Saints Paul Miki and his Companions, Martyrs – Readings
Commentary on Galatians 2:19-20; Matthew 28:16-20
The Gospel reading is from the very end of Matthew’s Gospel. We find the disciples of Jesus gathered, at his instructions, on a mountain in Galilee, the scene of most of Jesus’ public life and where many of his disciples came from. It is after the resurrection, and the disciples have some problems in recognising their Risen Master. They have yet to learn that the Risen Jesus is to be recognised in many different faces—in fact, in the face of every one of his followers.
Jesus is about to leave them to go to his Father, but before he goes, he passes on his mission to them. They are to do what he did. He tells them:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…
And they are to teach the new followers just what Jesus had taught them, in other words, all that we read in the Gospels. And then there are the final words of encouragement:
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
This is a reminder of the message given to Joseph when he was told that he should take Mary, already pregnant with child, as his wife. He was reminded that the virgin mother had been foretold by Isaiah:
Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel. (Matt 1:23)
Matthew tells us that ‘Emmanuel’ means ‘God is with us’, and Jesus is now telling his disciples and all other followers that he is Emmanuel, that he will be with his followers for ever.
It was in their obeying of these instructions, making disciples for Christ and baptising them, that Paul Miki and his companions were persecuted, arrested, and at the end, cynically condemned to the same fate as their Master—death on a cross.
In today’s First Reading, from the Letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul utters words which are perfectly fitted to the martyrdom of the Japanese Paul and his companions:
I have been crucified [literally, co-crucified, sun-estauromai] with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.
There could not be a more perfect identification with Christ than that manifested by these Nagasaki martyrs, who disregarded their own temporal interests to identify themselves with their crucified Saviour, confident they would rise with him.
Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.
(Luke 23:43)
Saints Paul Miki and his Companions, Martyrs
Paul Miki, born into a rich family, was the son of a Japanese military leader. He was born at Tounucumada, Japan and educated at the Jesuit college of Anziquiama. He joined the Jesuits in 1580, and became known for his eloquent preaching.
The authorities, fearing the Jesuits’ influence, made them an object of persecution. Miki was jailed along with other Christians. He and his Christian companions were forced to walk about 1,000 km (600 miles) from Kyoto as a punishment for the whole community. On the way they sang the Te Deum, the Church’s hymn of praise and thanksgiving. Finally they arrived at Nagasaki, the city which had the most conversions to Christianity.
Paul, still a Jesuit scholastic (i.e. a Jesuit in training) and aged 35, was crucified on 5-February 1597, along with 25 other Catholics. He preached his last sermon from the cross and it is maintained that, like his Master, he forgave his executioners, stating that he himself was a Japanese.
Together with him died Santiago Kisai, also a Jesuit scholastic, and Diego Kisai (or Kizayemon), a Jesuit brother, in addition to 22 priests and lay people. This took place during the persecution of Christians under the Taiko, Toyotomi Hideyoshi—who ruled Japan in the name of the emperor.
Among the Japanese who died were: Francis, a carpenter who was arrested while watching the executions and then crucified; Gabriel, the 19-year-old son of the Franciscans’ doorkeeper; Leo Kinuya, a 28-year-old carpenter from Miyako; Joachim Sakakibara, a cook for the Franciscans at Osaka; Peter Sukejiro, sent by a Jesuit priest to help the prisoners, and who was himself arrested; and Cosmas Takeya from Owari, who had preached in Osaka. Also killed was Ventura from Miyako, who had been baptized by the Jesuits, but had given up his faith on the death of his father. He subsequently became a Buddhist monk, but was then brought back to the Church by Franciscans.
All were canonized as the Martyrs of Japan by Pope Pius IX in 1862.
Read more