TheMartyrs of Japan (Japanese:日本の殉教者,Hepburn:Nihon no junkyōsha) wereChristian missionaries and followers who were persecuted and executed, mostly during theTokugawa shogunate period in the 17th century.More than 400 martyrs of Japan have been recognized withbeatification by theCatholic Church, and 42 have beencanonized as saints.
Christian missionaries arrived withFrancis Xavier and theJesuits in the 1540s and briefly flourished, with over 100,000 converts, including manydaimyōs inKyushu. The shogunate and imperial government at first supported theCatholic mission and the missionaries, thinking that they would reduce the power of theBuddhist monks, and help trade withSpain andPortugal. However, the Shogunate was also wary ofcolonialism, seeing that theSpanish had taken power in the Philippines, after converting the population. It soon met resistance from the highest office holders of Japan.Emperor Ōgimachi issued edicts to ban Catholicism in 1565 and 1568, but to little effect.[1] Beginning in 1587 with imperial regentToyotomi Hideyoshi's ban on Jesuit missionaries, Christianity was repressed as a threat to national unity.[2] While the Japanese view was that Christians were persecuted and executed for being more loyal toJesus than theShogunate, the Catholic Church viewed them as martyrs: As the persecution was aimed at Christians as a group, and as they could escape only byabjuring their faith, the Catholic Church regarded the acts as beingin odium fidei ("in hatred of the faith"), a principal factor in martyrdom. After the Tokugawa shogunate banned Christianity in 1614, it ceased to exist publicly. Many Catholics went underground, becominghidden Christians (隠れキリシタン,kakure kirishitan), while others lost their lives. Only after theMeiji Restoration was Christianity re-established in Japan.
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TheTwenty-six Martyrs of Japan (日本二十六聖人,Nihon Nijūroku Seijin) refers to a group ofChristians who were executed bycrucifixion after a forced march from Kyoto toNagasaki. with the crucifixion taking place on 5 February 1597 at Nagasaki.
Through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, these first Martyrs of Japan were beatified on 14 September 1627 byPope Urban VIII. These saints were canonized saints on 8 June 1862 byPope Pius IX.[3]
Persecution flared episodically and over a period of 15 years, between 1617 and 1632, 205 missionaries and native Christians are known to have been killed for their faith, 55 of them during theGreat Genna Martyrdom, a further 50 during theGreat Martyrdom of Edo (but only three were beatified as part of the 205 Martyrs of Japan).[4] Christianity was proscribed and forced underground until the arrival of Western missionaries in the nineteenth century.
Through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, these 205 Martyrs of Japan were venerated on 26 February 1866 and beatified on 7 May 1867, byPope Pius IX.[5]
Two SpanishAugustinian Recollects arrived in Japan in the later half of 1632 from Manila to evangelize the Japanese. Upon arrival, Japanese authorities were notified by the Chinese merchants who had given them passage. They fled into the mountains whereDominican missionaries instructed them in the language of the country. When they descended into the city they were recognized and arrested in November 1632. On 11 December 1632, they were martyred for their faith.[6]
Through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, these two Augustinian Martyrs of Japan were venerated on 28 November 1988 and beatified on 23 April 1989, byPope John Paul II.[5]
The martyrdom continued on with a group of missionaries and natives that belonged to the Philippine Province of theDominican Order, called the Holy Rosary Province.[7]
Through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, these 16 Martyrs of Japan were venerated on 11 October 1980 and beatified on 18 February 1981, byPope John Paul II.[8] They were later canonized saints on 18 October 1987, byPope John Paul II.[9]
These martyrs are additional religious priests and laity murdered for their faith between the years 1603 and 1639.
Through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, these 188 Martyrs of Japan were venerated on 1 June 2007 and beatified on 24 November 2008, byPope Benedict XVI.[10] The ceremony, held in Nagasaki, was presided over by CardinalPeter Shirayanagi, archbishop emeritus of Tokyo.[11]
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Japanese Martyrs".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.Authority control databases: National |
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