The front cover of this book shows King Boabdil, the last Moorish king in Spain, at his formal surrender to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain at Granada on January 2,1492. This momentous occasion marked the end of Catholic Spain's 800-year-long struggle to throw off Mohammedan rule on the continent of Europe, and made it possible for the king and queen of Spain to turn their attention to other endeavors. A few months later they provided ships and money for a navigator named Christopher Columbus, whose voyage westward to America was to change the face of the globe.
The story of America really begins in the Old World, for the first settlers in America came from Christian Europe, and they brought their heritage with them to the New World. The Old World and America tells the story of the Western World from the beginning of mankind-through ancient times, Greek and Roman civilization, the coming of Christ and founding of the Catholic Church, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the discovery and exploration of America, the "New World."
To understand America we must understand what has gone before us including the tremendous contributions of the Greeks and Romans, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Above all, we must understand that our civilization is a Christian civilization, which received its most important elements when Christ, the God-Man, came to earth to redeem men from Original Sin and give them a chance to gain eternal salvation. We must learn about the history of Christ's Church throughout its 20 centuries, and about the Protestant revolt against His Church in the 1500's, which has continued to our day.
Whatever was good and whatever was bad in the Old World was brought over to America with the settlers, there to be planted on new soil and to continue its growth in a new and different world. But Americans, especially Catholic Americans, continue to have much in common with the people of Europe-the Catholic principles which formed their lives have also formed our lives. It must be our aim to understand the rich heritage we have received from the Old World so that we may love and treasure it, enrich it, and pass it on for the glory of God and for the benefit of generations to come.
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