Saint Paul Miki and Companions

Paul Miki was born in Japan around 1564 to a noble family and was educated by the Jesuits, whose Society he entered. He became a gifted preacher, explaining the faith to his own people with great skill. Christianity had grown quickly in Japan after Saint Francis Xavier's arrival in 1549, but in the 1590s the ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi began to fear the missionaries' influence.

In December 1596, Paul Miki, two other Japanese Jesuits, six Franciscan friars from Spain, Mexico and India, and seventeen Japanese laymen, including catechists, a soldier and three boys, were arrested. After a long forced march, they were crucified on a hill outside Nagasaki on February 5, 1597. According to witnesses, Paul Miki preached from the cross and forgave his executioners. The twenty-six were canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1862.

Pilgrims visit the Martyrs' Monument on Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, where the crosses stood. Japanese Catholics, who kept the faith in secret for over two centuries, honor the martyrs as their spiritual ancestors.

In Mexico the group is especially dear because it includes San Felipe de Jesús, and in the Philippines and Spain because several of the friars set out from Manila.