Friday, February 06, 2009

St Paul Miki and Companions

Today, February 6th, is the feast day of St Paul Miki and Companions, also known as the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan. They were executed for the faith in 1597 in Nagasaki.

I visited Nagasaki last year, and I am happy to upload these pictures which I took of the memorial at the site. It is actually right in the city centre of modern Nagasaki.

What I feel is quite significant is the fact that they were canonised in 1862, when, to all intents and purposes, it was still illegal for a Japanese person to be a Catholic.





2 comments:

Rosemary said...

Very moving to see these photos. Thanks for sharing them.

Fr Seán Coyle said...

Here in the Philippines we include the name of San Pedro Bautista OFM with that of St Paul Miki SJ. The Spanish Franciscan spent some years in the Philippines before going to Japan.

Today there are Filipino missionaries in Japan, including a Columban priest from Bacolod City where I live, and there are Japanese Sisters working in a former Columban parish in the city.