> Commemoration: The Martyrs of Japan
| « Back to calendar | « Previous Event | Next Event » |
Annually on February 5
The Martyrs of Japan
5 February 1597
The 26 Martyrs of Japan at Nagasaki. (1628 engraving)
Prayer:
O God our Father, source of strength to all your saints, who Brought the holy martyrs of Japan through the suffering of the cross to the joys of life eternal: Grant that we, being encouraged by their example, may hold fast the faith we profess, even to death itself; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Christian martyrs of Nagasaki. 16th/17th-century Japanese painting.
From Holy Women, Holy Men:
The introduction of Christianity into Japan in the sixteenth century, first by the Jesuits under Francis Xavier, and then by the Franciscans, has left exciting records of heroism and self-sacrifice in the annals of Christian missionary endeavor. It has been estimated that by the end of that century there were about 300,000 baptized believers in Japan.
Unfortunately, these initial successes were compromised by rivalries among the religious orders; and the interplay of colonial politics, both within Japan and between Japan and the Spanish and Portuguese, aroused suspicion about western intentions of conquest. After a half century of ambiguous support by some of the powerful Tokugawa shoguns, the Christian enterprise suffered cruel persecution and suppression.
The first victims were six Franciscan friars and twenty of their converts who were crucified at Nagasaki, February 5, 1597. By 1630, what was left of Christianity in Japan was driven underground. Yet it is remarkable that two hundred and fifty years later there were found many men and women, without priests, who had preserved through the generations a vestige of Christian faith.
Source: Holy Women, Holy Men (p. 212) https://diobeth.typepad.com/files/holy-women-holy-men.pdf
Oops!
Oops, you forgot something.