the sixteen martyrs of Nagasaki are one of the symbols of difficult the evangelization of the Japan in particular in the town of Nagasaki, cradle of Christendom.
They belong to the family Dominicain E and are connected various manners to the province of the Saint Rosary centered with Manila with the Filipino
They make following the already many martyrs who gave their life for the Gospel to Japan, since the 26 martyrs crucifiés in 1597 and the 205 béatifiés martyrs, killed between 1617 and 1632.
These 16 martyrs suffered between 1633 and 1637, period when reign Iemitsu Tokugawa, shogun of Japan. The February 28th, 1633 and June 22nd, 1636 he proclaims two edicts to remove Christianity in the empire. Punishable of had died the foreign missionaries or autochtones, those which received them and all those which did not want to abjure the Christian faith.
Thus died:
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In August and October 1633: Dominique Ibanez d' Erquicia, François Shoyemon, Jacques de Sainte Marie, Michel Kurobioye, Luc of the Saint Spirit, Matthieu Kohioye of the Rosary.
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In October, November 1634: Madeleine de Nagasaki, Marina d' Omura, Hyacinthe the Jordan Ansalone, Thomas de Saint Hyacinthe.
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In September 1637: Antoine Gonzales, Guillaume Courtet, Michel de Aozaraza, Vincent Schiwozuka of the Cross, Lazare de Kyoto, Laurent Ruiz.
Dates
- Beatification: February 18th 1981 in Manila (Philippines) by Jean-Paul II
- Canonization: October 18th 1987 in Rome by Jean-Paul II
- Festival: September 28th
Quotation
To the Homélie of canonization Jean Paul II said: “ Sixteen men and women testified, by their sufferings and their heroic death, of their faith in the message of hello by Christ, arrived until them after being proclaimed from generation to generation since the time of the Apostles. By their suffering, their love and their imitation of Jesus reached their full realization. Their sacramental configuration with Jesus, the single Mediator, was led to its perfection. “Because if we were plain with him by a death similar to his, we will be linked to him by a resurrection similar to his. ” (Rm 6,5.) These saints martyrs, various by their origin, their language, their race and their social condition, are plain the ones the others and plain with all God's people in the mystery salvific of Christ, the Redeemer. ”
References
- Osservatore Romano: 1981 n.8 - 1987 n.43 p.1-2
- Catholic Documentation: 1981 p.266-268; 333-334 - 1987 p.1066
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