Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/798

 HART7RS

745

MARTTaS

by Wada Korcsama, a Christian, had subdued the greater part of the provinces and had restored rooa- archical unity, there came to pass what St. Francis ^Xavier had hoped for. At Miyako (the modern Ki- yoto) the faith was recognized and a church bmit 15 Auff., 1576. Then the faith continued to spread without notable opposition, as the daimyos followed the lead of the Mikado (Ogimachi, 1558-1586) and Ota Nobunaga. The toleration or favour of the cen- tral authority brought about everywhere the exten- sion of the Cnristian religion, and only a few isolated cases of martyrdom are known (Le Catholicisme au Japon, I, 173).

It was not until 1587, when there were 200,000 Christians in Japan, that an edict of persecution, or rather of prescription, was passed to the surprise of everyone, at the instigation of a bigoted bome, Nichi- joshonin, zealous for the rcUgion of nis race. Twenty- six residences and 140 churches were destroyed; the missionaries were condemned to exile, but were clever enough to hide or scatter. They never doubted the constancy of their con verts; they assisted them in secret and in ten years there were 100,000 otiier converts in Japan. We read of two martyrdoms, one at Takata, the other at Notsuhara; but very many Christians were dispossessed of their goods and reduced to poverty. The first bloody persecution dates from 1597. It is attributed to two causes: (1) Four years earlier some Castilian religious had come from the Philippines and, in spite of the decisions of the Holy See, had joined themselves to the 130 Jesuits who, on account of the delicate situation created by the edict, were acting with great caution. In spite of every charitable advice given them, these men set to work in a very indiscreet manner, and violated the terms of the edict even in the capital itself; (2) a Cas- tilian vessel cast by the storm on the coast of Japan was confiscated under the laws then in vigour. Some artillery was found on board, and Japanese suscepti- bilities were further excited by the lying tales of the pilot, so that the idea went abroad that the Castilians were thinking of annexing the country. A list of all the Cliristians in Miyado and Osaka was made out, and on 5 Feb., 1597, 26 Christians, among whom were 6 Franciscan missionaries, were crucified at Nagasaki. Among the 20 native Christians there was one, a child of 13, and another of 12 years. '' The astonishing fruit of the generous sacrifice of our 26 martyrs^ (wrote a Jesuit missionary) '*is that the Christians, recent converts and those of maturer faith, have been confirmed in the faith and hope of eternal salvation; they have firmly resolved to lay down their lives for the name of Christ. The very pagans who assisted at the martyrdom were struck at seeing the joy of the blessed ones as they suffered on their crosses and the courage with which they met death".

Ten years before this another missionary had fore- seen and predicted that "from the courage of the Japanese, aided by the grace of God, it is to l)e ex- pected that persecution will inaugurate a race for martyrdom". True it is that the national and reli- gious customs of the people predisposed them to lay down their lives ^ith singular fatalism; certain of their established usages, religious suicide, hara-kiri, had de- veloped a contempt for death; but if grace does not destroy nature it exalts it, and their fervent charity and love for Christ led the Japanese neophytes to scoui^- ings that the missionaries nad to restrain. When this love for Christ had grown strong in the midst of suffering freely chosen, it became easier for the faithful to give the Saviour that greatest proof of love by laying down their lives in a cruel deatn for His name's sake. "The fifty crosses, ordered for the holy mountain of Nagasaki, multiplied ten or a hundred fold, would not have sufficeil" (wrote one missionary) "for all the faithful who longed for martyrdom. Associations (JKumi) were formed under the patronage of the

Blessed Virgin with the object of prei)aring the mem* bcrs by Drayer and scourgings even to blood, to be ready to lay down their fives for the faith. After the persecution of 1597, there were isolated cases of mar- tyrdom until 1614, in all about 70. The reigns of leyasu, who is better known in Christian annals by the name of Daifu Sama, and of his successors Hidetada and lemitziu, were the more disastrous. We are not concerned now with the causes of that persecution, which lasted half a century with some bnef intervals of peace. Accordmg to Mr. Ernest Satow (quoted by Thurston in "The Month", March, 1905, "Japan and Christianity ") : " As the Jesuit missionaries conducted themselves with great tact, it is by no means improb* able that they might have continued to make con- verts year by year until the great part of the nation had been brought over to the CathoUc religion, had it not been for the rivalry of the missionaries of other orders." These were the Castilian religious; and hence the fear of sceine Spain spread its conquests from the Philippines to Japan. Furthermore the zeal of certain religious Franciscans and Dominicans was wanting in prudence, and led to persecution.

Year by year after 1614 the number of martyr- doms was 55, 15, 25, 62, 88, 15, 20. The year 1622 was particularly fruitful in Cliristian heroes. The Japanese martyrolog>' counts 128 Vt'ith name, Chris- tian name ana place of execution. Before this the four religious onlers, Dominicans, Franciscans, Au- gustinians and Jesuits, had had their martyrs, but on 10 Sept., 1622, 9 Jesuits, 6 Dominicans, 4 Franciscans, and 6 lay Christians were put to death at the stake after witnessing the beheading of about 30 of the faithful. From December untilthe end of September, 1624, there were 285 martyrs. The English captain. Richard Cocks (Calendar of State Papers: Colonial East Indies, 1617-1621, p. 357) "saw 55 martyred at Miako at one time . . . and among them little chil- dren 5 or 6 years okl burned in their mother's arms, crying out: Jesus receive our souls'. Many more are in prison who look hourly when they shall die, for very few turn pagans". We cannot go into the de- tails of these horrible slaughters, the skilful tortures of Mount Unzen, the refined cruelty of the trench. After 1627 death pnew more and more terrible for the Cliris^ tians: in 1627, 123 died, during the years that followed, 65, 79, and 198. Persecution went on unceasingly as long as there were missionaries, and the last of whom we learn were 5 Jesuits and 3 seculars, who suffered the torture of the trench from 25 to 31 March, 1643. The list of martyrs we know of (name. Christian name, ancl place of execution) has 1648 names. If we add to this the groups we learn of from the missionaries, or later from the Dutch travellers between 1649 and 1660, the total goes to 3125, and this does not include Christians who were banished, whose property was confiscated, or who died in poverty. A Japanese judee, Arai Hakuseki, bore witness alx)ut 1710, that at the close of the reign of lemitzu (1650) "it was ordered that the converts should all lean on their own staff". At that time an immense number, from 200,000 to 300,000, perished. Without counting the mcml)ers of Third Orders and Congregations, the Jesuits had, acconling to the martyrology (Delplace, II, 181-195; 263-275), 55 martyrs, the Franciscans 36. the Dominicans 38, the Augustinians 20. Pius IX and Ijco XIII declannl worthy of public cult 36 Jesuit martyrs, 25 Franciscans, 21 Dominicans, 5 Augus- tinians and 107 lay victims. After 1632 it ceased to l)e possible to obtain reliable data or information which would lead to canonical beatification. When in 1854, Conamodore Perry forced an entry to Japan, it was learned that the Christian faith, after two cen- turies of intolerance, was not dead. In 1865, priest* of the Foreign Missions found 20,000 Christians prac- tising their religion in secret at Kiushu. Religious liberty was not granted them by Japanese law untE