The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-09-05
The Dominicans ii Japan.

Japan, % we'll as thC16 OF the martyrs
beatitied BY Plus TX. The work is written
by Father Wilberf1rce, and has been COM
fnended by the highest ecclesiastical au-
thorities. In acalm, pnpretending tone it
relates the most heart-stirring events
events which are considered unexampled
in the history Of the Church. What dis
tinguishes the Chnrch in Japan from that
in all other countries is the unchanging
arrnness with which it has kept the faith
for more chan two centuries. AT this very
moment the persecution has not ceased
The last news from that land of martyrs
is the report of Wholesale martyrdom,
which there is.every reason to believe may
be true. From q review of the work we take
the following comments:
One by one there pass in review the
European missionaries, men bred in all the
comforts and luxuries of the modern world,
but deliberately choosing to throw all
away, to give up father and mother, kin
dred, home, and native land, and their own
lives also for the love of Him. We cannot
imagine any Christian reading these nara
tiyes without feeling his very flesh thrill
with emotions and it is brought home to
him what men as weak as h1msen nave
been nerved to do and suffer by the power
"A y
Something Behind far more amazing than
this For the most glorious of these chosen
martyrs themselves, the nOblest trophies OF
the grace of God, were not one whit
beyond numbers OF their converts, men,
| women, and even children trained as
heathens, and very many of them in all
the luxury and softness which attend great
wealth and high position in any country;
and more especially in an Oriental country,
but who, like the great apostle, accounted
| all these things but loss, that they might
be found in the Lord Jesus, aHd might
share with Him His cross and His Crown.
Such as this, for instance, /fsas Andrew
Tocvane, who was burnt alive on November
10, 1919, in the reign Of our James l.,
receiving into his home the missionary,
Father Francis de Morales; and who wrote
to him Immediately before his execution,
'sI. am thankful TO you, dearly beloved
Father, becauseyou have been the occasion
of, my giving>my life for God. / commend
to you Mary, my wife, and Paul, my son.
When, by the mercy of God, l am in
heaven, will pray, to Jesus, my Master,
for your reverence" The same man, when
tbs, Judge before whom he was brought ex-
| pressed his pain at being obliged to pro-
fnounce sentence upon him, replied, "You
are obeying your master and am obey1pg
mine; but remember that outside the
Christian Church there is no salvation"
The great desire of his widow was that
she might follow him to martyrdom, and
this desire was granted to her; their little
SON died before her, as she says . for my
sins.D
We have often felt it difficult to explain
why it is that the interest of the Church
in Japan is not greater than it actually is
even among Catholics. We can account
for it only by the fact that the very names
of the places in which these heart-stirring
events took place, and the names Mike of
the prosecutors and the martyrs, are SO
q iSra% IN r1C frrn ftVTia acyn
is really much nearer to us Englshmen of
the nineteenth century than Rome eighteen
hundred years ago. But the names of
Rome and of the Emperor Nero are house
hold words; while Nagazaki and the Cubo
Taico Sauna are not inviting to pronounce,
and almost impossible to remember. Yet,
to Christians, this ought to cause no real
separation from our brethren of Japan, for
| it is the very characteristic of the Church
| that sin Christ Jesus there is neither jew
nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
/ Free" and assuredly, however strange it
may Sound to our ears, many of the names
in those lists of martyrs with which Father
/. Wilberforce concludes his narratiVe, there
| is One to whom they are for ever dear and
| faniii lar. even to that Good Shepherd vile
eallEtlDHis own sheep by name, and "goeth
I -before them and-they follow Him." even to
Him who made mention by name of the
! Church of Pergamus of EsAntipas, My
| faithful martyr, who was slain anon you
where Satan dwel1eth." Neither should it
be forgotten shat: there was time when
cur island seemed TO the dwellers round
the shore of the Mediterranean as much
divided from the world as Japan appears
] to s..-We cannot but belieg e that He who
has made it so rich in martyrs designs
! Japan also to be, in His own good time, a
| Christian empire 1t is miserable to feel
it, and yet we are obliged to agree with
LEATHER Wilberforce that the instrument
with which Satan has hitherto been able to
delay that happy consummation has been
Professionalism, and especially the Protest
antism of England and Holland. Had the
SO. called Blessed Reformation" never
taken place, there is every reason to believe
| that both japan and China would ere this
| have been Christian.
WHoLEsALE CHKIsrENING.-AD issenter