26 Martyrs of Japan
02/05/1597 AD executed
St. Paul Miki (1564-1597), a Jesuit scholastic, and 25 other Catholics are executed by crucifixion. Their martyrdom is especially significant in the history of the Catholic Church in Japan.
A promising beginning to Catholic missions in Japan – with perhaps as many as 300,000 Catholics by the end of the 16th century – met complications from competition between the missionary groups, political difficulty between Portugal and Spain and factions within the government of Japan. Christianity was suppressed and it was during this time that the twenty-six martyrs were executed.
The shogunate and the imperial government at first supported the Catholic mission and the missionaries, thinking that they would reduce the power of the Buddhist monks and help trade with Spain and Portugal. By the late 1500s, the government had begun to grow wary of foreign influence; the shogunate was also concerned about colonialism.
In 1587, Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered all Christians expelled from Japan on the grounds that foreigners threatened the Japanese state and that Christianity was hostile to Buddhism.
