February 5 2024 - St Paul Miki of Japan - Died for Christ

 

St. Paul Miki and Companions
Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, killing hundreds of thousands.
Three and a half centuries before, though, in AD 1597, twenty-six martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki.
Among them were priests, brothers and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits and members of the Secular Franciscan Order; there were catechists, doctors, simple artisans and servants, old men and innocent children—all united in a common faith and love for Jesus and his church.




Brother Paul Miki, a Jesuit and a native of Japan, has become the best known among the martyrs of Japan.
While hanging upon a cross, Paul Miki preached to the people gathered for the execution:

"The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly DID teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die.
I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die.
I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again... Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ's example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain."

When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and that they had secretly preserved the faith. Beatified in 1627, the martyrs of Japan were finally canonized in 1862.

—Excerpted from Saint of the Day, Leonard Foley, O.F.M.

Highlights and Things to Do:

  • The survival of Japanese Catholicism is one of the most moving stories in the entire history of the Church. For over two centuries, the people had no priests but lived the faith as best they could, in secret, not daring to keep written materials but handing down their beliefs by word of mouth. (James Hitchcock, The Nagasaki Martyrs)
    You can read more in this article from Catholic Culture's Library, The Nagasaki Martyrs.

  • Stop for a moment today to pray for Christians who are persecuted throughout the world.

  • Read more about St. Paul Miki and Companions:

  • View this video St. Paul Miki's Martyrdom.
  • These martyrs' relics are in Nagasaki's Basilica of the Twenty-Six Holy Martyrs of Japan.

  • CatholicSaints.info describes the Japanese style of crucifixion: "...to put iron clamps around the wrists, ankles and throat, a straddle piece was placed between the legs for weight support, and the person was pierced with a lance up through the left and right ribs toward the opposite shoulder"

  • Read Pope Pius XII's Encyclical Meminissee Iuvat on prayers for the persecuted Church.

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