PILGRIM FATHERS (Padri Pellegrini). — In England, in the 16th century, alongside the established Church two dissenting groups formed: the Puritans (v.) and the Separatists, who sought the complete separation of the established Church.
The movement took shape and doctrine through Brownism, whose followers were called Brownists; but as this name became odious because of its associations, it was changed to Independents and then to Congregationalists. The hostility of the Anglicans forced them to emigrate to the Continent; many took refuge in Amsterdam in 1608, and later, under the leadership of JOHN ROBINSON (v.), moved to Leiden. After several years of hardship, however, they decided to go to the English colonies in North America. The first group, consisting of about a hundred families, sailed on the Mayflower, a small ship of 180 tons, and landed at Cape Cod (Massachusetts) on 21 December 1620. This first group was called the Pilgrim Fathers. They professed the strictest Congregationalism; ministers were chosen and ordained by the faithful, and there was no distinction among the ministers. They still regarded the King of England as their temporal sovereign, but did not recognize him as head of the Church. About ten years later, numerous groups of Puritans arrived, settling not far away, and the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers gradually merged with the Puritans of Massachusetts, forming with them the most intolerant colony in all of English America.