Tag: Who were the Martyrs of Japan?

There are 205, beatified by Pope Pius IX on 7 May 1867. They are a mixture of 74 ordained  – Augustinian, Dominican, Franciscan and Jesuit (both Foreign and Japanese) Priests and 131 Laity, all but one, Japanese nationals. In the 1540s, St Francis Xavier brought Christianity to Japan and for a short time, it flourished.…