Posts

Showing posts with the label Japan

26 martyrs museum, Nagasaki

Image
The website for the Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum in Nagasaki exists for two purposes: 1. To propagate the virtues of the Martyrs and their message. 2. To present the history of Christianity in Japan from the arrival of Francis Xavier in Japan to the Meiji Era and to give a Christian vision of the period. The story of the martyrs and the list of those who gave their lives for the faith is very moving. They were raised on crosses and then put to death by having lances thrust through them. The list of the saints includes ordinary young working men and traders who showed extraordinary courage in witness to the faith. The picture above is a particular treasure of the museum. It is a Western-Japanese (Namban Art) piece that survived the long period of persecution in Japan. It was probably made in Nagasaki by some of the Christian painters of the famous "Kano" school, between 1600 and 1614. It is a western style portrait of Mary, painted in Japanese paper, with Japanese colors and Ja...
Read more

Chiral Capers

Image
An interesting new blog is Chiral Capers (Observations of Japan in matters cultural, photographical and theological.) The blog is placed under the patronage of the Sancti and Beati of the Order of Preachers. The author, Robert Bautista is an undergraduate student of science and international studies at the University of Technology, Sydney and has been sent to study at Yamanashi in central Japan for a year, to conduct a cultural immersion and research programme. At his blog, he intends to document his experiences with a special emphasis on the state of the Catholic Faithful in Japan. He does not leave until 1 April but in the meantime will post items of interest related to the Church in Japan. The photo above is from Japan Catholic News and shows pilgrims at Shiroyama Catholic Church. This is from a collection of photos from the beatification of Peter Kibe and 187 other Japanese martyrs at Nagasaki last November.
Read more

The Samurai with the Cross

Last week 188 Japanese martyrs were beatified at Nagasaki. Put to death between 1606 and 1639, they were led by Fr Peter Kibe Kasui who was converted by St Francis Xavier's group of Jesuit missionaries. Within 50 years, the Jesuits had converted 400,000 Japanese to Christianity. Blessed Peter Kibe was tortured to death by being hung upside down with his head immersed in a pit filled with excrement and animal carcasses. I wonder if he mentally recited Psalm 39? Expectans expectavi Dominum et intendit mihi et exaudivit preces meas et eduxit me de lacu miseriae et de luto faecis The Douai-Rheims translates this as: "With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me. And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs." But the plural of faex is faeces which fits the situation. He must have been gladder than many to depart this life and go to heaven. In his article The Samurai with the Cross , Sandro Magister reports:...
Read more

Popular posts from this blog

Congratulations to Paul and Catherine

Image
Married today at Our Lady of the Rosary Father, keep them always true to your commandments. Keep them faithful in marriage, and let them be living examples of Christian life. Give them the strength which comes from the gospel so that they may be witnesses of Christ to others. Bless them with children and help them to be good parents. May they live to see their children's children. And, after a happy old age, grant them fulness of life with the saints in the kingdom of heaven. from the Nuptial Blessing
Read more

Baptism water rosary photo

Image
This photo is doing the rounds at the moment. Here is the accompanying text: This was taken at the baptism of Valentino Mora, son of Erica, a single mom of 21 who asked the photographer to take a picture of her son for free. The photo of the baptism of Valentino Mora is sweeping the Internet, because at the time the priest pours the Holy water over his head, the water flows in the shape of a rosary. This story began at the Parish of the Assumption of Our Lady in Cordova, Spain, where the baptism of a one month baby took place. At the time that Valentino came to the baptismal font for the sacrament of baptism, Erica asked the photographer Maria Silvana Salles, who was hired by other parents baptizing their babies, to take a photo of her son as a favor, since the young mother had no way of paying for it. The photographer, moved by Erica's request, agreed to take a photo of Valentino. Maria Silvana works with a traditional camera and had to send the film to be developed to a shop in ...
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

Saints of Christian Unity

Image
Fr Anthony Ho has an article for Pax Sinaica (scroll down for the English version) in which he looks at St Francis de Sales and Blessed Marie Gabriella ( right ). Concerning St Francis de Sales, Fr Ho makes this observation: St. Francis won the heart of the people gradually with his patience and kindness. The parents would not come to St. Francis, so he came to their children and played with them. When the parents saw how kind he was as he played with their children, they started to talk to him.
Read more