Monday, August 9, 2010

In 1597 Did A Franciscan Catholic Saint and Martyr Foretell Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki?


As we think about the atomic bombing of Japan this week it is hard not too see the Christian overtones. The first Bomb ever made was named Trinity. The first bombing of an actual city occurred on the Feast of the Transfiguration (and look those Mass readings) . The second bomb fell smack dab over a Cathedral in one of the most Catholic areas of Japan (more on this later). Finally the Empire of Japan surrounded on the Feast of the Virgin Mary's Assumption.

It is enough to make any skeptic pause and go hmmmm.

I saw this today.

By 1945 the Nagasaki community of Roman Catholics, the descendants of these hidden Christians, formed the largest Catholic colony in Japan. Ironically, they inhabited the Urakami valley, which is the district of Nagasaki over which the atomic bomb exploded. The bomb killed nearly 9,600 of the 12,000 Catholics who lived near the hypocenter of the blast, leaving 70,000 people dead altogether. Their beloved church, the Urakami Cathedral, the largest Catholic church in the Orient, was utterly destroyed. Two priests hearing confessions at the time, along with dozens of penitents, were killed when the church collapsed on top of them.(Nagasaki: A Peace Church Rises From the Nuclear Ashes, Jack Wintz, O.F.M.).........

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).

Well that would be interesting if that is true but what is exactly the basis of "what is said" since everyone there ended up dead.

However this is the most interesting:
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)

Now that is jaw dropping on the floor interesting!! Now is it true though? I really am curious. It seems that if this true there would be some evidence, some tradition, some writing of this before 1945. So if anyone can help me find that out I would appreciate it. for tell

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