Great Genna Martyrdom

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17th century anonymous painting of the Great Genna Martyrdom currently at the Church of the Gesù, Rome[1]

The Great Genna Martyrdom, also known as the Great Martyrdom of Nagasaki, was the execution of 55 foreign and domestic Catholics killed together at Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, Japan, on 10 September 1622. Beginning in 1614, Christianity was banned in Japan and a smuggling incident concerning two foreign missionaries prompted the killing. The mass execution was part of the persecution of Christians in Japan by Tokugawa Hidetada, the second Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Name[edit]

The name "Great Genna Martyrdom"[2][3][4] relates to the Japanese era name of Genna, which denotes the time from July 1615 until February 1624. The mass killing is also known as the Great Martyrdom of Nagasaki.[5][6]

Background and execution[edit]

Background[edit]

A nationwide ban on Christianity was promulgated in 1614 during the shogunate of Tokugawa Hidetada.[7] In Nagasaki, several measures were taken to implement this ban. Tronu Montane, a scholar at the Kansai Gaidai University described these measures as a "straightforward policy of elimination of Christians that had a dramatic impact on Nagasaki Christian community".[8]

After the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu – the first Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate – in 1616, the persecution of Christians in Japan focused on the promotion of apostasy and the elimination of foreign missionaries.[9] This policy was implemented in Nagasaki by Gonroku, the bugyō from 1615 to 1625.[9]

Large-scale executions were not uncommon parts of this policy of Christian elimination: 23 Christians had been concurrently executed in Edo (Tokyo) in August 1613; 43 in Kuchinotsu, Arima, in November 1614; and 53 in Kyoto in 1619.[4]

Execution[edit]

The Great Genna Martyrdom was preceded by an incident with the Christian Japanese Merchant Hirayama Jōchin, who had received an official seal to trade with Manila. In 1620, Hirayama tried to smuggle two Mendicant priests disguised as merchants (Pedro de Zúñiga [es] and Luis Flores) on his way back from Manila into Japan, but before they could enter Japanese territory, his ship was attacked by Dutch and the English forces and its cargo was confiscated.[10] The crew of the ship, including the priests, were imprisoned in Hirato.[11]

Hirayama claimed that his official seal should grant his ship protection; the Dutch and English, however, argued that the presence of priests forfeited this protection.[12] After two years of imprisonment, the priests confessed that they were indeed Christian missionaries.[12] This confession resulted in the burning alive of the two priests and Hirayama as well as the decapitation of the remaining crew in Nagasaki on 19 August 1622.[12]

Due to this smuggling incident, the prosecution of Christians was intensified and the bugyō Gonroku ordered the killing of all priests currently imprisoned in the Nagasaki and Ōmura prisons as well as some of their followers. In total, 55 Christians were to be executed.[12]

The execution of these 55 Christians, now known as the Great Genna Martyrdom, occurred on 10 September 1622 on Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki.[13]

An early account of the execution is provided in a 1624 pamphlet by Andres de Parra printed in Madrid.[11] The pamphlet in Spanish is titled Relacion breve de los grandes y rigurosos martirios que el año passado de 1622. dieron en el Iapon a ciento y diez y ocho illustrissimos Martyres, sacada principalmente de las cartas de los Padres de la Compañia de Iesus que alli residen: y de lo que han referido muchas personas de aquel Reyno, que en dos nauios llegaron a la ciudad de Manila a 12. de Agosto de 1623 ('A Brief Account of the Great and Rigorous Martyrdoms which Last Year, 1622, Were Inflicted in Japan on One Hundred and Eighteen Illustrious Martyrs, Drawn Principally From the Letters of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus Who Reside There, and From What Has Been Reported by Many Persons of that Kingdom, Who Arrived in Two Ships at the City of Manila on 12 August 1623'). The pamphlet was translated in part into English in 1927.[11]

The Imago primi saeculi, a 1640 book about the Society of Jesus, contains a description of the Great Genna Martyrdom:

To make the punishment longer and more cruel, the fire was six cubits away from the (martyr’s) body. The arms were lightly bound to the posts, and [the restraints] were tied loosely. And they were made so that they were not difficult to untie. Those who did not dare to endure the punishment could escape if they wanted to. But there was not one of them who did not look to the heavens with his eyes, not one who did not endure the fire without moving his heart and body, even though the wood was burning strongly around them.

— Imago primi saeculi, pp. 528–529[14]

While this account implies that the condemned in principle could have untied their restraints, this would not have resulted in them being able to flee. Condemned who untied their restrains and attempted to flee would have been captured by the executioners and thrown into the flames again.[14]

List of the martyrs[edit]

During the Great Genna Martyrdom, 55 people were executed. Of them, 24 or 25[5] were burned, while 30 or 31[5] were beheaded.[15]

Burned Christians[edit]

The 24 or 25 people executed by burning consisted of two Jesuit priests, eight Jesuit irmãos, two Franciscan priests, five Dominican priests, two Dominican irmãos, two lay members of the Fraternity of the Rosary and three lay catechists.[15]

Beheaded Christians[edit]

The 30 or 31 people executed by beheading were lay Kirishitans,[15] numbering 27 Japanese and four Koreans.[5] Five of those killed were children aged 3 to 12 years old.[5]

Names and affiliations of those killed[edit]

Dominicans[edit]

The Dominicans killed included Angelo Orsucci also known as Angel Ferrer Orsucci (b. 1573),[3] Jacinto Orfanell [ca] (b. 1578), José Salvanés de San Jacinto (b. 1580), Alfonso de Mena [jp] (b. 1578), Francisco de Morales [jp] (b. 1567), Juan Nagata Magoshiro and Tomás del Rosario[5] as well as three Japanese men admitted to the Third Order of Saint Dominic: Diego Chinba, Domingo Tanda and Paulo Nagaishi.[5]

Franciscans[edit]

The Franciscans killed included Fray Vicente de San José (b. 1597) also known as Vicente Ramíre, Ricardo de Santa Ana [fr] (b. 1585), Pedro de Ávila (b. 1591) and León Satzuma.[16]

Jesuits[edit]

The Jesuits killed included the Jesuit missionary Charles Spinola,[12] as well as nine Japanese Jesuits: Antonia Sanga, Sébastien Kimura [fr], Antonio Kyūni, Pedro Sanpō, Gonzalo Fusai Chōzō, Miguel Satō Shunpō, Tomé Akahoshi, Luis Kawara Rokuemon and Juan Chūgoku.[5]

Beatification[edit]

All 55 executed Christians were beatified by Pope Pius IX as part of the beatification of the 205 Martyrs of Japan in 1867.[17]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Teather 2014, p. 7.
  2. ^ Catholic Herald 2016.
  3. ^ a b Succi 2022.
  4. ^ a b Tronu Montane 2012, p. 248.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Roldán-Figueroa 2021, p. 32.
  6. ^ Teather 2014, p. 11.
  7. ^ Tan 2019.
  8. ^ Tronu Montane 2012, p. 240.
  9. ^ a b Tronu Montane 2012, p. 242.
  10. ^ Tronu Montane 2012, pp. 248–249.
  11. ^ a b c Seitz 1927, p. 503.
  12. ^ a b c d e Tronu Montane 2012, p. 249.
  13. ^
  14. ^ a b Rappo 2023, pp. 469–470.
  15. ^ a b c Higashibaba 2001, p. 140.
  16. ^ Roldán-Figueroa 2021, p. 33.
  17. ^ Archdiocese of Tokyo 2008.

Sources[edit]

Further reading[edit]

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