giuseppe chiara
s. angelo minore, s. maria della misericordia, san giuseppe, santa chiara, san filippo
japan' s historical records show that only two missionaries from italy had been held at the site, sidotti and giuseppe chiara .
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giuseppe chiara' s last name was changed to okamoto, and he was given a japanese wife. we know that chiara remained at the “christian house” for 40 years until his death in 1685. (this fr. chiara is the model for fr. sebastian rodrigues in endo’s aforementioned novel silence) .
among them was giuseppe chiara, a jesuit missionary who smuggled himself into japan in the 17th century. he lived in this compound for 40 years until his death in his 80s .
wzb - demographic development, social change, and social capital - prof. chiara saraceno
they were then allowed to live in japan under confinement, and given japanese names. giuseppe chiara' s last name was changed to okamoto, and he was given a japanese wife .
“un comandamento inattuale? ”, in: laras, giuseppe; saraceno, chiara, onora il padre e la madre, bologna: il mulino 2010, voci series, pp. 85 - 130 .
the name giuseppe is a boy' s name of italian origin. giuseppe and is often added to lists like variations of joseph and discussed in our forums with posts like
build a sibling set together !
.
in june 1643 the second rubino group, consisting of the italian jesuits pedro márquez, alonso arroyo, francisco cassola, giuseppe chiara, and six companions, landed on ōshima in chikuzen and were immediately arrested .
giuseppe chiara was an italian priest who apostatized (swore off christianity) in 1643. he later married a japanese woman, taking the name and samurai status of her late husband, okamoto san' emon .
among its first occupants were four italian jesuits giuseppe chiara, pedro marquez, alfonso arroyo and francisco cassola who had infiltrated japan on a mission to find cristovao ferreira and convince him to return to the faith .
endo based his novel on historical documents, including a 17th - century diary written by a clerk in a residence in which apostate catholics, including giuseppe chiara, lived. this is especially important for the final chapter of the novel .
compri was surprised to learn that chiara was being honored as a martyr, and not remembered as an apostate .
cristóvão ferreira (1580 - 1650), the former teacher whom rodrigues is seeking, was a historical figure who did, indeed, apostasize. the character of rodrigues was based on an italian priest, giuseppe chiara (1610 - 1685) .
dna analysis on a tooth showed it to be of italian extraction. at the time just two italians were in the country, sidotti and the jesuit missionary priest father giuseppe chiara. the latter was cremated after he died aged 84 so it could not be his skeleton .
the only other italian males known to have come to the kirishitan yashiki were the four missionaries mentioned above: giuseppe chiara, pedro marquez, alfonso arroyo and francisco cassola. the fate of three of the men is unknown, but we know that chiara remained at the kirishitan yashiki until he died at the age of 84, and his body was cremated (this scene is depicted in the 2016 movie silence where the main character - - based on giuseppe chiara - - is cremated in an upright sitting position in a wooden barrel - type container). the skeleton at the construction site was not cremated, and was of someone closer to sidotti' s age when he died at the age of 46 .
chiara lived in remorse for renouncing his faith ,
said compri .
but i believe he never really gave it up .
chiara underwent many kinds of torture in captivity. while imprisoned, he was reunited with cristovao ferreira, his former mentor - turned - apostate .
last spring, compri visited chiara' s hometown in sicily. a portrait of chiara he saw bore a caption that read ,
he worked as a missionary in japan, but was called to heaven when he was fatally stabbed in the neck with sharp bamboo sticks by the locals .
chiara was given a japanese wife and the name of sanemon okamoto, and confined in the christian compound in edo (present - day tokyo) .
keck, wolfgang and chiara saraceno ,
grandchildhood in germany and italy: an exploration
, in: leira, arnlaug and chiara saraceno (eds .), childhood: changing contexts. comparative social research, vol. 25, bingley, uk, emerald 2008, pp. 135 - 166 .
we' re excited that you have an opinion about the name giuseppe. to rate names on nameberry, please register for an account or log in to an existing account .
„introduction: intergenerational relations in families - a micro - macro perspective”, in: chiara saraceno (hg .), families, ageing and social policy .
i thought about the inner dignity with which chiara lived into his old age, bearing up under the stigma of
korobi bateren
( fallen priest) .
the story was based on the experiences of a real - life italian missionary, giuseppe chiara. in the book, he is called sebastiao rodriguez, and he is sent to japan to investigate claims that a senior priest there, father ferreira, has renounced his faith. what he finds is a small community of believers under intense pressure to cave .
officials then urged him to marry, or at least take a woman as his housekeeper. their intention was to take advantage of ferreira' s psychological depression after his apostasy and, through this marriage, undercut his personality and self - esteem. the marriage helped cause adverse publicity, and the same strategy was later used against giuseppe chiara and his companions .
