Twenty-six
Martyrs of Japan. We will do something similar here, every February 5 we will
get 26 Christian Martyrs who either were martyred or murdered and honor them on
February 5, June 8 and September 14 every year.
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日本二十六聖人
26 мучеників Японії Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan |
The Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan (日本二十六聖人 Nihon Nijūroku Seijin?) refers to a group of Christians
who were executed by crucifixion on February 5, 1597 at Nagasaki. Their
martyrdom is especially significant in the history of Roman Catholicism in Japan.
A promising beginning to Catholic
missions in Japan — perhaps as many as 300,000 Christians by the end of the
sixteenth century — met complications from competition between the missionary groups,
political difficulty between Spain and Portugal, and factions within the
government of Japan. Christianity was suppressed, and it was during this time
that the 26 martyrs were executed. By 1630, Christianity had been driven
underground. Two hundred and fifty years later, when Christian missionaries
returned to Japan, they found a community of "hidden
Christians" that had survived underground.
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