*^. ^ scvO^ ;^' it^^^m ^A.; ^^'^^ : ^^':.<v-^S< SN^ S^ %f| SC^*^ *V^.n'.v" <• ' !* ' .'^.j* -^ ' /\f ' 'A.,'sJ • j* ! i^Hji- i.^.S '>^'f7r?v' '•• .^^ J- -I. -' !. • -: ! . i> -l•u'''M;l^WV^^V.•Vi^ n-M^ >•- m^^ ^"- • '^. -^s fe^^^^^a ^-^^^.'^ -^^^ BLESSED CH. SPINOLA S.J. MARTYR IX JAPATC SEP? 2P IG'f 2. *•• •**w- uo<^ C\^/l/U\>\/^ ^ LIFE ^.^-^ OF THE ELESSED CHARLES SPIXOLA, OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS WITH A SKETg^V\dF THE OTHEir^A^AXtf^E^ ,; ^^ '^f'sr/c ^% scho^"^ BY JOSEPH BROECKAERT, S. J. ^. -vt* >•'* i!>^ ¥•- v>^ Jji \ ^n H N G. SHE ^^ SC^*^ 1869. 922. 2X ,S76 tJ7 Entered accordinq; to net of Congress, in the year 1868, By JOSEPH LOYZANCE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Soutliern District of New York. " p " BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY HILL, JAH2 8t9ff CHESTNUT MA PREFACE. In the montli of December, 1866, wlieu the French, on leavmg Rome, seemed to abandon the Pope to the mercy of his enemies, all eyes were riveted on the holy city, in the expectation of some revolu- tionary movement. This was the moment chosen by Pius IX to announce to the astonished world that, in the month of July then ensuing, he would solemnly proceed to the Beatification of a large number of Japanese martjTS. As this coincided with the time for celebrating the eighteenth centenary jubilee of the death of St. Peter, the Sovereign Pontiff invited all the bishops of Catholicity to gather around him on that occasion. Some regarded this as a chal- lenge ; it Avas, however, simply a holy confidence in the cause of the Church ; it was, perhaps, an in- spiration from on High. In spite of menacing fore- bodings, in spite of dark plots, all took place as the Pope had announced, and the august ceremony of the glorification of our martyrs was accomplished with a splendor of which Pome alone is capable, and was witnessed by five hundred bishops and thou- 4 PREFACE. sands of the faithful from all parts of the world. Praised be Jesus Christ ! He watches over his Church, while he tries it; he justifies his promises, and guarantees them anew to the end of time. Japanese martyrs ! Twice within a few years we behold Saints from the far East glorified, and while we render this homage to the martyrs of the seven- teenth century, other combats crimson the same soil, illustrious confessors suffer and die for the faith, new crowns are woven for new triumphing heroes. Must the blood of martyrs be again the seed of Christians? Is the Gospel to conquer the rest of heathendom ? Will the torch of faith fade from the eyes of ungrateful races to enlighten those still seated in the shadow of death ? This is God's secret. Bowing to his inscrutable designs, let us celebrate with joy the triumph of the Japanese martyrs ; let us, with Pius IX., confidently invoke their support in the tribulations amid which the Holy Church of Christ is passing. The Beatified servants of God proclaimed in the solemnity of July 7, 1867, number two hundred and five. They comprise religious of the orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis, Augustinians, Jesuits, and many Japanese laics.^ Among these groups of glori- ^ Of the two hundred and five martyrs there are twenty-one Dominicans, eighteen Franciscans, five Augustinians, and thirty-three Members of the Society of Jesus. It will also be consoling to see that several are by their birth or apostolic labors identified with America. PREFACE. 5 ous martyrs there is one which must especially rivet the attention of a son of St. Ignatius, and at the head of this group' stands a holy personage in whom the author of this book has for forty years vowed special confidence. Now that he can, in all freedom, unite his voice to that of the Supreme Head of the Church, he would be happy, indeed, if he can infuse into all the children of God the same senti- ments ; more happy still, if the perusal of these pages inspire some elect souls with a devotedness like that of the holy martyr. The life of Father Charles Spinola was written in Italian only six years after his death, by his cousin, Father Fabius Ambrose Spinola. In every respect it deserves implicit confidence, and has been used by all who have treated of the same subject. Father Herman Hugo translated it into Latin, and Father d' Orleans gave an abridgment of it in French. Besides this principal source I have consulted the History of Japan by Father de Charlevoix ; Father Cordara's Sixth Part of the Latin History of the Society of Jesus, the Letters of St. Francis Xavier, and some other ''Indian Letters," without enumerating the modern publications on the Japanese martyrs. In selecting a hero among the illustrious men whom the Church has just placed on our altars, I ^ May one of tbe translators add that, on liis part, lie learned to venerate Blessed diaries Spinola from Father Isaac Jogues, who died for the faith in New York State, and who had taken B. Charles as the patron of his missionary career. 