| 6 Thursday | |
| | | Archdiocese of Cape Town, South Africa | | white | Our Lady of the Flight into Egypt , Co-Patronal Feast of the Archdiocese | Feast | | Mass from the Common of the BVM, Gloria, readings from the Common of the BVM, preface of the BVM. |
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| Anniversary: | 48th anniversary of the death of F. John Joseph Conway (56) d. 1977 at Musami, Republic of Rhodesia.  | | Anniversary: | 48th anniversary of the death of P. Christopher Shepherd-Smith (34) d. 1977 at Musami, Republic of Rhodesia. | | Anniversary: | 48th anniversary of the death of P. Martin Thomas (44) d. 1977 at Musami, Republic of Rhodesia. |
| Jubilee: | Porcelain Jubilee of +P. Dhanapalan RAYAR who celebrates 20 years since professing Final Vows today. |
On this day in our Jesuit history...
| | Bl. Francis Pacheco, Charles Spinola, priests and companions; | | St. Paul Miki, S.J. religious, and his companions, martyrs. Memorial. He died on February 5, 1597. | | | Saints Paul Miki, Religious, and Companions; Blessed Charles Spinola, Sebastian Kimura, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs (Martyrs in Japan) (Memorial)
It is estimated that in 1590 there were 200,000 Christians in Japan. However, the Christians began to be persecuted by the rulers, and Christianity was outlawed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Jesuits carried on their ministries in hiding till they were captured and condemned to death. In 1597, Paul Miki, John Soan de Goto and James Kisai, together with 120 Christians, were crucified on a hill near Nagasaki. Between 1617 and 1639, as the persecutions grew intense, thirty-eight Jesuits, including Charles Spinola and Sebastian Kimura, were martyred for the faith.
| | 1593 | Bl. James Sales and William Saultemouche are martyred in France, by Calvinists, for their defense of the Eucharist. Sales was a priest, teacher, preacher, age 37, and Saultemouche was a brother, porter, age 36. | | 1600 | At Nanking, Fr. Matthew Ricci, after being expelled from this city, returned and opened a seminary. | | 1612 | At Rome the death of Father Christopher Clavius, the Euclid of his age. He took a leading part in the reformation of the Calendar under Gregory XIII. | | 1763 | The banishment of the Society from Louisiana by order of the French government. The exiles sail from New Orleans; run aground at the Bahamas; and eventually arrive at Spain on April 6th. | | 1977 | John Conway, S.J., brother; Martin Thomas, Christopher Shepherd-Smith, priests, and their companions, are martyred in Zimbabwe by terrorists. | | 1985 | Lorenzo Reed, S.J. dies He wrote on Jesuit Education. | | 1988 | Fr. Al Jonson, S.J., of the Maryland Province is consecrated bishop of Reykjavik, Iceland. He had been professor of business at Wheeling College. Nine priests minister to 1,500 Catholics, out of a population of 240,000. | | | | |
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