It was the first of June, Octave of Corpus Christi, in the Year of Our Lord 1617. On the virgin soil of an offshore islet in Ōmura Bay, three brothers in faith were on their knees awaiting the executioner’s blade. Two were foreign priests, the other a Japanese Catholic layman. The layman, surnamed Tanaka, had … Continue reading June 1, 1617: Friars Alfonso Navarrete, Hernando de San José, and Faithful Layman Leo Tanaka →
A ‘Sanctus’ for the Ages Calabria in Italy has produced some remarkable warriors for Christ, men of insuperable courage and faith, yet even among these titans, Fr. Camillo Costanzo stands tall. Born in 1571 in Bovalino, a village perched on the Ionian Sea under the boot of Italy, young Camillo Costanzo must have glimpsed … Continue reading Father Camillo Costanzo, S.J., Blessed Martyr (15 September 1622) →
A Ladder to Heaven, Part I It all started in 1620 with some Japanese Catholics, bereft of their pastor, pleading for his return to Nagasaki to console them in their sufferings and their needs. After Tokugawa Ieyasu’s expulsion of all Catholic clergy from Japan in 1614, Augustinian Friar Pedro de Zúñiga had stayed on to … Continue reading A Ladder to Heaven →
It was the first of June, Octave of Corpus Christi, in the Year of Our Lord 1617. On the virgin soil of an offshore islet in Ōmura Bay, three brothers in faith were on their knees awaiting the executioner’s blade. Two were foreign priests, the other a Japanese Catholic layman. The layman, surnamed … Continue reading A February Conversion →
Dedicated to the Christian Martyrs of Japan
