Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan

Who they were

On 5 February 1597, during the persecution begun by the regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi, twenty-six Christians were crucified on Nishizaka hill in Nagasaki and killed with lances: six Franciscans, the Japanese Jesuit Paul Miki and two Jesuit novices who took their vows hours before they died, and seventeen lay converts, among them two young boys.

The miracles

As martyrs, they did not need approved miracles. Their memorial is 6 February.

Why that counted as sanctity

Priests, religious and lay people, Japanese and foreign, adults and children died together for Christ, forgiving their executioners from their crosses.

Connected on this site

• Francisco Blanco Saint
  “Francisco Blanco, OFM was a Spanish Catholic Franciscan missionary and martyr, one of the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan (日本二十六聖人 Nihon Nijūroku Seijin).” — Wikipedia
• Paul Miki Saint
  “Canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1862, Miki is recognized as one of the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan.” — Wikipedia
• Philip of Jesus Saint
  “Philip of Jesus, OFM (Spanish: Felipe de Jesús; 1572 – 1597) was a New Spanish Franciscan missionary who became one of the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan.” — Wikipedia
• Caius of Korea Blessed
  “Caius of Korea (1571 in Korea – 15 November 1624 in Nagasaki, Japan) is the 128th of the 205 Catholic Martyrs of Japan beatified by Pope Pius IX on 7 July 1867, after he had canonized the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan five years before on 8 June 1862.” — Wikipedia