Saint Paul Miki and Companions Martyrs

In 1549, Saint Francis Xavier and two other Jesuits arrived at the harbor of Kagoshima, becoming the first missionaries to Japan. Many Japanese became Christians. Later, when the leader Hideyoshi took command, he feared Christians would take over the government and banished Christianity. On December 8, 1596, Hideyoshi arrested twenty-six Catholics—six Franciscan missionaries, seventeen Japanese and Korean lay Franciscans (three of whom were young boys), and three Jesuits. The Jesuits were Brother Paul Miki, only months away from being ordained a priest, another brother, and a priest.

Paul was born into an affluent Japanese family and became a Catholic when his whole family converted. At the age of twenty, he attended a new Jesuit seminary in Japan and became a brother two years later. He spent thirteen years as a Jesuit, during which time he was known as a gifted preacher who helped convert many of his countrymen. When Brother Paul and his companions were arrested, they were tortured, had one of their ears severed, and were paraded 600 miles through many towns for 30 straight days, on display for all the people to see to dissuade them from being Christian. 

Along the way, they preached to the people who had come to see them and sang Psalms of praise and joy. They prayed the Rosary and told the people that such a martyrdom was an occasion of rejoicing, not sadness. When they arrived in Nagasaki, the center of Christianity in Japan at that time, the soon-to-be martyrs were permitted to go to Confession one last time. Twenty-six crosses awaited them on a hill now called the Holy Mountain. Paul Miki and his companions were chained to their crosses, secured with an iron collar, and lined up next to each other as four soldiers stood beneath them, each with a spear in hand. Brother Paul Miki preached his final sermon, professing Jesus as the only way to salvation, forgiving his persecutors, and praying that they would turn to Christ and receive baptism. Brother Paul continued to encourage the others, and as they all awaited death, they were filled with joy and continually cried out, “Jesus, Mary!” Then, with one thrust of the spear and one blow, each martyr went home to God.

Holy Martyrs of Nagasaki, you and countless others gave your lives courageously in witness to the faith. Obtain for us the same faith and courage that each of you had so that we may also become a witness for Christ in all that we do.

Prepared and updated by:

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,

Penampang, Sabah Malaysia.