“Like my Master, I shall die upon the cross. Like Him, a lance will pierce my heart so that my blood and my love can flow out upon the land and sanctify it to His name.”
Paul was born in 1564 to a Japanese military leader and affluent family near Osaka, Japan. He became a Christian when his whole family was converted by Saint Francis Xavier.
When he was 20, for his education he entered the Jesuit seminary in Azuchi and joined the Jesuits 2 years later. He was well-known, and an eloquent speaker, who was very successful in drawing Buddhists to the Catholic faith.
In Japan, after the death of Saint Francis Xavier in 1587, around 200,000 Japanese had entered the Church. Religious tensions led to a period of persecution during that year in which many churches were destroyed, and missionaries were forced to work in secret.
Franciscan missionaries had come to Japan from the Philippines by the order of Spain’s King Philip II. Suspicion with Japan’s military and leadership rose when a Spanish ship was seized off the coast and found to be carrying artillery. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a powerful imperial minister, responded by sentencing 26 Catholics to death. Paul was only a few months from being ordained a priest when he was arrested. He would have been the 1st Japanese born priest.
The group was marched 600 miles to the city of Nagasaki. During the journey they underwent public torture meant to terrorize other Japanese Christians, but instead the 26 held out courageously, even singing a Te Deum hymn of praise. They also prayed the rosary and preached to those who came out to see them, telling them that martyrdom was an occasion of rejoicing.
They were all crucified, and while hanging on the cross, Paul Miki preached to those who gathered for the execution; “The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason that I die. After Christ’s example, I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.” All were then lanced to death in front of a large crowd.
The site became to be known as “Martyrs Hill”. Pope Pius IX canonized the Martyrs in 1862.
Today, Nagasaki, a major port city and the site of an atomic bomb detonation during WWII, has the largest Catholic population of Japan.
His feast day is February 6.
For God’s Glory.
