1622 Japanese martyrs to be beatified next year?
austraLasia 1622

Japanese martyrs to be beatified next year?


TOKYO: 1st August 2006 --  Bishop Osamu Mizobe, the Salesian bishop of Takamatsu, has been a tireless promoter of the Cause for Canonisation of Fr Kibe and 187 companions, martyred for the Faith in 17th Century Japan.  It now seems that his efforts, along with those of the official postulator for the Cause, and the efforts of many others, are to be rewarded.
    As of 1st August, the permanent commission of the Japanese Episcopal Conference has begun a campaign to raise the 30 million yen which will be required to cover the expenses of a Beatification ceremony in Tokyo.  Four bishops have been tasked with setting up the procedures required to gain Vatican agreement and to fund the event.  They are bishop Ryoji Miyahara (Oita), bishops Osamu Mizobe (Takamatsu), bishop Yoshinao Otsuka (Kyoto) and bishop Mitsuaki Takimi (Nagasaki).  The appeal for funds will be addressed to all dioceses, parishes religious and faithful in Japan.
    Fr Fernando Rojo, the official postulator for the Cause, indicates that the Beatification ceremony is not expected to take place before May of next year.  The Vatican's historical and theological commissions have already expressed their favourable opinion on the Cause but it awaits the necessary confirmation from Pope Benedict XVI.
    Amongst the 188 Catholics martyred during the 17th Century are priests, religious and lay people.  The Cause is officially entitled as 'the Beatification of Fr Kibe and his 187 companions'.  A Jesuit priest, Fr Peter Kassui Kibe was a convert to Christianity. As a young Christian he fled government persecution and eventually came to Rome.  It was there that he entered the Jesuits and eventually became a priest. He returned to Japan to exercise his ministry amongst the oppressed faithful. In 1639 he was captured, tortured and put to death in Tokyo.

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