St. Paul Miki and Companions
Today we commemorate St. Paul Miki and Companions. These twenty-six martyrs are sometimes called the martyrs of Nagasaki and the martyrs of Japan.
Wednesday 6 February 2013
Saints Paul Miki and his Companions,
Martyrs
(Wednesday of week 4 of the year)
 Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of
martyrs. |
Psalm week: 4.
St Paul Miki (1564/6 - 1597)
|
He
was born in Japan between 1564 and 1566. He joined the Society of Jesus and
preached the gospel to the Japanese people with great success. When a
persecution of the Catholics arose he was arrested together with twenty-five
others. Mocked and tortured, they were eventually taken to Nagasaki on 5
February 1597, bound to crosses and speared.
 |
| A statue of St. Philip of Jesus at the Museo de Virreinato, Tepotzotlán |
See also the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia
on St Philip of Jesus, a Mexican Jesuit who was one of those martyred together
with St Paul Miki, and an article in Wikipedia which
contains some useful links.
Reading
|
From an account of the martyrdom of Saint Paul
Miki and his companions, by a contemporary writer
|
You shall be my witnesses
|
The
crosses were set in place. Father Pasio and Father Rodriguez took turns
encouraging the victims. Their steadfast behaviour was wonderful to see. The
Father Bursar stood motionless, his eyes turned heavenward. Brother Martin gave
thanks to God’s goodness by singing psalms. Again and again he repeated: “Into
your hands, Lord, I entrust my life.” Brother Francis Branco also thanked God
in a loud voice. Brother Gonsalvo in a very loud voice kept saying the Our
Father and Hail Mary.
Our brother, Paul Miki, saw himself
standing now in the noblest pulpit he had ever filled. To his “congregation” he
began by proclaiming himself a Japanese and a Jesuit. He was dying for the
Gospel he preached. He gave thanks to God for this wonderful blessing and he
ended his “sermon” with these words: “As I come to this supreme moment of my
life, I am sure none of you would suppose I want to deceive you. And so I tell
you plainly: there is no way to be saved except the Christian way. My religion
teaches me to pardon my enemies and all who have offended me. I do gladly
pardon the Emperor and all who have sought my death. I beg them to seek baptism
and be Christians themselves.”
Then he looked at his comrades and
began to encourage them in their final struggle. Joy glowed in all their faces,
and in Louis’ most of all. When a Christian in the crowd cried out to him that
he would soon be in heaven, his hands, his whole body strained upward with such
joy that every eye was fixed on him.
Anthony, hanging at Louis’ side, looked
toward heaven and called upon the holy names – “Jesus, Mary!” He began to
sing a psalm: “Praise the Lord, you children!” (He learned it in catechism
class in Nagasaki. They take care there to teach the children some psalms to
help them learn their catechism).
Others kept repeating “Jesus, Mary!”
Their faces were serene. Some of them even took to urging the people standing
by to live worthy Christian lives. In these and other ways they showed their
readiness to die.
Then, according to Japanese custom, the
four executioners began to unsheathe their spears. At this dreadful sight, all
the Christians cried out, “Jesus, Mary!” And the storm of anguished weeping
then rose to batter the very skies. The executioners killed them one by one.
One thrust of the spear, then a second blow. It was over in a very short time.
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