BL. ADAM ARAKAWA, MARTYR - 5 JUNE

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JUNE

 Saints celebrated on the 5th of June 

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

BL. ADAM ARAKAWA

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.

HE WAS PUT IN CHARGE

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 PUT UNDER HOUSE ARREST

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.

A FORESHADOWING OF HIS MARTYRDOM

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.

HE PRONOUNCED THE NAME OF JESUS TWICE

On June 5, 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.”