Holy Mass with Baptism and Confirmation (26 February 1981)

On 26 February 1981, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass with Baptism and Confirmation, the Mass being offered in commemoration of the Nagasaki Martyrs, “not only of nine Japanese, from the island of Kyushu and the ancient capital Kyoto, but also of four Spaniards, a Frenchman, an Italian and a Filipino.”

Dear all, especially you, my brothers and sisters who have just received the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.

1. Now that we have listened to the passage from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, it is easy for all of us to climb with Jesus to the top of nearby Nishizaka, which the first Christians of Japan called the "holy hill" or "hill of the Martyrs". We could also call it Nagasaki's Mount of Beatitudes.

Let us contemplate the figure of the Master who called to him so many disciples of this city, seat of the Mother Church of Japan. Jesus speaks with love especially to the many followers who have gathered there near his Cross. The twenty-six holy protomartyrs, the two hundred and five martyrs beatified by Pius IX, and their more than four thousand companions, whose martyrdom is carefully documented (cf. J. Laures, The Catholic Church in Japan, Tokyo [1954], pp. 178-179). This glorious multitude, like that of the Christians of the first centuries, received fresh recognition from the Church a few days ago, in Manila, in the beatification ceremony of another sixteen martyrs. These martyrs suffered in Nishizaka in the years 10, 11 and 14 of the Kwanei era, which corresponds to the years 1633, 1634 and 1637 of the Christian calendar which was the period marked by the Sakoku edict, promulgated by the Shogun Tokugawa Iyemitsu.

The new Blessed, like all those who suffered martyrdom, are proclaimed "blessed" by Jesus. Because they suffered for the love of justice (cf. Mt 5.10), a justice that perfects that which is only human. It is the justice that Christ preached in the Sermon on the Mount, which is a model of life for those who wish to imitate the Father who is in heaven (cf. Mt 5.7). Before their death, like all those who are righteous in the eyes of God, they were poor in spirit, meek, tolerant, thirsty for justice, merciful, pure of heart; they were peacemakers.

2. In a word, they were bearers and heralds of a double commandment of love, as Giordano Ansalone declared at his trial: “I come above all for this reason, and it is the same thing that Christ my King desires: the reason that unites us is the love that He and I have for you, in accordance with the law of Christians which is based totally on love” ( Positio super Martyrio , Rome [1979], p. 334). And it is exactly in this perspective, and with these feelings of love that the sixteen new blessed felt that they were Japanese with Japanese, Christians with Christians, brothers with brothers.

Love is the evangelical mission that motivated the martyrdom brought them together from five nationalities: their group was composed not only of nine Japanese, from the island of Kyushu and the ancient capital Kyoto, but also of four Spaniards, a Frenchman, an Italian and a Filipino. Guillaume Courtet and Lorenzo Ruiz were in fact the first and only ones to come from France and the Philippines and die as martyrs.

The same impulse of love united the humble and the great, the thirteen members of the Family of Saint Dominic, and the other three lay devotees. Let's listen to one of their testimonies: "The gift of God that I appreciate most is that of having sent me to this country in the company of so many and great servants of him" ( Positio, super Martyrio, p. 216). Thus wrote Lucas Alonso del Espíritu Santo, who with Domingo Ibañez de Erquicia preached the Gospel for ten years, reaching the distant island of Honshu. Equally worthy of admiration are Jacopo Kyuhei Tomonaga and Tomás Hioji Rokuzayemon, missionaries in Formosa and the island of Kyushu. Our admiration also goes to Vicente Shiwozuka and Lazaro of Kyoto who, although exiled as a result of the Edict of 1614, in 1636 decided to return to their native land with the aim of living there, until its final consummation, the baptism they had received there . We also think of Magdalena of Nagasaki, the strong collaborator of the Augustinian and Dominican fathers, and of Marina of Omura, who is venerated by the women of Japan, as the advocate of the fortress, with the biblical nickname of "strong woman" (cf.Positio super Martyrio , p. 331).

3. The generous love and zealous activities of the Martyrs can all be explained by the strength of the Holy Spirit who worked in them and induced them to obey the commandments of the sacred book of Sirach (cf. Sir 2,1-18) which we have heard in the first reading of this mass. Then we can fully understand what the interpreters at the Nagasaki court said to the two Bugyo (judges): “Gentlemen, telling these people to deny their faith is like a medicine given to a dying man that revives him; in fact they come back to life and respond with renewed vigor” (cf. Positio super Martyrio , p. 414).
4. The attitude they assumed as children of the Church operating in a nation with a different religion was inspired by the words of Saint Peter in the second reading of this Mass: they wanted their brothers to see their good works in order to "glorify God on the day of judgment" ( 1 Peter 2:12). This apostolic indication constituted the classic attitude of the ancient martyrs at the time of the Roman Empire. No less significant was the kind of life they led, in the social and political context of their time, as they embraced the Gospel "not only through the word but also with power and with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction" ( 1Thess1.5). Thus they became for everyone an example of fidelity to Christ whose return they awaited in hope and love.

On the other hand we must remember that the Edict promulgated by the Shogun Tokugawa Iyeyasu, in 1614, year 17 of the Keicho Era, established: "Japan is a land of divine origin" (cf. Positio super Martyrio, p. 49 ) . Christians of then and today can better interpret this statement at the school of the Incarnate Word, through whom all things were created, who came into the world, true light born of the Father, to illuminate every man with the fullness of Grace and of the Truth (cf. Jn 1,1-18).

5. With how much hope I wanted to visit Japan because of the recent beatification! It is a country that has enjoyed the religious freedom bestowed by Emperor Meiji for more than a century. I came here as Bishop of Rome, a century after the reopening of Japan's borders to the Christian message. I came to Nagasaki as a pilgrim. Here, the faithful of a hundred years ago, whose ancestors of the previous two centuries secretly preserved the faith of the martyrs, persevered with the strength given to them by the Gospel. By the grace of God, Christians have meditated on the Gospel through the mysteries of the Rosary. They knew that there was a man far away from them called Pope. Today he comes to pay homage to the tradition of the Christians of Nagasaki and to personally tell their descendants that he loves them in the heart of Christ Jesus.

In the Urakami Cathedral, dedicated to Mary Immaculate, sublime model of the Church, I observed the new Japanese Church, which stands before the world as a sign of the new Jerusalem adorned in festive clothing (cf. Rev 21,24 ) . A Church whose members reach 400,000, roughly the same number of Christians in its first century (1549-1640). And with immense joy I welcome into the communion of the Church the new Christians whom Christ himself has called on this day "in his admirable light" ( 1Pt 2,9).

This link between the past and the present is the fruit of God's blessing, of the maternal assistance of the Blessed Virgin and of the intercession of countless witnesses of the Gospel. It is a guarantee for an even more glorious future that could be compared to the sun, which in its daily rising sheds its first light, illuminating and reviving this beautiful land, often white with snow, or pink with cherry blossoms and lotuses. Its ancient Shinto religion points the way to divinity; for us Christians the way has already been traced by Christ himself who is God from God, light from light, true God from true God.

It is He Jesus Christ and His grace that we praise and glorify in these new glorious martyrs of Nagasaki.
 

© Copyright 1981 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana