SAINT PAUL MIKI AND COMPANIONS
Saint Paul Miki
Born: 1562 at Tsunokuni Japan
Died: Crucified on February 5, 1597 at Nagasaki
Japan
Beatified: September 14, 1627 by Pope Urban VIII
Canonized: June 8, 1862 by Pope Pius IX
Saint Paul was born and raised in the Tsunokuni district near Kyoto in comfortable
surroundings. He was the son of a brave soldier, Miki Handayu. When Paul was
four years old his parents converted to Christianity. Because of the teachings of the
Jesuit, Saint Francis Xavier who came to Japan in 1549, there were hundreds of
thousands of Christians in Japan.
As happens many times the Christians were allowed to practice their faith only
because it pleased the reigning ruler. Oda Nobunaga, the Japanese ruler permitted
the missionaries to preach because he wanted to challenge the power of the Buddhist
Monks. He was also interested in foreign trade. When he died in 1582, one of his
generals, Toyotomi Hideyoshi seized power.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was one of the most significant figures in Japanese history. He
was so respected that he became a Shinto deity shortly after his death and given the
title “Wealth of Nations”. His greatest ambition was to establish a Japanese empire
extending over the whole of Asia.
Christianity, however, was seen as a religion of foreigners. It was very different
from Buddhism or the native Shintoism which honored many minor gods. Japan
and especially Toyotomi Hideyoshi feared the foreigners. When Toyotomi noticed
that Christianity was becoming very popular with the people he became extremely
nervous. In 1587 Toyotomi issued an edict that banned all Jesuits missionaries from
entering Japan. The edict was never fully enforced so Saint Paul Miki and his
missionary friends continued to evangelize with little interruption.
Things change when in the fall of 1596 a Spanish ship en route to Mexico from
Manila wrecked on the coast of Japan. The Japanese officials confiscated the
vessel’s cargo. Then it was rumored that the ship’s captain was spreading a story
that the missionaries intended to help Spain in conquering Japan. That scared
Hideyoshi. He quickly ordered the arrest of several priest and laymen who had
come to Japan from the Spanish Philippines to evangelize. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was
firmly convinced that a public, gruesome blood bath would put an end to this
religion of the West.
On the day after Christmas in 1596, police came to the Jesuit residence in Osaka.
Saint Paul Miki, along with two of his novice brothers, John Soan De Goto and
James Kisai were taken. They were brought to a prison in Kyoto where they were
joined by six Franciscans and fifteen members of the Franciscan Third Order.
A week later, without any kind of a trial, the twenty-four prisoners were led into the
public square where they were given the death sentence. The innocent prisoners
were to be crucified. Saint Paul Miki’s heart soared to think he was going to be
given a chance to imitate Christ on the Cross. Each man then stood at attention as a
samurai warrior cut off a portion of their left ear. The first blood shed for Christ,
but not to be the last!
The Samurai were an elite group of Japanese warriors. They employed a range of
weapons such as arrows, spears and guns. Their favorite weapon and their symbol
was the sword. The Samurai were supposed to live their lives according to the
ethical code of bushido (way of the warrior) which stressed loyalty to one’s master,
self discipline and respectful and ethical behavior. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi
reunited Japan he introduced a rigid caste system, forcing all samurai to decide
between a life on the farm and a life in castle towns. It was forbidden for anyone to
bear a sword. Only a samurai warrior had that privilege.
The prisoners were gathered together and forced to begin a 600 mile walk from the
Japanese capitol of Kyoto to Nagasaki on the coast, the place of their execution. The
journey took a month during which they were ridiculed by the Japanese and
encouraged and prayed for by the Christians. Saint Paul Miki, even as a Jesuit
novice for he had not yet been ordained, was famous for his preaching and he took
every opportunity on this journey to preach the good news of Christ in spite of the
severe suffering all of them experienced.
Along with the Jesuits and the Franciscans there were Japanese laymen who were
also counted in the group of martyrs. There was Francis, a carpenter who was
arrested while watching the executions and then crucified; Gabriel, the nineteen
year-old son of the Franciscan’s door keeper; Leo Kinuya, a twenty-eight year-old
carpenter from Miyako; Diego Kisai, temporal coadjutor of the Jesuits; Joachim
Sakakibara, a cook for the Franciscans; Peter Sukejiro, sent by a Jesuit priest to
help the prisoners; Cosmas Takeya who had preached in Osaka and Ventura from
Miyako who had been baptized by the Jesuits and had given up his faith on the
death of his father, but was brought back to the church by the Franciscans. All
during the journey the group sang the Te Deum.
