Tokyo, 01 June 2007. Pope Benedict XVI signed a decree approving the beatification of Peter Kibe and 187 other martyrs on June 1st, something which the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan has long been requesting the Pope to do. The date when the beatification will be publicly proclaimed and celebrated will be determined after consultation between the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan and the Holy Office in Rome.
The 188 martyrs whose beatification has been determined were all persecuted for their Christian faith under the harsh repressive policies of the Tokugawa bakufu between 1603 and 1639. They are all Japanese, hailing from all parts of Japan. They include lay people, both male and female, adults and children; they include also members of religious orders and priests. Peter Kibe, whose name heads the list, was born in 1579 in Bungo (which is now Oita Prefecture) and was martyred in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1639. Determined to become a priest and come to the aid of his fellow Japans suffering under the severe persecution, he showed dauntless courage in walking across a continent (from India to Rome) to get himself ordained a priest in Rome, and then in hurrying back to Japan to help his people. Julian Nakaura (born in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1568 and martyred in Nagasaki City in 1639) is famous as one of the four youths who were sent on the first Japanese legation to Europe (1582 to 1590), thus becoming one of Japan’s first bridge-builders to the Western world.
Five of the 188 were priests and/or members of religious orders. The remaining 183 were samurai; townspeople; housewives; men and women, young and old; people engaged in evangelization; whole families meeting death together; men servants, handmaids, nameless people of the lower classes; some nearly blind and otherwise physically incapacitated. They represent a wide variety of people, all living different kinds of lives.
The 188 martyrs were not political activists fighting for their basic human rights, crying out against a regime that denied them freedom of religion. They were people of deep and genuine faith who staked their lives on what they believed. They give all of us much to ponder. (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan)
