205 Martyrs of Japan
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Painting of the Nagasaki Martyrs
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| Martyrs | |
| Born | Unknown |
| Died | Japan |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Anglican Church Lutheran Church |
| Beatified | 7 July 1867, Vatican CitybyPope Pius IX |
| Feast | 10 September |
The Martyrs of Japan (日本の殉教者, Nihon no junkyōsha) were Christian missionaries and followers who were persecuted and executed for their faith in Japan, mostly during the Tokugawa shogunate period in the 17th century.
Christian missionaries arrived with Francis Xavier and the Jesuits in the 1540s and briefly flourished, with over 100,000 converts, including many daimyōsinKyushu. The shogunate and imperial government at first supported the Catholic mission and the missionaries, thinking that they would reduce the power of the Buddhist monks, and help trade with Spain and Portugal. However, the Shogunate was also wary of colonialism, seeing that the Spanish had taken power in the Philippines, after converting the population. It soon met resistance from the highest office holders of Japan.[1] Emperor Ogimachi issued edicts to ban Catholicism in 1565 and 1568, but to little effect. Beginning in 1587 with imperial regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s ban on Jesuit missionaries, Christianity was repressed as a threat to national unity.[2] Many Christians were executed by burning at the stakeinNagasaki.[3] After the Tokugawa shogunate banned Christianity in 1620, it ceased to exist publicly. Many Catholics went underground, becoming hidden Christians (隠れキリシタン, kakure kirishitan), while others were killed. Only after the Meiji Restoration, was Christianity re-established in Japan.
The first group of martyrs, known as the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan (1597), was canonized by the Church in 1862 by Pope Pius IX.[4]
The persecution of Missionaries and Christian followers continued after the martyrdom of the twenty-six individuals in 1597. Jesuit fathers and others who had successfully fled to the Philippines wrote reports which led to a pamphlet that was printed in Madrid in 1624 "A Short Account of the Great and Rigorous Martyrdom, which last year (1622) was suffered in Japan by One Hundred and Eighteen Martyrs'.[5]
Through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, Pope Pius IX declared these martyrs venerable on 26 February 1866 and subsequently beatified them on 26 July 1867.[6][7][8] Their feast day is September 10, the day of the Great Genna Martyrdom.[9]
This group is also known as Alfonso Navarrette Benito, Perdo of Ávila, Carlo Spinola, Ioachim Díaz Hirayama, Lucia de Freitas, and 200 companions.[10]
Japanese missionary
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Japanese Martyrs". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
