June 05, 2018

⛪ Blessed Adam Arakawa - Martyr

 Blessed Adam Arakawa,
Pray for us !
Saint of the Day : June 5

 Born :
c.1551 in Arima, Hyogo, Japan

 Died :
5 June 1614 in Shiki, Amakusa, Nagasaki, Japan

 Beatified :
24 November 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI

Blessed Adam Arakawa, a Catholic villager on the Japanese island of Chichi (Bonin Islands), was entrusted by missionary priests with the duties of baptising infants, visiting the sick, and burying the dead.

In 1614 Japan’s pagan regime, intent upon persecuting Catholics, arrested Blessed Adam.

On the Friday before Palm Sunday, the pagans stripped him, paraded him through the streets, and bound him between two columns. He was left thus for eight days, spending Holy Week bound in this manner until Holy Saturday.

He was then put under house arrest.

Blessed Adam’s Chinese Catholic wife Mary apostatised after being threatened by the pagans, but Blessed Adam persuaded her to return to the faith.

During Blessed Adam’s imprisonment, the pagans amputated his fingers and toes one by one. He declared himself willing to suffer everything for the love of God and in expiation of his sins.

Shortly afterwards, he experienced a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding a cross between her hands. Adam saw this vision as foreshadowing his own martyrdom.

On 5th June 1614, he was beheaded. Pagan witnesses testified that when Blessed Adam’s head fell from his body it was heard to pronounce the name of Jesus twice.

“If I should walk in the valley of darkness, no evil would I fear. You are there with your crook and your staff, with these you give me comfort.”

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