Monday, November 24, 2008

188 Japanese Raised to Sainthood This Past Weekend In Japan Plus Thoughts on the Atomic Bomb

Christianity in Japan is one of the most fascinating parts of the Church History. It is a subject I have wanted to read more about. James Clavell books give hints as to this neat history.

Anyway Whispers has a real nice overview at what happened in Japan this past weekend and the Saint raised up at Sanguis Martyrum....

The fact that is occuring at Nagasaki of brings up to mind the atomic bombing of that city. There are a couple of Catholic stories related to Nagasaski that I would love to try to confirm if they are are true or just part of Catholic folklore.

David Armstrong talks about this here. He quotes the following people:

Fat Man exploded directly above the Catholic cathedral in Nagasaki. The city was the historical center of Catholicism in Japan and contained about a tenth of the entire Catholic population. The cathedral was filled with worshipers who had gathered to pray for a speedy and just end to the war. It is said their prayers included a petition to offer themselves, if God so willed it, in reparation for the evils perpetrated by their country.(Karl Keating: e-letter of 3 August 2004)

It is ironic that this most Catholic of Japanese centers should have been targeted for the second atomic bomb of 1945. One of the original martyrs executed at Nagasaki in 1597 was a Mexican-born Franciscan friar, canonized in 1862 as St. Philip of Jesus. As he was about to die on his cross, he is reported to have foretold that one day Nagasaki would be destroyed by "a ball of fire dropping from the sky."(Fr. Robert F. McNamara, Japan's Blessed Martyrs)

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