Mary, the North Star that led to the discovery of the Americas

On April 20, 1493, Christopher Columbus appeared before the Spanish kings, Ferdinand and Isabella, at the gates of Barcelona. Feted by the success of his expedition, the Genoese navigator humbly knelt before them, and the kings, in a sublime gesture, also fell to their knees. All three then intoned a Te Deum of thanksgiving, praising God for the success of the expedition. 

The Virgin Mary was said to be the North Star of these explorers and missionaries. 

On April 20, 1940, the anniversary date of this meeting, Pope Pius XII pronounced these words in Genoa: 

"Genoese, salute in Christopher Columbus, not only the bold navigator who overcame the opposition of certain scholars as well as the fury of the ocean, but who was also a great devotee of the Blessed Virgin. He placed his expedition under Mary's protection and named his caravel the Santa Maria. He climbed aboard his ship, bidding farewell to astonished and skeptical Europe; he ventured onto the fearsome waves and, at the end of his journey, he knelt before Jesus, who calmed the storms, and before Mary, the star of the sea".

Encyclopedia Maria 

tome IV - Beauchesne 1956 - p.26