6 PREFACE. cannot entirely pass over the glorious deaths of his companions. Moreover, I was so delighted with what I have just read in the Italian account by Father Boero, the zealous postulator in the cause of the Beatification, that I have deemed it proper to add to this life of Blessed Charles Spinola an account of the two hundred and five martyrs beatified July 7, 1867. The portrait given is taken from that issued from Plantin's press in 1630, and may be considered as au- thentic. It was doubtless the one used in the mir- aculous cures to be mentioned hereafter. The plan of the prison of Omura is from a design of the Blessed Charles himself transmitted by him to Eome. The group of martyrs is reproduced from a remarka- ble painting used in the ceremony of the Beatifica- tion. LouvAiN, Nativity of our Lord, 1867. INTRODUCTION. I. Persecutions of the Church in Japan. Tlie Church of Japan, though of a recent founda- tion, has been one of the most illustrious by the ex- amples of unshaken constancy in the faith which it has exhibited. The apostle St. Francis Xavier, first in 1549, bore the light of the gospel to that remote empire ; for twenty-seyen months he visited the prin- cipal cities, penetrating to Macao, its capital, amid a thousand dangers, with incalculable hardship, but he converted to Christianity a great number of proselytes, whom he confided to the care and zeal of his suc- cessors. So rapidly did Christianity spread during the reign of Nobunanga, and the first five years of that of Taicosama, that there were more than two hundred thousand Catholics in the various kingdoms of the island. But in 1596 Taicosama inaugurated the era of persecution. It was this first general persecution that gave the martyrs' palm to the twenty-six who died on the cross at Nangasaki, February 5, 1597. Their death was followed by some quiet, and accord- ; 8 INTRODUCTION. ing to the relations of the missionaries of the Society of Jesus, they converted and baptized no less than two hundred and four thousand idolaters in the next eight years. After Taicosama's death, Daifusama, guardian of Findeiori, lawful heir of the crown, seized the throne, and, by the terror of his arms, reduced all the Jap- anese princes. At first this emperor showed no hos- favor tility to the Christians ; he even showed them but when he beheld himself firmly seated on the throne, he became their open persecutor. In the year 1614, after banishing from his court the Christian princes and lords and confiscating their property, he pubhshed an edict, throughout all Japan, command- ing the immediate demolition of the churches, reli- gious houses, hospitals and other similar institutions, as well as the destruction by fire of crosses, pictures and rehgious books. The ministers of the Gospel all were to leave the country by a specified day ; who professed the law of Christ were to renounce it and return to the w^orship of the gods of the country. Those who w^ere obstinate or contumacious were to be condemned, without remission, to lose their property and life, their houses to be demolished and their fam- ilies destroyed. The same penalty w^as extended to all who harbored priests or Christians, and even to those who knew of their place of concealment but did not denounce it. Xongun his son, and Toxungun his crandson, who in turn succeeded him, confirmed these - laws, adding others of still greater cruelty. The persecution lasted more than thirty years, and INTRODUCTION. 9 ended in the almost utter ruin of this flourishing church. As the tyrants invented more barbarous tor- ments, the faithful displayed greater courage in endu- ring them. It was a common thing to crush a martyr with maces, pierce his flesh with red hot irons, hang him on a cross, cut off part of his head. The execu- tioners added incredible refinements of barbarity. They tore with pincers the skin, limbs, muscles and nerves of the martyr ; his flesh was cut off morsel by morsel with dull knives; some were dipped naked in icy waters, others burnt for two or three hours by a into boiling sul- slow fire ; they were plunged slowly phur springs, which made their flesh one ulcer, and filled it with worms as though that of decaying corpses. In spite of these horrible torments the Christians displayed the wonderful spectacle of a courage supe- rior to every trial.