Courier-Journal-1970
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rs of Japan By «<>NA&D J. PAPPERT for his oratorical ability and his vir On, FebY 5 the Church will cele tue, he was in his 30's when mar brate the feast of St. Paul jMiki and tyred at Nagasaki. the Holy Martyrs of japan. Canonized ift 1862, (the placement of their feast St. Philip of Jesus is one of the in the new. liturgical calendar result few canonized saints from the New ed from the reforms of 1969. World, having been born in Mexico. After spending a part of his life as In 1549 St. 'Francis Xavier arrived a businessman in the Philippines, he at KagpshiAia • to begin his last mis was a Franciscan when shipwrecked sion. This mission grew slowly at in Japan and added to the group of first, but as missionary activity in condemned Christians. creased the. Church became. more deeply rooted in the nation. The next St, Louis Ibaraki was a 12-year-old generation numbered thousands of boy who spent his time helping the Christians, Franciscans in Kyoto, After the long journey to Nagasaki he was offered This growth was due only in part adoption by a high ranking official. to the zeal of the Franciscan and Since apostasy was part of the agree Jesuit missionaries because the new ment, St. Louis chose to stay with Japanese Catholics themselves played the other martyrs. the most significant role by their catechetical preaching and exemplary St. Anthony Deynan was a boy of lives. thirteen from a part-Korean family in Nagasaki. His non-Christian par By 1583 fear began to grip the poli- ents were present at the execution cal authorities. The European eco where he asked them to be cheerful nomy was lucrative but the imperial since he was happily dying for the government found nothing desirable faith. ip,'the further spread of Christianity. It awaited an opportune moment to St. Thomas KosakLwas the fifteen- enforce its hostile policy toward the year-old son of St. Michael Kosaki Christians. with whom he was arrested and mar tyred. During the long march ' to Photo by Japan Information Service Nagasaki he wrote a letter to his The incidents surrounding the Mnryknoll Photo wreck of a richly laden Spanish ves This monument to the 26 Holy Martyrs of Japan is in Nagasaki. mother in which he expressed con sel in 1596 finally forced the ruler cern for his two younger brothers, St. Peter Kotoki founded the Fran of Japan to commit himself. Against praying that they always remain true ciscan mission in Japan in 1593 a background of fear, greed, and bad through the cold of winter was the tured. Many lost their property, Of had been a professed member of to the faith for which he and their having already spent 15 years in counsel, the imperial government display of Christian character and those who were executed clearly on their society since 1580. Best known father were dying. Mexico and the Philippines. ordered the execution of a select virtue to half the nation. religious convictions between 1617 group of 26- Christians — European and 1632, 205 have been declared and Japanese. The intent was to dis When the group arrived at a hill Blessed, courage conversions and to encourage above Nagasaki they were tied to apostasy. crosses and lifted into the air. Two The persecutions continued until by two they were executed with Japan closed its doors to all foreign ON THE RIGHT SIDE The* martyrs included men and lances on the morning of Feb, 5, ers. "Without clergy the remnants of boys, missionaries and teachers, a 1597. the Church continued "underground shoemaker, a page boy, a cook, a car for two centuries. After dramatical penter, several servants, a physician, Nagasaki was the chief harbor for ly emerging in the last century the and a merchant. Several were recent European commerce and a center for Japanese church has seen consider Forewarned Is Forearmed converts; others were Christian from Christian activity. While the bodies able growth. In 1962, on the anni infancy. Some were married with of the saints were hanging on the versary of the canonization of the By Father Paul J. Cuddy families; others were unmarried lay crosses for eight months, the story of first martyrs, the Japanese bishops men and religious. their death was spreading through and people erected a magnificent Many who are over 50 and who volume and proclaimed "for Thine is ology is 1900 years old. Since Protes out the world. The Franciscan mis monument to their saints overlook went to public high schools recall the kingdom and the power and the tantism came into history somewhat The Franciscans of Kyoto and sion was quickly re-established and ing the