leira, arnlaug and chiara saraceno (eds .), ¬ childhood: changing contexts. comparative social research, vol. 25, bingley, uk, emerald 2008 .
rodrigues / chiara remained captive in japan. we do not know what he would have done if given his freedom. historical records attest that the chiara, who died forty years after his apostasy, declared himself always to be a christian, though a silent one, a hidden one. it is in his lowliness that he hears the voice of christ .
lubich, chiara (2012 )
paradise ’49 ,
claritas: journal of dialogue and culture: vol. 1: no. 1, article 3. available at: urltoken
with m. olagnero and p. torrioni )
patterns of sociability in the enlarged eu
, in: jens alber, tony fahey and chiara saraceno (eds .) ,
as records show that chiara was cremated after his death at 84, the unearthed remains are almost certain to be of sidotti, who was 47 when he died in 1714, researchers said .
povertà e politiche contro la povertà in europa. le promesse e i limiti dell’agenda di lisbona
, in: annali della fondazione giuseppe di vittorio 2006 /, ediesse, roma, 2007, pp. 79 - 102 .
there is an old memorial not far from the kirishitan - zaka. it has a pillar on the right side an old stone marker in the center with faint writing inscribed on it, and over the stone marker is a signboard erected by the local government with information which i have already written here. it mentions inoue masahige as well as giuseppe chiara and giovanni battista sidotti, and says that the place burned down in 1724. there also a few other small stone memorials on the left .
a: yes, the novel is based on the life story of an italian figure called giuseppe chiara, who in the novel becomes the protagonist – the young portuguese jesuit rodrigues. rodrigues is sent to japan to help the local church and investigate reports that his mentor, the jesuit priest ferreira (based on the historical figure of cristóvão ferreira) has committed apostasy [ abandoned his faith ] – a fact which rodrigues finds impossible to believe. endō told me once that his inspirations for the novel were twofold :
chiara is the model for sebastiao rodrigues, a jesuit apostate in
chinmoku
( silence), a historical fiction by shusaku endo (1923 - 1996). the novel has been made into a film of the same title by american director martin scorsese .
( with antonio schizzerotto), “dimensioni della disuguaglianza”, introduzione, in: andrea brandolini, chiara saraceno, antonio schizzerotto, dimensioni della disuguaglianza in italia: povertà, salute, abitazione, bologna: società editrice il mulino 2009, pp. 9 - 35 .
patterns of family living in the enlarged eu
, in: jens alber, tony fahey and chiara saraceno (eds .), handbook of quality of life in the enlarged european union, routledge, london, 2007, pp. 47 - 72 .
the japanese writer shusaku endo wrote a best - selling novel based on the life of father chiara, silence, which is currently being turned into a film by director martin scorsese. it will star
spiderman
andrew garfield along with adam driver and liam neeson .
researchers from the national museum of nature and science pieced together the bone fragments and successfully extracted dna from a tooth. analysis revealed that the person was more than 170 centimeters tall, significantly taller than the 156 cm average height for a japanese man at that time. dna was found to match the genetic characteristics of modern italians. sidotti was reported to be 175 - 178 cm tall and he was one of only two italians held in the prison. the other, giuseppe chiara, was a much older man, 84 years old at time of death, and his remains were cremated .
the main character sebastiao rodrigues in the novel silence by shusaku endo was based on giuseppe chiara. in the novel rodrigues comes to japan in search of cristovao ferreira. the book has also been made into a japanese movie in 1971, and more recently in 2016 directed by martin scorsese. the scorsese movie is well worth seeing. although it is based on a fictional work, it is faithful to historical details, including replicas of some of the fumi - e shown in the above photos. the story also features several real - life characters such as grand inquisitor inoue masashige and apostate missionary cristovao ferreira
( with marco albertini), „intergenerational contact and support: the long - term effects of marital instability in italy”, in: chiara saraceno (hg .), families, ageing and social policy. intergenerational solidarity in european welfare states, elgar publishing, 2008, pp. 194 - 216
we are here publishing a translation of chiara lubich’s talk about her mystical experiences that began in the summer of 1949. 1 this talk was presented at oberiberg, switzerland, on the feast of st. paul, june 30, 1961. the article following this one, entitled “editorial essay: contextualizing ‘paradise ’49, ’ ” is meant to place this talk in historical context and in the context of the development of lubich’s spirituality as well as to add explanatory comments about the text itself. here, we also present excerpts from the introduction to the original italian publication of this talk written by giuseppe m. zanghí, editor of nuova umanità .
endo' s original novel, published in 1966, is a work of historical fiction that draws upon the missionaries who came to 17th century japan during a time when japanese christians were being persecuted and priests were being hunted. that conflict features heavily in silence, which tells the story of two young priests, rodrigues and garrupe, who must hide from japanese authorities while spreading the word of god and searching the country for their mentor, ferreira. historically speaking, neither ferreira, rodrigues, nor garrupe existed, though the character of rodrigues is, in fact, based on the life of italian priest giuseppe chiara, who did missionary work in japan .
