First Mass in Florida Celebrated at the Jungle Prada Site

A marker at the foot of the Jungle Pier commemorates the first Mass in Florida.

The inscription: 

First Mass in Florida 

April 16, 1528 

In April 1528, the Spanish explorer Panfilo de Narvaez arrived here with 5 ships and 600 men in a quest for gold and power. Also with him were those who sought to spread Christianity, including eight diocesan and five Franciscan priests. One of those priests, Fr. Juan Xuarez, OFM, had received an appointment as Bishop of Florida. A few days after their arrival, Fr. Xuarez celebrated Easter Mass ashore on the morning of April 16th. After another ten days in the area which included several violent encounters with the native Tocobaga peoples. Narvaez along with half of the crew (including 5 priests) headed north on land in what would prove to be an ill-fated expedition. Eight years later in 1536, a mere four survivors made it to Mexico.

The marker was placed by the Diocese of St. Petersburg.

There are Doubting Thomases

There is no written record of the Easter Mass. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, one of the four survivors of the 1528 Narváez expedition, wrote an account of the landing at the Jungle Prada Site and subsequent events. He made no mention of the Mass.

According to an article in the Catholic World Report, a Mass was "almost certainly" celebrated.

"Panfilo de Narvaez (including Alvar Nuñez Caveza De Vaca) put ashore ... on the Gulf Coast of Florida on Good Friday, April 10, 1528, and the landing party was resting at an evacuated Indian village there on Easter Sunday, where Franciscan priest Juan Suarez would almost certainly have celebrated Mass." 

‒ Catholic World Report, America's First Mass

But was it the first Mass in Florida? Prior to 1528 there were numerous Spanish ships exploring the coastline of Florida. Most had clergy aboard ‒ there could have been any number of Masses performed before 1528.

The first Mass in Florida of which there is a known written record was 31 years later in 1559. A large expedition that included Dominican priests landed near Pensacola and Mass was celebrated on August 15. But further research suggests the landing was at current day Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The city of St. Augustine also makes a dubious claim to be the location, in 1565, of the first Mass in what is now the United States.  

About ten miles north of the landing site, St. Jerome Catholic Church has a mural depicting the Narváez landing and the Mass celebrated in 1528 at the Jungle Prada Site. The artwork depicts the Spaniards first contact with the wary Tocobaga natives. In fact, the landing party initially found the site abandoned - the Tocobaga fled when Spanish ships were sited. Later encounters with the natives were, for the most part, contentious.

Was the first Mass in Florida celebrated at the Jungle Prada Site? 

It's possible. The clerics of the Diocese of St. Petersburg believe it to be true.

Here is a timeline of possible locations in the Americas where a first Mass may have been celebrated, summarized from an article by John B. Buescher in the Catholic World Report.
See the article America's First Mass for details.

512 A.D. Northeast Atlantic coast of America (St. Brendan)
1000 Norse settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows, on the island of Newfoundland
1121 Norse settlement (Eric Gnupsson)
1494 First American Mass for which a record exists. Puerto Plata, DR (Columbus)
1498 First Mass on North American continent near Newfoundland (Cabot)
1500 Veracruz, Mexico (Cabral)
1509 Puerto Rico (Juan Ponce de León)
1513 West coast of South America, Bay of San Miguel (Balboa)
1518 Yucatan, Mexico (Grijalva)
1519 Veracruz, Mexico (Cortés)
1522 West Coast of Florida (Ponce de León)
1527 Peru (Pizarro)
1528 West Coast of Florida (Narváez)
1559 Pascagoula, Mississippi (Arellano)
1565 St. Augustine (Avilés)
1602 San Diego, California (Vizcaíno)