city of Nagasaki. the weekly student assembly. In my glory forever. Amen," I suspect that over 40O years ago, it's unreasonable Osaka led by St. Peter Baptist, to the Christian life continued to grow Alma Mater, Auburn Academic High neither group was as concerned about to be hard on our separated brothers gether with their close associates, in the hearts of the Japanese people. The honor paid to these saints in School, it was patently called deliverance from evil or God's glory for what happened in the first cen were arrested. St. Paul Miki and two the new liturgical calendar is a beau "Chapel," It was generally a program as they were about their denomina tury. Since Catholic historians assert other Jesuits from Osaka were added Enforcing its edicts in the next tiful statement of the Church's sanc formed along a Low Church Protes tional loyalties, that all the first century Church is to the group. For maximum impact century, however, the government tifying power with God's people tant worship service. We had a Bible the historical root of the present on the populace, and to expose the persecuted the Church more exten everywhere. reading from the King James "Ver Because of emotions which flow unique, one, holy, Catholic and apos Church to ridicule, a 300-mile route sively. Thousands of Japanese and sion, usually read by the principal. from history there will probably be tolic Church (cf. Decree on "The was charted from the capital to the many European missionaries were St. Paul Miki was a leading Japa There would be a talk: occasionally a little uneasiness on the part of some Church"), the minor doxology logic site of martyrdom at Nagasaki. The put to death. Many were forced into nese teacher of Christian^doctrine rn by a Protestant clergyman, or more die-hard Catholics when the latest ally must be part of early Catholic actual result of this torturous march exile. Others were harassed and tor Osaka. Educated by the'Jesuits, hte often by a layman. The topic would revision of the Mass comes to us on liturgical practice. be moral or educational. But the Palm Sunday, March 22. I have heard most dramatic part of the program rumblings of spiritual distress at the It is first found in a book called was the assembly recitation of the rumor that "the Protestant ending is The Didache, or The Teachings of Lord's Prayer. going to be tacked on the end of the the Apostles. Historians say this book Lord's Prayer in the 'new' Mass." was written between 70 and 90 A.D. In retrospect, I think the prayer No reputable Biblical expert claims was more frequently recited in the Now, the alleged "Protestant end the doxology, "for Thine is the king spirit of religious confrontation than ing," i.e. "for Thine is the kingdom," dom" is part of the words of Our Y as a simple act of adoration of the is called a minor doxology. A dox- Lord as He gave His Prayer. But all •c 0 M M E N T A R Lord of the assembled, As the beau ology is a liturgical expression of Biblical experts note that the expres tiful prayer i-olled on in rhythmic praise of God, The major Christian sion was commonly interpolated in Courier-Journal—Friday, January 30, 1970 15 majesty, a dissonance often crackled doxology is the "Gloria in Excelsis" scriptural texts after the Prayer as as simultaneously Catholics empha of the Mass.. Minor doxologies are an expression of piety. sized "trespasses" and Protestants many and the one under discussion is came out loud and clear on "debts." common and beautiful. Thank the Lord that the overt and I doubt that it occurred either to Forewarned is forearmed. In the covert antagonisms between faiths Catholics or Protestans to look up first place this minor doxology will have been softened by Pope John, the versions of the Lord's Prayer in not come immediately after the Vatican II, and the good hearts of Mt. 6 or Luke 11, neither of which Lord's Prayer in the Mass, but after sincere Protestants. And come Palm ALL IN THE FAMILY conforms exactly to the commonly -the prayer, "Deliver us, O Lord, from Sunday may all of us give the doxo- recited prayer. eylj," In the .pficond; place, the word logical acclamation "For the king ing has been modernized to:' "For the dom, the power and the glory are Reformation and Counter-Reforma Idngdom, the power and the glory yours, now and forever," the con Do Your Kid's Like 'Tune-Cars'? tion spirits built up to a climax as are yours, now and forever." I think tinuing devout applause which flows the prayer rolled along to the end the modernization is not an esthetic through Catholic tradition from the By Sarah Child of "deliver us from evil." Catholic improvement.