it’s no coincidence that endō wrote his novel in 1966 inspired by his country’s own history and the life of the italian jesuit giuseppe chiara, a generation removed from the sharp and forced end to japan’s own imperialist efforts. he’d converted to catholicism at age 10 for his mother and during wwii found himself a lonely practitioner of the religion of japan’s enemies—an outsider in his own country. later he moved to france seeking something closer to acceptance, only to find himself the target of european racism. his book, from this thornily conflicted japanese catholic perspective, reflects a much richer, and much more complicated interrogation into the collision of forces that converged upon and within japan, yielding universal questions from such a specific life .
in the film, ferreira challenges chiara / rodrigues :
don' t you see that god remains silent while you (and others) suffer ?
after an excruciating struggle with his own conscience, he gives in to
fumi - e
- - the act of trampling on an image of christ or the virgin mary in renunciation of the christian faith .
they were later moved to the newly built kirishitan yashiki to live out their days in solitude. apparently they were the first missionaries to live there. nothing more is known of the fate of three of the men, but we know that chiara remained at the kirishitan yashiki until his death forty years later in 1685. before he died, he stated that he was still a christian .
. the late afternoon procession, after the deposition in the cathedral, end in front of the church of san giuseppe, where the two images of our lady of sorrows and christ are brought before each other. in the evening, four hundred confraternity members, barefoot and hooded, from five confraternities form the religious procession that precedes the carriage bearing the veiled statue of the dead christ, in a ritual that has remained unchanged since the 16th. c .
francesco carraro had a truly visionary taste in art. polymathic in his interests — from italian glass and tiffany lamps to 20th - century works of art and modern furniture — carraro, with his wife chiara, focused their curiosity and connoisseurship on exceptional works of art and design. it was a decades - long creative journey that resulted in a deeply personal collection, one composed of only what he loved .
in 1950, lino’s father, giuseppe saputo, and eldest brother, frank, immigrated to canada from their sicilian home. by moving to montréal, the family followed a well - established trend for italians immigrating to canada. two years later, lino came to join giuseppe and frank with his mother, maria, and five other siblings. at first, the 15 - year - old lino found the move difficult, and longed to return to sicily. however, by 1954, his ambitions drove him to encourage his parents to return to cheese making, which had been the family business in sicily. he scraped together $ 500 in savings for equipment and a delivery bike to support his parents, who made cheese in a rented room in the delca cheese factory on rue de rouen. the business quickly benefited from steady demand from fellow italian immigrants, who longed for the products of home. by 1957, the business expanded into a new factory in montréal’s saint - michel neighbourhood. the company further benefited from the increasing popularity of pizza during the 1960s, since it meant growing demand for mozzarella .
in order for apostasy to be genuine, it must be voluntary and not announced under duress. furthermore, father giuseppe chiara, the missionary priest on whom endo based father rodrigues, “died some forty years after his apostasy, stating that he was still a christian, ” as father william johnston notes in the preface to the new edition of silence. there is compelling, if inconclusive, textual evidence that ferreira likewise recovered his faith, ending his life “ courageously for christ. ” all of which underscores c. r. boxer’s important point, in the christian century in japan: 1549 - 1650 —namely, that “the majority, if not all of these spiritual outcasts, revoked their apostasy in the end and returned to the faith in the evening of their days. ” little wonder, then, that the catholic encyclopedia comments: “there is not in the whole history of the church a single people who can offer the admiration of the christian world annals as glorious, and a martyrology as lengthy, as those of the people of japan. ”
the course was supported by an unrestricted grant from bayer. the authors would like to thank qbgroup spa (padua, italy) for its organization and technical expertise in the setup of the course, and dr. selene mogavero (primula multimedia srl, pisa, italy) for help in drafting and revising the manuscript. the authors would also like to thank the following physicians for attending the course: albertini patrizia, avilia simona, barbar sofia, battisti laura, baudo francesco, boeri elio, bonetti elisa, brandolin barbara, caimi teresa maria, cantori isabella, carloni maria teresa, catalano alberto, ciabatta carlo, cimino ernesto, coluccia antonella, conca paolo, contino laura, coppola antonio, cultrera dorina, de gregorio angela, delios grazia, di gregorio patrizia, di perna caterina, dragani alfredo, ettore cosimo pietro, franchini massimo, gamba gabriella, giuffrida anna chiara, lapecorella mario, malcangi giuseppe, mancuso giacomo, margaglione maurizio, martinelli marco, mistretta claudia, molinari angelo claudio, mostarda giovanni, musso margaret, passeri walter, piseddu gavino, rivolta gianna franca, rodorigo giuseppina, rossetti gina, santoro rita, sartori maria teresa, sbrighi piero sandro, scarafile rita, scaraggi francesco antonio, schiavoni mario, siboni simona maria, spagnuolo pasquale, valeri federica, zanon ezio. their input and opinion were critical in generating the reported consensus .
the uk international center (ukic) leads internationalization efforts at the university of kentucky. the work of the ukic is supported by international advisory council, a group of globally - engaged faculty and administrators representing each of the university’s 16 colleges, plus other key academic units .
i truly believe that what universities are about: the production of knowledge - research and scholarship - cannot be contained by national borders... we are in a business that is by nature international .
