Franciszek Nihachi
Feast: 10 September (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Francis, son of Blessed Louis Nihachi (named in the Martyrology as Louis Higashi), was martyred at Nagasaki with his father and his brother Dominic. He was one of the twenty companions of Blessed Antonio of Saint Bonaventure and Blessed Domingo Castellet, martyred at Nagasaki by the sword or by fire; many of the group were lay people and children. The Church remembers them on 8 September.
He is one of the 205 martyrs killed in Japan for the Catholic faith between 1617 and 1632 whom Pius IX declared Blessed on 7 July 1867.
The miracles
In 1867 Pius IX approved four signs in the cause of the 205 martyrs of Japan; the source does not describe them.
Why that counted as sanctity
A child martyred with his father and brother.
- Conferenza Episcopale Italiana - Santo del giorno, 8 settembre (Martirologio Romano)
- Acta Sanctae Sedis 2 (1867), pp. 478-481 and 638-641 - decrees of Pius IX on the 205 martyrs of Japan (1617-1632)
- Directorio Franciscano (Franciscan Order, Spain) - Beatos Ricardo de Santa Ana y compañeros, mártires de Japón (beatification of the 205 on 7 July 1867)
- Wikidata Q24953277 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.