SAINT FEAST DAY 28 FEBRUARY: BL. LOUIS SHINZABURO, MARTYR

BLESSED LOUIS SHINZABURO, MARTYR

"PRAY, PRAY MUCH!"

Blessed Louis Shinzaburo was numbered among 32 Catholics who at the beginning of 1627 were languishing as prisoners in Shimabara, Japan, having been arrested for their faith by the country’s pagan regime.

15 of these were put to death by drowning on February 21. On the garments of the remaining Catholics, cloths were sewn bearing the words: “This punishment is inflicted upon these ones for not having abandoned the religion of Christ”. Their persecutors mutilated their hands, cutting off many of their fingers.

THEY PREPARED THEMSELVES WITH PRAYER

Moved by the Catholics’ constancy, several non-Catholic prisoners repented of their own crimes and attempted to bandage the Catholics’ hands with paper. 17 Catholics were condemned to die in “the Mouth of Hell”, a much-feared, sulfurous volcanic crater on Mount Unzen. They prepared themselves by spending a day and two nights in prayer.

LAUDATE DOMINUM - PRAISE THE LORD

As the Catholics made the ascent to the crater on February 28, 1627, they sang Psalm 117, the LAUDATE DOMINUM: “Praise the Lord, all ye nations!…” Louis, the first of the 16 to die, invoked the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary as he plunged into the crater.

Blessed be God in his angels and in his saints.

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Blessed Louis may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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