The Martyrs of Japan
6 February -- Commemoration
If celebrated as a Lesser Festival,
Common of Martyrs, page 464
Almost fifty years after Francis
Xavier had arrived in Japan as its first Christian
apostle, the presence of several thousand baptised
Christians in the land became a subject of suspicion to the
ruler Hideyoshi, who soon began a period of persecution.
Twenty-six men and women, Religious and lay, were first
mutilated then crucified near Nagasaki in 1597. After their
martyrdom, their blooded- clothes were kept and held in
reverence by their fellow Christians. The period of
persecution continued for another thirty-five years, many
new witness-martyrs being added to their number.