austraLasia #1887
Pope Benedict XVI approves beatification of Peter Kibe and 187 other Japanese martyrs
ROME: 25th June 2007 -- The news that Pope Benedict had approved the beatification of 188 17th century Japanese martyrs was released on 1st June. A date has not yet been set for the beatification; that will depend on discussions between the Vatican and the Japaense Bishops Conference. What would be less well-known but of interest to Salesian readers, is the role played by Bishop Osamu Mizobe sdb, bishop of Takamatsu. Bishop Mizobe is president of the special committee to advance the cause for beatification of the 188 martyrs.
The 188 martyrs were all persecuted for their faith under the harsh repressive policies of the Tokugawa bakafu between 1603 and 1639. They are all Japanese, coming from all over Japan. They include lay people male and female, adults and children; they also include members of religious orders and priests, but by far the majority were lay people. Peter Kibe, whose name heads the list, was born in 1587 in Bungo (now Oita Prefecture) and was martyred in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1639. Determined to become a priest and come to the aid of his fellow Japanese suffering under severe persecution, he showed dauntless courage in walking across a continent (from India to Rome) to be ordained priest in Rome. Julian Nakaura (born in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1568 and martyred in Nagasaki City in 1639) is famous as one of the four youths who were sent on the first Japanese legation to Europe (1582 to 1590), thus becoming one of Japan's first bridge-builders to the Western world.
Bishop Mizobe helped his fellow bishops draft the content of a message on freedom of faith earlier this year, reminding them that "problems relating to freedom of religion and the separation of the state and religion change in accord with state policy of the time". The Press Release acknowledging the Pope's approval of the beatification says that "the 188 martyrs were not political activists fighting for their basic human rights, crying out against a regime that denied them freedom of religion. They were people of deep and genuine faith who staked their lives on what they believed. They give all of us much to ponder".
Important note: the SDL server is currently down, so apologies to those attempting to access it. The amount of material now being added to SDL is exponential, and this has resulted in the need for a larger, more stable server. The entire exercise is a prelude to a major expansion of availability of documentary material of the Congregation which will be available in as many as forty languages. We hope to have the new server in operation later this week!
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AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at at http://sdl.sdb.org. To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype name is austraLasia1
Pope Benedict XVI approves beatification of Peter Kibe and 187 other Japanese martyrs
ROME: 25th June 2007 -- The news that Pope Benedict had approved the beatification of 188 17th century Japanese martyrs was released on 1st June. A date has not yet been set for the beatification; that will depend on discussions between the Vatican and the Japaense Bishops Conference. What would be less well-known but of interest to Salesian readers, is the role played by Bishop Osamu Mizobe sdb, bishop of Takamatsu. Bishop Mizobe is president of the special committee to advance the cause for beatification of the 188 martyrs.
The 188 martyrs were all persecuted for their faith under the harsh repressive policies of the Tokugawa bakafu between 1603 and 1639. They are all Japanese, coming from all over Japan. They include lay people male and female, adults and children; they also include members of religious orders and priests, but by far the majority were lay people. Peter Kibe, whose name heads the list, was born in 1587 in Bungo (now Oita Prefecture) and was martyred in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1639. Determined to become a priest and come to the aid of his fellow Japanese suffering under severe persecution, he showed dauntless courage in walking across a continent (from India to Rome) to be ordained priest in Rome. Julian Nakaura (born in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1568 and martyred in Nagasaki City in 1639) is famous as one of the four youths who were sent on the first Japanese legation to Europe (1582 to 1590), thus becoming one of Japan's first bridge-builders to the Western world.
Bishop Mizobe helped his fellow bishops draft the content of a message on freedom of faith earlier this year, reminding them that "problems relating to freedom of religion and the separation of the state and religion change in accord with state policy of the time". The Press Release acknowledging the Pope's approval of the beatification says that "the 188 martyrs were not political activists fighting for their basic human rights, crying out against a regime that denied them freedom of religion. They were people of deep and genuine faith who staked their lives on what they believed. They give all of us much to ponder".
Important note: the SDL server is currently down, so apologies to those attempting to access it. The amount of material now being added to SDL is exponential, and this has resulted in the need for a larger, more stable server. The entire exercise is a prelude to a major expansion of availability of documentary material of the Congregation which will be available in as many as forty languages. We hope to have the new server in operation later this week!
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at at http://sdl.sdb.org. To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype name is austraLasia1
