Litany of Saints
Picture: Antonio Francisco Cardim · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Girolamo de Angelis

Italian Jesuit missionary to Japan

BlessedResearchedSociety of Jesus

Feast: 4 December (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)

Born
1567
verified
Died
4 December 1623
verified
Beatified
7 July 1867
unverified
Canonised
not yet

Who they were

Girolamo de Angelis, born in Sicily in 1567, joined the Jesuits in 1585 and from 1602 worked in Japan, staying on after missionaries were expelled. He was the first missionary to reach the northern lands of Yezo.

Seeing his converts persecuted because of him, he gave himself up. He was burned alive for the Faith on 4 December 1623.

The miracles

As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.

Why that counted as sanctity

A missionary who gave himself up to spare his converts.

Connected on this site

  • Francisco Gálvez Blessed
    “At Edo in Japan, the blessed martyrs Francisco Gálvez, priest of the Order of Friars Minor, Girolamo de Angelis, priest, and Simon Yempo, religious, both of the Society of Jesus, burned at the stake out of hatred for the faith.” — this site's research
Sources

Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.

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