- dr. sue roberts, associate provost for internationalization .
the story of fr. christovao ferreira, a character in the adapted movie silence by martin scorsese .
we thank fr. thomas onoda, a japanese priest of the society of saint pius x who provided us with this detailed life of father christovao ferreira. fr. onoda’s source is
the case of christovao ferreira
written by fr. walter cieslik, s. j and published in monumenta nipponica in 1974 .
christovão ferreira was born around the year 1580, in the portuguese village of torres vedras in the archdiocese of lisbon .
ferreira entered the society of jesus in 1596. after having done his two - year novitiate, he took his first vows at coimbra on december 25, 1598 .
on april 4, 1600, 20 jesuits embarked at lisbon under the direction of fr. pedro de almeida. ferreira was one of the twenty, which include diogo carvalho, future missionary and martyr in japan. they reached goa successfully and on 1 may 1601, those destined for china and japan sailed to macao .
in macao, the portuguese colonial center in east asia, the jesuits had the central seminary for missionaries destined to work in china and japan: the madre de deus college. ferreira continued his studies at macao. in 1608 he was ordained to the priesthood. on may 16, 1609, ferreira sailed for japan and reached nagasaki on 29 june. he was sent to the seminary at arima to learn the japanese language. he learned the language quickly, and already in 1614, he understood the language well and his sermons in japanese were good .
in 1612 the local daimyo, arima harunobu, who had been one of the patrons of the mission, was banished from his domain and was condemned to death. so, in june 1612, the seminary and most of the missionaries had to leave the region of arima and took refuge in nagasaki .
in the same year, ferreira was sent from nagasaki to kyoto, then the capital of japan, but in april or may 1612 the jesuits had to leave their residence, under pressure from the local authorities .
on christmas 1613, the church in kyoto celebrated the liturgy peacefully, with the number of catholics living in the capital and its suburb which numbered 30, 000 to 40, 000. but immediately after christmas, an edict of religious census was issued only for christians unexpectedly. on seeing this dangerous development, the faithful did the 40 - hours devotion, fasting, and other penances .
on february 12, a government decree was issued ordering all priests, brothers and catechists to proceed to nagasaki and there await further instructions. some missionaries remained in the capital secretly. fr. balthasar de torres chose to remain in osaka, while fr. bento fernández and fr. ferreira stayed in kyoto .
the church and two cemetery chapels in kyoto were dismantled. 70 noble christians of kyoto and osaka were exiled to tsugaru on april 13, while the nuns were told to go to nagasaki and thence into exile with the missionaries .
in october 1617, fr. mattheus de couros was assigned as provincial. fr. ferreira, who had been asked to serve as his secretary, returned to nagasaki. fr. de couros, was handicapped by sickness, even at times completely paralyzed, so a great part of his work fell to his secretary. in december 1618, fr. spinola, the province treasurer, was arrested, and ferreira had also to take over his work of treasurer .
in 1621, the missionaries learned from the portuguese ambassador the reasons the shogun gave for the persecution. he imagined that catholic missionaries intend to rob him of his kingdom by the preaching of the gospel. this suspicion was constantly being attested by the protestant dutch. this was also supported by fabian, a former apostate jesuit brother, through his publication against the catholics .
a new nomination letter arrived from rome in 1621, assigning fr. francisco pacheco as provincial. fr. ferreira replaced pacheco' s mission at central japan. but on february 1625, pacheco was arrested, and on june 20, 1626, he was burned at the stake along with eight other jesuits. fr. couros took over the administration of the province once again and recalled ferreira to act as his secretary until the death of couros in 1632 .
from 1627 to 1632, ferreira compiled an account of the martyrdom of numerous christians in the region of takaku, and in the sulphur springs of unzen. he wrote a moving description of the torture suffered by the japanese jesuit antonio ishida and his companions, who despite inhuman torments could not be persuaded to apostatize. this was ferreira' s last report on the martyrdoms .
after fr couros' s death in 1632, without the nomination of a successor, sebastião vieira, as the senior professed jesuit in japan, took over the administration of the province until his arrest in 1633. following that, ferreira succeeded the post as locum tenens exercising authority until a new appointment of provincial .
