The Oura Church also known as the Basilica of the twenty six martyrs of Japan:

01 June 2019

The Basilica was completed in the year 1864 and is dedicated to the twenty six martyrs of Japan who were tortured and killed on February 5, 1957 for their faith. Following their canonization in 1862 by Pope Pius IX, the Paris Foreign Missionary Society sent two priests Fr. Furet and Fr. Petitjean to Nagasaki to construct a church in commemoration of the martyrs. They identified the exact site of the execution and completed the church. As it neared its completion, the existence of a remnant of Christians in Japan came to light when some of the natives came and met Fr. Petitjean and confessed their faith. Thus after nearly 200 years, the existence of these Christians in Japan came to light. They were the ones who survived the persecution and practiced their faith in hiding. They are today called the ‘Hidden Christians’ of Japan. In 1872, the Japanese officially dropped its policy of persecuting Christians and this has allowed them to practice their faith openly since then. Pope Pius XI eventually named Fr. Petitjean vicar apostolic, and the Oura Church became the cathedral.

In 1933, the Church was designated a national treasure. Though the church was destroyed partially in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, it was restored and re-designated as a national treasure. In 1981, Pope John Paul II paid a visit to Japan, during which he met with Japanese people, the clergy, and Catholic lay people, held Holy Mass in the Korakuen Stadium (Tokyo), and visited the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, the Hill of Martyrs in Nagasaki, town of the Immaculate founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe in Nagasaki, and other places The Churches and Christian Sites in Nagasaki, have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018 as “Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region”. Today it stands as a monument that speaks of the history of Christianity in Japan.

Brief History of Christianity in Japan:

Christianity was brought to Japan by Saint Francis Xavier in the year AD 1549. Nagasaki was the biggest port of foreign trade at that time and came under the influence of western traders and missionaries who followed St. Francis Xavier to Nagasaki. Missionaries from the Society of Jesus and the Franciscan Order converted several thousands to Christianity. However, when the Japanese rule was about to change from Oda Nobunaga’s period to Tokugawa’s, the policies of foreign trade and religious freedom also changed. Christianity was banned and from then on a period of massive persecution of Christians began. For centuries Christians were persecuted for their faith forcing them to practice their faith in hiding. Some of them were brutally tortured and killed for their faith. They are honoured as the twenty six martyrs of Japan and were canonised on June 8 1862 by Pope Pius IX. These 26 martyrs were a mixture of 20 native Japanese Christians and six foreign priests who had been arrested on the order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the national ruler, for preaching Christianity. They were imprisoned, then later marched through the snow to Nagasaki, so that their execution might serve as a deterrent to Nagasaki's large Christian population. Hung up on 26 crosses with chains and ropes, they were lanced to death in front of a large crowd on Nishizaka Hill. St Paul Miki is said to have preached to the crowd from his cross. Today less than 1% of the population in Japan are Christians . But the Oura Church is a widely visited Basilica that stands as a monumental salute to the martyrs who laid down their life for the Church and Christ.