Japan to Celebrate Beatification of Its Martyrs

 The Church in Japan is anticipating the beatification of 188 of its martyrs next week as an event that is expected to require 2,500 volunteers and priests from all over the nation to offer the sacraments. The November 24 beatification ceremony for the 17th-century martyrs will be presided over by Cardinal Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi, retired archbishop of Tokyo. Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, retired prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, will be Benedict XVI's special envoy for the event. Ceremony coordinator Friar Isao Hashimoto explained to the magazine Catholic Weekly that it has been necessary to mobilize the whole diocese, given that attendance "has surpassed the initial estimates." Four Nagasaki parishes, including the cathedral, will hold prayer vigils and offer the sacrament of penance to pilgrims arriving in the city, so that the collaboration of priests of the whole country has been requested. Moreover, the various dioceses are educating the faithful on the history of these martyrs, so that all the faithful will participate in some way in the beatification. In the Tokyo diocese, for example, the month of October was dedicated to the new martyrs. "A martyr is not someone one must feel sorry for," Friar Hashimoto explained. "The martyrs followed Jesus to make themselves perfect sacrifices. Their acts were not only in praise of God, but also of humanity. I believe they represent a powerful message for today's world. The beatification should not end as a one-night spectacle; rather, we must change our mentality, which is closed in on ourselves, caused during the long period of persecution.” The cause of these 188 martyrs opened in 1984, in the wake of John Paul II's 1981 apostolic visit to Japan. Japan is less than 1% Christian.