachicola River, was designated as the Diocese of Saint Augustine. The growth of the church in Florida from this Mother Diocese to six additional dioceses and more than 2,000,000 Catholics is a significant part of the story of the Catholic Church in the United States.

Today, the Diocese of Saint Augustine embraces 17 counties spanning the northeast section of Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. It covers 11,032 square miles and serves about 143,000 registered Catholics.