At the last stop outside of Nagasaki, the community which had the most converts to
Christianity, two Jesuit priests met the group to hear confessions. Two more people
were arrested on the spot for trying to comfort the soon to be martyrs and so their
number was increased.
As the caravan entered the city of Nagasaki, thousands of faithful Christians lined
the streets to encourage the prisoners. Under a feudal lord, Baron Omura,
Nagasaki had become a Christian town. Jesuits had schools, churches and homes
for the poor. If Hideyoshi had intended the crucifixions to discourage the
Christians here, his plan was already having the opposite effect.
February 5th the day of the execution, Saint Paul and the others were led up
Nishizaka Hill, the final piece of land overlooking Nagasaki Bay. One side of the
road was scattered with human remains, where common criminals were executed.
The other side of the road was covered in green wheat. The government official in
charge of the executions had been persuaded by some influential Portuguese to give
the martyrs a more decent field than those of the common criminals.
There were twenty-six crosses on the ground each one tailor made for the martyrs.
When the prisoners saw them, they burst into praise singing the church’s traditional
hymn of thanksgiving the Te Deum. The three children martyrs who had been altar
servers embraced their little crosses and knelt down. Saint Paul Miki’s cross was
too big for him so the soldiers had to tie him on, stepping on his chest. A missionary
standing by protested, but Saint Paul said, “Let him do his job Father. It does not
really hurt”.
The crosses were lifted and slid into the holes in the ground. The martyrs raised
their eyes to heaven and began singing “Praise the Lord, ye children of the Lord”.
Finally one of the prisoners chanted the litany, “Jesus, Mary. Jesus, Mary”. The
crowds joined in. Then each prisoner was asked if they wanted to recant their faith
in exchange for their lives. Each one loudly answered “NO”.
Planted in front of Saint Paul Miki’s cross was the death sentence Hideyoshi had
declared: “As these men came from the Philippines under the guise of ambassadors
and chose to stay in Kyoto preaching the Christian law which I severely forbidden
all these years, I come to decree that they be put to death, together with the
Japanese that have accepted that law. Fastened to his cross with ropes and a metal
band around his neck like all the others, Saint Paul gave his final defense in the
form of a samurai farewell song:
I did not come from the Philippines. I am Japanese by birth and a brother of the
Society of Jesus. I have committed no crime. The only reason I am condemned to die
is that I have taught the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am happy to do it for such a
cause and accept death as a great gift from my Lord. At this critical time, when you
can rest assured that I will not try to deceive you, I want to stress and make it
unmistakably clear that man can find no way to salvation other than the Christian
way. The Christian law commands that we forgive our enemies and those who have
wronged us. I must therefore say here that I forgive Hideyoshi and all who took a part
in my death. I do not hate Hideyoshi. I would rather have him and all the Japanese
become Christians.
The guards listened quietly. Saint Paul had shown he could remain a faithful
Japanese, adhere to the Samurai code of Honor, and yet give glory to Christ.
Looking to heaven, Saint Paul said, “Lord into your hands I commend my spirit.
Come to meet me, ye saints of God.”
Two Samurai soldiers stood at the foot of each cross. Following the Japanese
method of crucifixion each soldier plunged his steel-tipped bamboo spear into the
victim’s breast. As the executions continued an angry roar came from the crowd.
When the murders were complete the Christian witnesses pushed past the guards
and rushed to soak their clothes in the martyr’s blood. The bodies remained on the
crosses and left to decompose for almost a year and half until 1598 when Hideyoshi
permitted an envoy from the Philippines to gather the last remains of the martyrs
and their crosses. The Christians planted a tree in each of the holes in the ground
left by the crosses and in the center they built a big cross. Hideyoshi’s plan to
extinguish Christianity had backfired.
Presently, 400 years after their deaths, a church, museum and monument stand atop
the Nishizaka Hill to commemorate the brave early martyrs of the Japanese
Christian community. In 1862 Pope Gregory XVI proclaimed Saint Paul Miki and
his Companions saints of the Roman Catholic Church.
Saint Paul Miki, pray for us in these perilous times that we too will not be afraid to
die for Christ.
RESOURCES:
http://saints.sqpn.com/saintp48.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/ar/tjhsaints/miki.html
http://www.catholic.org/printer_friendly.php?id=1069&section=Saints+%26+Angel
http://www.wf-f.org/vni/tieu/saints/St0206.htm
http://w.s.uedu/-dee/Tokjapan/toyotomi.htm
http://wau.org/resources/article/a_samurais_noble_death/
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Miki