one of the most violent phase of japan history against catholics took place from march 1633 to august 1634, especially in nagasaki. the government started a systematic search for priests and faithful together with a new kind of torture, the “ ana - tsurushi, ” the pit. here is an account from a 1633 letter dispatched by a jesuit in the philippines .
they dug a pit some feet deep, and above it they erected a frame from which the body was hung up by the feet. to prevent the blood flowing into the head and causing death too quickly, they tied the body tightly with ropes and cords. the hands were tied behind the back, and the prisoner was lowered into the pit down to his belt or navel or even down to his knees and legs. the pit was then closed by two boards which were cut in such wise that they surrounded the body in the middle and let no light enter. in this fashion, they kept the man hanging upside down without food, poised between life and death and in doubt about the outcome, until the slowly rising blood pressure brought about complete exhaustion, or else hunger entirely sapped his physical strength. or until, worn out by the torment, loneliness and solitude, he finally succumbed to this deadly torture and renounced his faith while there was still life left in him. ”
this torture rendered clear thinking and genuine moral decision quite impossible within a short time. the officials were anxious to exert the maximum psychological effect on the christian faithful by publicizing the cases of these apostate priests .
both psychological and moral pressure was added to the physical torments, and, especially when dealing with women and girls, the officials strove to break the prisoners' self - respect and reduce them to moral wrecks. apostate priests were then forced to live with women, usually widows of executed criminals .
the list of the priests and religious who died in the pit is long and impressive, with the japanese jesuit nicolas keian fukunaga was the first victim of this new torture. he suffered for three days before dying on july 1633. during the two following months, 36 priests, religious, and lay people were martyred in the pit and gave their life to christ .
on october 18, another outstanding group of arrested priests and religious were led to the pit at nishizaka, nagasaki, where the 26 martyrs had offered their lives by crucifixion in 1597. the band included fr. ferreira, superior of the jesuit mission; antonio de souza, the superior of the dominican friars; julian nakaura, japanese jesuit priest; the japanese brothers pedro and matteo, who had entered the society of jesus while lying in prison; and francisco, who had become a dominican friar in the same circumstances. all seven died as martyrs except for ferreira .
after hanging in the pit for five painful hours, christovão ferreira gave in. he was pulled out of the pit and released from his bonds amid the exulting shouts of his persecutors, and the bitter tears of his own brethren. he was 53 years old at the time and had spent 37 years as a jesuit .
the disturbing news of ferreira' s fall from grace arrived in macao. the jesuit visitor palmeiro and other jesuits in macao started to offer special prayers and penances for the conversion of their fallen brother. palmeiro died on 1635, because of the many fasts and scourgings he undertook after receiving the news about fr. ferreira. most of the jesuits in macao wanted to go to japan and were ready to give their lives for ferreira so that he might reach the heights of martyrdom. ferreira was dismissed from the society of jesus on 1636 .
ferreira' s apostasy under torture was the greatest success of japan’s anti - christian policy. apostatized priests served as living proof of the alleged evil of the forbidden religion. the government took advantage of this golden opportunity .
soon after his apostasy ferreira appears to have been summoned to edo (today' s tokyo) for a short time and then returned to nagasaki, where he spent the rest of his life .
it seems that both ferreira and the woman, who was supposedly the japanese widow of a chinese merchant, objected to the plan initially, but the portuguese merchants who visited him in 1635 found the woman in his house. according to trustworthy testimony, ferreira never had any intercourse with the woman to whom he was married and he testified that he kept her only to help around the house .
ferreira never persecuted christians in any way, nor participated in other religious ceremony in any way. the city governor ordered a small house to be put at his disposal, where he could recover from the effects of torture. the house in which he lived was very poor and small .
the king of japan will give you nothing, for you have apostatized out of pure weakness; and so far you have rendered no service, since you have betrayed neither the fathers nor the christians .
he was known as sawano chūan, wore japanese dress, lived in the japanese way, and received from the government a small annuity for his living expenses. as a japanese citizen he was obliged to belong to a family temple .
it is also sometimes asserted that ferreira was the inventor of efumi, the treading on sacred pictures as a sign of rejecting christianity. but this practice was not introduced by ferreira, for it was most certainly in use before his apostasy .
the portuguese and chinese merchants who had met ferreira in nagasaki reported that he regretted his apostasy, preserved the faith in his heart, secretly carried a rosary, recited the gospel over sick people, and never betrayed the hiding places of the persecuted missionaries and christians .
there were three specific attempts to contact ferreira and persuade him to renounce his apostasy. the first attempt was made by the italian jesuit marcello mastrilli (1603 - 1637) .
