“I forgive the head of
the nation who ordered we be crucified and also all those who have taken part
in making us martyrs.”
These were the last words of St. Paul Miki, the first
Japanese Jesuit, who was martyred, 5 February, 1597, on the hill of Nishizaka
district, Nagasaki, Japan, along with his 25 companions in faith. It is also where San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila
was martyred on 29 September, 1637. It has been said that as many as 4,000
martyrs in Japan had given their lives to Christ on this hill in Nagasaki.
In the history of Christian persecution in Japan, from 1596
until 1868, the execution of the 26 martyrs, including St. Paul Miki and St. Peter Baptist, Spanish Franciscan priest, also a
Spanish Philippine governor’s envoy to Japan, was the first public execution of
Christians in Japan.
What is really amazing about the story of the 26 martyrs of
Japan is that they walked all the way from Kyoto, where most of them were
arrested , tortured (cutting left ears) ,
and dragged in town, to Nagasaki. They marched for about a month on their almost
800 km journey to the martyrdom in Nagasaki - on barefoot, without their left ears. It was very cold to walk in the month of January. In addition to muscles and joint aches, frostbites on their feet made their walk even much more difficult.
Even more amazing, along the way, two more Japanese
Catholics joined in this march to Nagasaki, joyfully joining them to give their
own lives for Christ together, making 26, by the time they arrived in Nagasaki.
One of the two, who joined the group of
martyrs from Kyoto, on the way was a 12-year-old boy, St. Louis Ibaraki. St. Louis’ two uncles, St. Paul Ibaraki and
St. Leo Karasumaru, were also among the 26 martyrs.
As they marched from Kyoto to Nagasaki, they faced even more
public humiliation as people along the way jeered, threw objects, and even
spitted to them. But, they were chanting, “Te Deum”, always praising and
thanking God. None of them even tried to
break away or attempted to escape. There
was no attempt to make a bargain to save their own lives, either.
The firm and unshakable determination to give their lives
for Christ by becoming martyrs rather gave them a sense of privilege and honor.
Perhaps, this reflects the Japanese samurai spirit – Bushido (the way of
samurai), whose essence is to die for honor of defending one’s faith to the
one, whom he serves. This is not to be confused with an “honor suicide”, as it
is rather to save his own face. In fact,
many of these Japanese martyrs came from noble samurai families, including St.
Paul Miki. So, the Bushido spirit must have influenced them rather to die for
the honor and glory of Christ, their true Lord.
In my June 25, 2013 blog entry, “Costly Grace in
Bushido-like the Christian Discipleship - A Reflection of the Scripture Reading
on the 12th Sunday Year C”, I discussed how similar the Jesus’ teaching on
discipleship in Luke 9:23 is to the essence of Bushido. In Luke 9:23 (And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me,
he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me), Jesus is
indicating to those who want to follow his way that they need to accept a
possibility of martyrdom and embrace the death for the sake of the glory of
Christ. This teaching about discipleship is about putting the honor of the one whom
we serve, namely, the Christ, ahead of our own lives, even it can cost our own
lives. And, as I explained in the blog entry in detail, this echoes the essence
of Bushido, to die for the honor of the lords samurais serve.
In light of Jesus’ teaching in Luke 9:23 and Bushido, the 26
martyrs marched from Kyoto to Nagasaki to live the most exemplary way of their
discipleship, as well as the essence of Bushido. And, this is also their price
and honor to be Christians. So, this unique factor must be what made their
faith unshakable even physical pain was constantly increasing as they walked on
a very cold long road on barefoot, including the 12 year-old St. Louis Ibaraki.
By walking almost 800 km on barefoot, with their left ears
cut-off, through public humiliation and cold temperature, they must have
through and felt as if they were walking the path of Calvary that Jesus walked
in Jerusalem – through their path was far more physically longer than the path
Jesus walked. But, through their journey
to Nagasaki to die for Christ, their Lord, they could have felt so intimate and
truly united in their physical sufferings, always remembering how Jesus walked
all the way to the hill of Golgotha. So,
what is the hill of Nishizaka in Nagasaki to the 26 martyrs in Japan is what is
the path of Calvary to the hill of Golgotha in Jerusalem to Jesus. The fact that they were rather spiritually
joyous through their journey, praising and thanking God, really suggests that
they really felt deeply united with the suffering Christ in Calvary.
Upon arriving on the hill of Nishizaka, a magistrate (bugyo) of Nagasaki felt pity on
12-year-old St. Louis Ibaragi and encouraged him to give up his Christian faith
in order to save his life. But, to this, St. Louis Ibaraki to the magistrate, “I will not to give up on the eternal life in
exchange for a passing life”.
With these words of St. Louis Ibaragi, the youngest martyr ,
all 26 were put on crosses for slow agonizing death, just as Jesus went
through.
The martyrdom of the 26 in Nagasaki in 1597 was just the
beginning of continuing executions of Christians in Japan for more than 250
years. Though the Christians, both Catholics and non-Catholics, only make about
1% of total population in Japan, the strengths of Christians in Japan are very
strong, as they have been tested and refined throughout the more-than-250-years
of trials. In fact, in 1619, amidst
severe persecutions in Japan, Pope Paul V sent a papal letter of encouragement
to perverting Christians in Japan.
Now, we sure can find inspiration in the 26 martyrs of
Japan, to keep our resilience to overcome obstacles.
When we want to give up on something challenging, let's also remember the extraordinary courage and resilience of the 26 martyrs in Japan, in addition to Jesus in Calvary. Psychospiritually, seeing our own difficult situations in life in light of such unimaginable sufferings of the heroes in the Christian tradition - all the martyrs - can give us a fresh perspective on our own troubles in life. And, we will discern deeper meaning of life - realizing how blessed we are to have someone to die for. In this case, and for Christians, ultimately, it is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Knowing the blessing of having someone to die for also means deeper meaning to live for. And, this is an important existentially paradoxical reality in order for us to live a meaningful life, as found in psychological thoughts of Viktor Frankl, and, more recently, through the works of Paul Wong on Frankl's existential psychology in Christian perspectives.
Now, with this psychological wisdom from Frankl and Wong, we can also understand why the 26 martyrs rather remained joyful throughout their unimaginably painful journey to be executed - keeping themselves from sinking into the psychological quagmire of fear of death and anticipatory grief toward despair.
Here are the names of the heroic 26 martyrs:
St. Francis of Kyoto, Japan
St. Cosmas Takeya of Owari, Japan.
St. Peter Sukejiro of Kyoto,
St. Michael Kozaki of
Ise,
St. James Kisai of Okayama, Japan.
St. Paul Miki of Settsu, Japan
St. Paul Ibaraki of Owari, Japan
St. John of Goto, Japan
St. Louis Ibaraki of Owari, Japan
St. Anthony of Nagasaki, Japan
St. Peter Baptist of Spain
St. Martin of the Ascension of Spain
St. Philip of Jesus of Mexico
St. Gonzalo Garcia of India (Portuguese and Indian mestizo,
born in Goa, India, a Portuguese colony
St. Francis Blanco of Spain
St. Francis of St. Michael of Spain
St. Matthias of Japan
St. Leo Karasumaru of Owari
St. Bonaventure of Kyoto,
St. Thomas Kozaki of Ise, Japan
St. Joachim Sasakibara of Osaka, Japan
St. Francis of Kyoto, Japan
St. Thomas Dangi the Pharmacist of Japan.
St. John Kinuya of Kyoto, Japan
St. Gabriel of Ise, Japan
St. Paul Suzuki of Owari, Japan
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