First Mass1509
| Location | Caparra |
|---|---|
| State/Territory | Puerto Rico |
| County | Guaynabo Municipality |
| Modern Diocese | Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico |
| Historical Diocese | Unorganized |
| Date | 1509 |
| Priest | Not recorded by name — among the priests accompanying Ponce de León's colonists |
| Rite | Roman (Latin) Rite |
| Expedition | Juan Ponce de León's Caparra settlement expedition |
| Confidence | confirmed |
Documentation
Notes
An earlier, less-documented possibility is Columbus's 1493 landing, which included clergy (Bernardo Buil, Ramón Pané, three Franciscan friars) — but no specific Mass date or location from that visit is confirmed, so 1509/Caparra is used as the seed entry here. Caparra's first church was built in 1511, the same year Puerto Rico's diocese — the oldest in the Americas — was erected.
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