BL. JOACHIM WATANABE JIROZAEMON, MARTYR - 26 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 26th of August

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. JOACHIM WATANABE JIROZAEMON, MARTYR 

Two Catholic laymen, (Blesseds) Joachim Watanabe Jirozaemon, a married layman in the diocese of Fukuoka, Japan, born 1551 in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto, and John Hattori Jingoro shared the fate of Blessed Michael Mitsuishi Hikoemon (c. 1559-1609), a Japanese Catholic husband, father, and catechist, was arrested for his faith around 1604 at the command of a pagan Japanese prince. 

THEY WERE ARRESTED FOR BEING CHRISTIANS

A partition separated the three Catholics from the pagan prisoners in the jail, a circumstance that made it possible for them to pray in peace and converse with Catholics who visited them. 

They drew inspiration from sacred images smuggled into their cell and from books of saints’ lives that Michael had transcribed. 

THEY ATTENDED HOLY MASS IN SPIRIT

At the hour when Mass was celebrated somewhere outside the prison, the three prisoners would turn themselves toward the place where they knew Mass was taking place, so as to attend in spirit. 

A priest came to hear their confessions. On August 26, 1606, Joachim died in prison. Michael and John were to remain prisoners for several years more. On Christmas night of 1606, they celebrated the solemnity by reading the Gospel account of Christ’s birth. Two years later, on January 11, 1609, Michael and John were beheaded.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Ps 118:105)