188 Japanese martyrs to be beatified in Nagasaki

November 20, 2008

Four priests and 184 lay faithful, including children, who suffered martyrdom in a wave of persecution that began in 1603, will be beatified in Nagasaki next week. The persecution, which ended in 1873, claimed the lives of some 30,000 Christians. Cardinal Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi, the retired archbishop of Tokyo, will preside at the ceremony, which will take place under the spot where an American atomic bomb exploded in 1945.

 

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Further information:

• Japan to Celebrate Beatification of Its Martyrs; Minority Church Mobilizing to Accommodate Crowds (Zenit)
• Japan revisits dark chapter in Christianity’s past (AFP)