on october 18, 1633, after hanging in the pit for five painful hours, christovão ferreira denied his god. that same year, far away from asia and japan, when taking out the splendid decorations for the feast of the immaculate conception at naples, a heavy beam chanced to fall upon the head of a jesuit priest, fr. marcello mastrilli, then 30 years old. his father, the marquis san marzano, was a noble of nola, and his mother, a caracciolo, was also of the most illustrious italian blood. this intelligent, virtuous, pious priest, was carried away bleeding and unconscious. brain - fever and delirium succeeded. the doctor declared that his recovery was impossible. the provincial, father de sangro, came to visit and bid him farewell. fr mastrilli was then anointed. on this evening he heard a voice calling to him :
marcello! marcello !
he saw st. francis xavier in a pilgrim' s dress, radiant and beautiful, saying :
you are cured. kiss the wounds of your crucifix in thanksgiving ,
bidding him at the same time apply the relic of the true cross to his neck, and consecrate himself entirely to his lord, who had stained that cross with his blood, and beg the grace to shed the last drop of his own blood for his name .
the saint then disappeared, and father mastrilli found himself cured. he got up, went to inform his superior of the event, and said mass next morning in thanksgiving without pain .
when the terrible news of fr. ferreira' s apostasy reached europe, mastrilli, inspired by the intercession of st. francis, petitioned to be sent to japan. when he went for permission the general replied :
you need scarcely ask me for leave when st. francis himself has given it to you .
fr. mastrilli hastened on to macao and manila, and finally reached satsuma in japan. the few timid christians from manila who had been examined by japanese officers, soon betrayed his coming. after a brief search, mastrilli was found praying in a thicket with his arms in the form of a cross, and much weakened by hunger. he said to them gently :
come, my children, and take me .
they then approached and bound his hands. gagged and chained hand and foot on horseback, fr. mastrilli, was carried through nagasaki, and plunged into the pit. there he remained alive for three days. the governor finding that after repeated inspections that fr. mastrilli was still living and refusing to apostatize, ordered him to be beheaded .
at the third stroke of the blade, when his head fell, the air was darkened and the earth shook, and rocked to and fro, so that all the spectators were appalled. they hacked his body to pieces, burnt and crushed it into dust, which they cast into the air and into the river, so that not a relic might remain .
fr. mastrilli' s apostolate in japan was only to suffer and shed his blood, without preaching sermons, without baptizing converts, and without even offering masses in japan. but 16 years later, his sacrifice and that of other martyrs will obtained graces for japan' s persecuted catholics .
the second attempt was made by the japanese jesuit blessed pedro kibe (kasui) .
pedro kibe walked to rome from goa, india, to become a jesuit. while at roman college in rome, he witnessed the death of his classmate st. john berchmans and that of st. robert bellarmine. he participated in rome in the canonizations of st. ignatius loyola and of st. francis xavier. with his superior’s permission, he left for japan in 1623 to save the souls of his countrymen. when he arrived at japan, he was already 43 year old. he worked in nagasaki at first, then kyoto, and sendai until being arrested .
condemned to death in the pit at edo in july 1639, kibe addressed a fervent speech to ferreira on meeting with him in edo and admonished him to repent .
kibe endured the pit torture with two other jesuits: giovanni battista porro and martinho shikimi, who apostatized. the japanese official records read :
kibe pedro did not renounce. ” because he did not renounce the faith, he was beheaded .
in 1638, after working in the indian mission, fr. antonio rubino was sent to macao at his own request and was nominated visitor in october 1639. in 1642, rubino set out to japan with a large group of missionaries, consisting of nine priests, one brother, and several catechists .
the expedition was divided into two groups in order to keep discretion. rubio left for japan with four priests on 1642, while the second group, under the leadership of pedro márquez, set out in 1643 .
in august, rubino and his companions' ship reached japan and they were immediately apprehended and brought to nagasaki. there they were closely interrogated, and then led to the prison at ōmura. on march 1643, they were condemned to the pit torture and died. three of them, who survived the torment for nine days, were pulled out of the pit and beheaded .
rubino had composed an appeal to ferreira in latin and intended to send it to him upon his arrival in japan .
are you that christopher who, forgetting parents, relatives and friends, and despising the things of this world, took the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience before the provincial, fr. christovão gouvea, in the college of coimbra on the feast of the blessed proto - martyr stephen in the year 1598? have you followed in the footsteps of such a great martyr only to deny christ, for whom that saint was stoned to death ?
are you that christopher who joyfully pronounced the four solemn vows before the provincial, fr. mattheus de couros, on october 1, 1617 at nagasaki? should you not have preserved this loyalty which was vowed to god and the society in the presence of so many witnesses? should you not have remembered what we have so solemnly promised and to whom ?
