St. Paul Miki

St. Paul Miki was born around 1562 into a well-to-do Japanese family, and died a martyr on 5 February 1597 at Nagasaki, Japan. Educated by the Jesuits, he entered the Society of Jesus and became a gifted preacher, well able to explain and defend the faith to his own people during the flourishing but fragile Christian mission in Japan. When the ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi turned against Christianity, Paul and his companions were arrested.

He was one of the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan — priests, religious, and laymen, including young boys — who, after having part of their ears cut off, were marched hundreds of miles and then crucified on a hill overlooking Nagasaki. From his cross, Paul Miki preached a final sermon, declaring that he died gladly for Christ and forgiving his executioners as Christ had forgiven his. Canonized in 1862, he and his companions are the protomartyrs of the Church in the Far East.