Martyrs of Japan, (St. Paul Miki, rel and comp., Bl Charles Spinola, Sebastian Kimura, prs, and comp., martyrs [SJ] Texts in the Jesuit Supplement. (Download Mass texts and Divine Office texts here)
Memorial
Mass of the saint; preface of the weekday, or of the saint.
Common of Martyrs (Readings from the Common of Saints: [528] Gal 2:19-20 (#740.5); Ps 126:1bc-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6 (#715.4); Matt 28:19a, 20b (#723.2); Matt 28:16-20 (#724.4)) Hours of the Memorial.
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.
Anniversary:
123rd anniversary of the death of F. John Joseph Conway (56) d. 1977 at Musami, Republic of Rhodesia.
Anniversary:
123rd anniversary of the death of P. Christopher Shepherd-Smith (34) d. 1977 at Musami, Republic of Rhodesia.
Anniversary:
123rd anniversary of the death of P. Martin Thomas (44) d. 1977 at Musami, Republic of Rhodesia.
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.