are you that christopher to whom our society committed with great confidence the leadership of the whole japanese province and the duties of bishop on december 23, 1632? have you administered it only that you may turn your back on christ and his order? what a terrible change! how you have degraded yourself! i perish with tears and sighs when i think on this. ”
in nagasaki, marquez was subjected to water torture. there were several types of water torture in use including forcing the victim to swallow great amounts of water with a funnel and then beating his belly with bamboo rods. marquez managed to survive this torture .
by order of the government, all four priests were sent to edo on july 27 for inquisition. the prisoners reached edo on august 27. there they were frequently questioned by the supreme court and even by the shogun, iemitsu, himself. ferreira was present as an interpreter at the trial. he was ordered to go to edo from nagasaki to be the interpreter for these proceedings .
the priests were condemned to the torture of the pit, where, according to the report of the inquisitor, they all apostatized. they were then allowed to live in japan under confinement in a “christian house” and given japanese names. (the location of this infamous “christian house” (kirishitan yashiki) is near the sspx mass center in tokyo. )
though they had apostatized from the christian faith, yet declared publicly to the interpreters that they did not freely apostatize; but the insufferable torments which had been inflicted upon them, had forced them to it. the council asked them at large concerning their opinions, and the power of god; on which one answered faintly, but the rest were much more resolute .
the japan council not well experienced in the romish religion, wanted questions to ask them, and therefore called for syovan [ ferreira ], the apostate priest, who was there ready for that purpose. so soon as he saw the jesuits, he looked very fiercely upon them, notwithstanding he had formerly been one of their order. ”
then follow reproaches to the missionaries for misleading the japanese people with their religion, accusations of bringing them under the spanish empire and of provoking the deaths of thousands of japanese. then, after a long theological discourse about the idols of the pagans and buddhism, montanus closes his account of the interrogation as follows :
to these blasphemous discourses the wisest of the jesuits said notwithstanding these words come from syovan, yet they ought to be reproved; and i tell you, that we believe, that without god’s permission none can hurt one hair of our heads, neither is there salvation for the immortal soul without god; and to forsake him, either for worldly ends, or cruel torments, must upon necessity be a great sin: meanwhile god denies not mercy to those, that in the last hour beg it, if they are penitent, and depend on their savior jesus christ .
it seemed as if the jesuit would have said more, but that the councellors sackay sammoccysama, and matsodairo ysosamma gave a sign that the four jesuits should be led from thence. afterwards the dutch heard that two of the jesuits had retracted their apostasy and had refused to join a buddhist sect. ”
in 1652, news about ferreira reached the outside world. it was said that he had recanted and had been condemned to death in the pit as a result. fr. joseph franz schütte, s. j. (1906 - 1981) made a critical investigation about ferreira’s martyrdom using original european documents preserved in rome. he is inclined to believe that the substance the reports are trustworthy and he summarizes the various accounts of fr. ferreira’s death as follows :
fr. ferreira was already more than 80 years old, and for years had been confined to bed by sickness and weakness. a great change took place in his soul and his deed now appeared to him in a completely different light. he abhorred his action as a cowardly betrayal of god and expressed his inner convictions in a loud voice. his neighbors heard him talking and finally informed the soldiers of the governor. they visited the house of the sick tsūya and asked him the reason for his grief. the father explained to them with all frankness and firmness his sorrow and his inner conversion. the soldiers joked and made fun of him, saying that he was out of his mind, but he contradicted them firmly. on the contrary, he showed himself ready to die for his faith .
the soldiers then reported this to the governor, who hesitated for a while but, after he had ascertained the facts, condemned christovão to death in the pit. the sentence, however, was to be carried out in all secrecy so as to avoid causing excitement in the city. the soldiers returned to ferreira' s house, and seeing that he remained constant in his intention, they dragged him off to the torture of the pit. however, they were not able to prevent many japanese, both christian and non - christian, as well as non - christian chinese, from attending the martyrdom. the soldiers bound ferreira and hanged him head downward into the pit. with this torture ferreira ended his life courageously for christ. ”
some scholars consider this second - hand account optimistic and remark that the martyrdom of fr. ferreira is reported neither in the dutch sources nor in the japanese records, although his name can be found in the death registers of the zen temples in nagasaki. this silence is not proof against martyrdom. the government would never have recognized a retraction of his apostasy and might well have tried to cover the matter up .
regardless of how fr. ferreira chose to leave the world, what should be central to this recollection are the heroic attempts of his fellow jesuits to save his soul when news of his apostasy spread throughout east asia and western europe. not content to see anyone lost, ferreira’s compatriots sought him as the lost sheep in the hopes of bringing him yet again into christ’s fold. although many japanese catholics and missionaries succumbed to apostasy after enduring unimaginable tortures, many more persevered in the faith through the prayers and sacrifices of fellow catholics. may their heroic witness, and the prayers they now offer before the throne of christ in heaven, sustain us today and preserve us from all temptations to renounce our lord .
