(A statue of Saint Paul Miki on the cross; the photo was taken at the Twenty-Six Martyrs Shrine in Nagasaki, Japan)
Today marks the feast day of Saint Paul Miki and the other Japanese martyrs who along side him.
Today marks the feast day of Saint Paul Miki and the other Japanese martyrs who along side him.
Christianity took root in Japan with the arrival of Saint Francis Xavier, a Jesuit missionary from the Basque region of Spain. He arrived at Kagoshima in late August 1550 and moved on to Hirado to evangelise. Christianity started to flourish in this secluded country. Indeed, the first Christmas Mass was celebrated in 1552. Other missionaries such as Father Cosme de Torres and Brother Luiz de Almeida spread out as far as Nagasaki converting Japanese people and building churches.
At the time, Nagsaki was the only port open to the West. The Japanese authorities- namely Lord Hideyoshi Toyotomi- were hostile toward Christianity and Christians, even Japanese ones.
It was this world Saint Paul Miki and his friends were born into. Saint Paul Miki was born into an affluent family. His father was the military leader Miki Handayu. Saint Paul Miki was called to religious life and entered the Jesuit order in 1580. He continued his evangelist mission, even as he marched to his death after Lord Hideyoshi passed an edict against Christianity. He was martyred on Nishikaza Hill on February 5th, 1597.
Christians were persecuted and forced underground until 1873.
Here is the sermon Saint Paul Miki delivered from his cross. He makes it clear that though he is Japanese, he is also Christian. He wants to convince those witnessing (or partaking in) his death that he is not a foreigner- whom the Japanese feared at the time- but a Japanese like them whose only crime it was to accept Christ.
A bas-relief sculpture of the twenty-six martyrs killed on Nishizaka Hill. Inside the building is a church and museum with artifacts relating to the missionaries and martyrs.
These statues stood in front of Urakami Church in Nagasaki. They are of Saints John and Cecilia respectively. They were scorched but not wholly destroyed by the atomic bomb.
What remains of Urakami Church after much of it was destroyed by atomic bomb dropped on August 9th, 1945.
Urakami Cathedral as it stands today.
(information retrieved from A Guide to Pilgrimage Sites and Churches in Nagasaki, published by Nagasaki Bunkensha. The photographs were taken by me.)
3 comments:
Just think. Persecution for 300 Years. The church underground. For 70 years she is allowed to flourish and then the bomb is dropped on this the most sacred place in Japan. God or the Devil?
JThanks for a wonderful story. Father had talked about Paul Miki and friends at Mass, but this helps to give a fuller sense of the man and his love for the faith. How many of us could do the same. Thank-you, Paul Miki and friends.
Thanks for visiting, guys.
If one really wants a sense of St. Paul Miki and others like St. Paul Ibaraki and Dr. Takashi Nagai, you must visit Nagasaki (easier said than done!). It's a lovely place. When you examine the history and try to understand the people who made it, then you might see why things happened the way they did. In my opinion, Nagasaki was the seat of Catholicism in Japan, as well as the only port open to the West and- unfortunately- the site of great persecutions. It was, therefore, the place where, with a great consumation of fire, it had to be razed only to be raised again.
Just my thoughts.
(maybe I should add more photos of Japan? Hmmm...?)
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