My Journey
Jesuit preaching Nishizaka 16th century

St. Paul Miki

At the end of a winter march across Japan, Paul Miki used his final breath to confess Christ and forgive those who killed him.

Lifespan
c. 1564 - 1597 lived about 31–33 years
Feast day
February 6
Principal shrine
Twenty-Six Martyrs Monument and Museum Nishizaka, Nagasaki
Patron of
Japan · Persecuted Christians Catholic evangelists
Explore sacred places
01 · The Life and Witness

The Life and Witness of Paul Miki.

Paul Miki was born in Japan between 1564 and 1566 and entered the Society of Jesus. Formed as a catechist and preacher, he was preparing for priesthood when a new persecution swept missionaries and Japanese Christians into arrest.

Twenty-six prisoners—Jesuits, Franciscans, and lay Catholics, including children—were mutilated and marched hundreds of miles to Nagasaki. The ordeal was meant to frighten the growing Church into silence.

On February 5, 1597 they were fastened to crosses on Nishizaka Hill. The earliest accounts remember Paul preaching from his cross, professing that he was Japanese and Christian, and offering forgiveness to his executioners. He and the others were then killed with spears.

Pope Pius IX canonized the twenty-six martyrs in 1862. Their liturgical memorial is kept on February 6, and the hill of their death remains a Catholic place of prayer, museum study, and memory.

Paul Miki stands within the Japanese Church as a native Christian voice: formed by the Jesuits, speaking to his own people, and dying among a mixed community of religious and lay witnesses.

The cross at Nishizaka did not end his preaching. It gave the Japanese Church a native martyr whose last public act joined truth to forgiveness.

02 · A Life in Time

A life, in years and approximate ages.

  1. c. 1564–1566
    Birth
    Born in Japan
    Paul is born into a Japanese Christian family.
  2. 1580s
    Young adult
    Enters the Society of Jesus
    He is formed as a Jesuit catechist and becomes an effective preacher to his countrymen.
  3. December 1596–February 1597
    Early thirties
    Arrested and marched to Nagasaki
    Paul and his companions are publicly mutilated and forced on a winter journey to the execution place.
  4. February 5, 1597
    About 31–33
    Martyred at Nishizaka
    From the cross Paul confesses Christ and forgives his executioners before he and the company are killed.
  5. June 8, 1862
    After death
    Canonized
    Pope Pius IX canonizes Paul Miki and his twenty-five companions.

Dates are approximate where the surviving record is traditional or incomplete.

03 · Where to Go

2 places where this witness remains visible.

The Twenty-Six Martyrs monument, museum, and twin-spired Saint Philip Church on Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki.
Publicly venerated relic · Place of martyrdom February 5, 1597

Nishizaka martyr hill

Nagasaki, Japan

Begin at the actual execution site, visit the museum, and end in prayer before continuing to Nagasaki’s living churches.

View place →
The white west front of Ōura Cathedral, with the statue of Our Lady in the niche above the central door.
Later devotional association 1864

Ōura Cathedral

Minamiyamate, Nagasaki, Japan

Two kilometers south, and dedicated to Paul Miki and his twenty-five companions. The Paris Foreign Missions Society built it in 1864 and set it facing their hill, so the martyrs were named as the patrons of the mission’s return.

View place →
04 · How to Encounter

Stand where the twenty-six died.

Nishizaka brings monument, museum, relic memory, and the actual martyr hill into one bounded pilgrimage.

Name the whole company

Paul is the best-known preacher, but the pilgrimage is to twenty-six martyrs: Jesuit, Franciscan, lay, Japanese, Mexican, Spanish, and Portuguese-born.

Continue into the living Church

Use Nagasaki’s churches to encounter the community that endured after the public executions.

05 · Tomb & Relics · dispersed

The martyr hill and the relics of the twenty-six

The pilgrimage is anchored at Nishizaka, the hill where the twenty-six were crucified on February 5, 1597. The Jesuit-run museum keeps relics of the company, including bones identified as belonging to Paul Miki, Jacob Kisai, and John of Goto. Paul’s relic is encountered within the communion of witnesses in which he died, not in isolation from them.

Relic tradition
Relic tradition

Significant relics are venerated in more than one place.

Martyrdom site and documented relic holding

Nishizaka martyr hill

Nagasaki, Japan

The monument and museum stand at the hill where Paul Miki and his companions were crucified, and the museum preserves relics and records of Japan’s Catholic martyrs.

  • Bones identified as relics of Saint Paul Miki
  • Bones identified as relics of Saint Jacob Kisai and Saint John of Goto
  • A piece of silk stained with the blood of one of the Twenty-Six Martyrs
Pilgrim note

Read the names before isolating one saint from the company.

Relic context
Documented
06 · Connected Saints

Saints Connected to Paul Miki

07 · Feast & Devotion

Kept on February 6.

On February 6 the Church keeps the memorial of Saint Paul Miki and his twenty-five companions together. Their common feast preserves the company in which they confessed Christ and died.

At Nishizaka, pray before the names and images of all twenty-six martyrs before entering the museum and venerating the relics kept there.

Photo credits
  1. Saint page. Eternal Roam devotional rendering. Source. Eternal Roam commissioned generation.
  2. Nishizaka martyr hill. BigCheddah / Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 4.0.
  3. Ōura Cathedral. Suicasmo / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Source. CC BY-SA 4.0.