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vox populi, vox dei is a daily column that runs on page 1 of the asahi shimbun .
a stone monument, so inconspicuous that passers - by can easily miss it, stands in a residential neighborhood of tokyo' s bunkyo ward. its inscription reads :
kirishitan yashiki ato
( site of christian compound) .
back when christianity was anathema to the tokugawa shogunate (1603 - 1867), foreign catholic missionaries who renounced their faith under torture were brought to this compound to live in confinement .
i saw the movie recently. i gasped at the scenes of brutal torture of missionaries and believers .
his gravestone stands in a corner of a catholic church in chofu, a city in the west of the tokyo metropolis .
there is a small museum nearby run by gaetano compri, 86, a salesian who came to japan more than 60 years ago .
vox populi, vox dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. written by veteran asahi shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary japan and its culture .
this page takes a closer look at wasabi (japanese horseradish), a condiment originating in japan that has influenced food culture around the world .
the page features videos of variety of animals. you can view the videos as interactive images that allows you to pan and zoom in to them .
the asahi shimbun has recorded the entire picture of the tsukiji fish market before its relocation to the toyosu district, and also introduces a variety of sushi .
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shusaku endo’s masterpiece, the film adaptation of which will soon be in theaters, can be by turns profoundly moving, disturbing, and challenging. here are some points to bear in mind while reading the novel .
in a few weeks, martin scorsese’s long - awaited adaptation of the novel silence will go into wide release. scorsese’s interest in the story of 17th - century jesuit missionaries in japan goes back decades, and the questions it raises for him are spiritual ones: “endo’s novel confronts the mystery of christian faith, and by extension the mystery of faith itself, ” scorsese wrote in an essay contributed to a volume of silence criticism. trailers hint at a compelling film, and it will undoubtedly inspire many to tackle shusaku endo’s novel for the first time. what will they find ?
silence is the story of a young portuguese priest named sebastian rodrigues who travels to japan from macao to confirm the impossible news that his mentor, father christovao ferreira, has apostasized .
rodrigues arrives in japan, his trusting faith nourished by the memory of a treasured face of christ, full of “vigor and strength, ” an image that expresses the certainty of god’s presence in his mission .
but events quickly turn. rodrigues is disturbed by the simplistic faith he finds among peasant converts and stunned by the brutality of suffering they endure when discovered by their persecutors. as he attempts to make his way to nagasaki, avoiding the authorities, alternately guided and betrayed by a judas - like figure named kichijiro, his questions mount, and where once he had found certainty, he increasingly hears only silence .
god’s silence continues when rodrigues is captured. he can hear nothing but his own crashing spirit and the cries of his suffering fellow prisoners, cries he is assured he can bring a stop to by a simple external act, one that he discovers beyond doubt his mentor had, indeed taken: he can apostasize by trampling on a fumie, an image of christ, no longer serenely triumphant, but “ugly…worn down and hollow. ”
silence is not lengthy, but it is intense, sometimes disturbing, and coursing with painful mysteries, powerful questions, and paradox. i’ve taught this novel in high school theology classes and led adult education sessions on it, so i know both how fruitful the book is as a source for discussion but also how challenging it is not to interpret it in a reductionist way, in one direction or the other. so i’m offering a few suggestions to help new readers out.
giuseppe chiara ( 1602 – 24 august 1685 ) was an italian jesuit missionary active in 17th century japan . he entered japan at a time when christianity was strictly forbidden in an attempt to locate fellow priest cristóvão ferreira who had apostatized his christian faith at the hands of torture by the japanese authorities in 1633 . chiara was also tortured and eventually became an apostate as well . he later married a japanese woman , taking the name and samurai status of her late husband , okamoto san 'em on ( japanese : 岡本三右衛門 ) , and would live in japan until his death in 1685 . 
giuseppe chiara (1602 – 24 august 1685) was an italian jesuit missionary active in 17th century japan. he entered japan at a time when christianity was strictly forbidden in an attempt to locate fellow priest cristóvão ferreira who had apostatized his christian faith at the hands of torture by the japanese authorities in 1633. chiara was also tortured and eventually became an apostate as well. he later married a japanese woman, taking the name and samurai status of her late husband, okamoto san'em on (japanese: 岡本三右衛門), and would live in japan until his death in 1685.
giuseppe chiara (1602 – 24 august 1685) was an italian jesuit missionary active in 17th century japan. he entered japan at a time when christianity was strictly forbidden in an attempt to locate fellow priest cristóvão ferreira who had apostatized his christian faith at the hands of torture by the japanese authorities in 1633. chiara was also tortured and eventually became an apostate as well. he later married a japanese woman, taking the name and samurai status of her late husband, okamoto san'em on (japanese: 岡本三右衛門), and would live in japan until his death in 1685.