One of the least known and most fascinating aspects of Japan's Christian century is the role of Macau as a key port on the missionary route with its consequent development as a cultural and inspirational base for missionaries and Japanese priests and, finally, as a home in exile for Japanese Christians and a resting place for the relics of many of the Japanese martyrs.

The very nature of Portugal's relations with Japan make the story somewhat episodic with moments of well-founded hope and a concluding period of despair.

A concluding link and final monument to the history of the Japanese in Macau is found in St. Paul's Church, first the base for Jesuit scholarship, then enriched by the skill of Japanese workmen on a facade which has been an inspiration not only to missionaries these last three hundred years but also to both Portuguese poets and Protestant hymnists.

In Macau there are still relics which bear witness to the territory's glorious past.

Military Museum: Here there is a cannon ball, found recently at the bottom of Nagasaki harbour. It belonged to the ship Nossa Senhora da Graça, sunk in that port in 1610 by Captain André Pessoa to avoid being captured alive with his cargo by the Japanese.

St. Paul's Church: From the magnificent church of Mater Dei (Mother of God) built in 1602-1603, the façade only remains. This façade was finished in 1640. It was built by the Japanese Catholics expelled from Japan with their priests.

St. Francis Xavier' s Church in Coloane: Here the bones of the Japanese martyrs are kept in a shrine along with a relic of St. Francis Xavier, which was taken to Japan in the beginning of the seventeenth century and returned to Macau when the missionaries were in St. Joseph's Seminary. There is a three hundred-year-old painting of St. Michael by a Japanese artist and another painting of the Martyrs of Nagasaki.

My article covers all the matters concerning these relics and the Japanese in Macau in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

THE CHURCH OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

On July 29th 1563, three Jesuits -Fathers Francisco Perez, Manuel Teixeira and Brother André Pinto- arrived in Macau. In December 1565 they built the first Jesuit residence and church, both of wattle. These were situated near the hermitage of St. Anthony. This church was burned down and another was constructed of wood with a tiled roof.

In 1579 the Jesuits built another residence and in 1582 they erected a new church on the hill, on the site of the present ruins of St. Paul's. In 1595 a college was annexed to this church.

In 1597 Dom Luís de Cerqueira, coadjutor of Dom Pedro Martins, Bishop of Japan, ordained in Macau the first Japanese subdeacons, who had studied in St. Paul's College (Pasqual D'Elias, Fonti Ricciane, I, 292, note).

In 1601 the church was burned down and the flames leapt from the church to the college which was partially destroyed.

The church was rebuilt in 1602-1603 with some decorations by Japanese artists. Although the rebuilt church itself was reopened on Christmas Eve 1603, the famous facade, to cost 30,000 taels1 was not finished until 1640.

The inscription, which still can be read on a corner stone, on the left says:

Virgini Magnae Matri Civitas Macaensis Libens Posuit an. 1602

[The City of Macau built this Church in honour of the Great Virgin Mother in the year 1602]

Fr. Fernando Guerreiro gives the following details:

All the inhabitants of the city, being moved by charity and compassion, called a meeting in the presence of the Captain Major, and they decided by general consent to contribute to the house of the Jesuits one-half percent of their possessions in Japan, providing Our Lord returns the missing ship which they were expecting, and which had not returned. This was very good because God returned the ship with a very profitable cargo; and the charity amounted to no small sum, the total being 3,130 pardãos de reales. 2

So, the church was rebuilt with money coming from Japanese trade. Tradition states that the Jesuits used Japanese Christian refugees in the reconstruction of the church, this being preferable to the modern system of alms-giving without work. This tradition is confirmed by the fact that the Chinese characters engraved on the façade are not perfect; they seem rather to be engraved in the Japanese style. M. Hugo-Brunt quotes a report in the Ajuda Library which describes the church as:

[L]ined in fine wood from Japan called Joniquini and it mentions that it had a beautiful talha, that is, finely carved gilded woodwork, in relief, which was hard set up against the wall, the wood being curved to look like a rope. Among the ornaments described are rolls, flourishes, and rosettes of gold and blue. 3

Peter Mundy, who visited Macau in 1637, describes the Church of the Mother of God thus:

The rooffe of the Church aperteyning to the Collidge (called St Paules) is of the fairest Arche that yett I ever saw to my remembrance, of excellentt worckemanshippe, Don by the Chinois, Carved in wood, curiously guilt and painted with exquisite collours, as vermillion, azure, etts., Devided into squares, and att the Joyning of each squares greatt roses of Many Folds or leaves one under another, lessning till all end in a Knobbe; near a yard Diameter the broadest, and a yard perpendiculer to the Knobbe standing from the roffe Downeward. Allsoe there is a New Faire Frontispice to the said Church with a spacious ascent to it by many steppes; the 2 last things mentioned of hewen stone. 4

In 1640 when, according to Fr. Cardim, Macau was in the heyday of its prosperity, the newly-rebuilt church reflected the riches of the city:

Macau is a city of very fair buildings and is rich by reason of the commerce and traffic that go there by night and day. It has noble and honourable citizens. It is held in great renown throughout the whole Orient, inasmuch as it is the store of all those goods of gold, silver, silks, pearls and other jewels, and all manner of drugs, spices and perfumes from China, Japan, Tonkin, Cochin-China, Cambodia, Macassar and Solor. Above all that, it is the head of Christendom in the East.

The ruins of St. Paul's are today a relic of that glorious past, the ghost of the magnificent church that filled an important part in Macau's days of prosperity.

THE FAÇADE

The facade was begun in 1602 but not completed for many years. It is a mixture of medieval, classical and oriental forms. There were many Japanese Christians in Macau in the early seventeenth century, seeking refuge from persecution in their homeland, and a number were skilled craftsmen who worked on the façade. Among the carved decorations are chrysanthemums, the symbol of Japan.

The facade is divided into four tiers with a pediment on top. In the centre of the pediment is a bronze dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, which spreads its wings between carvings of the sun, the moon and four stars. Four small obelisks supporting spheres spring up from both sides of the pediment.

On the tier below the pediment is a bronze statue of Jesus in the centre niche. He points toward heaven with his right hand and stretches out his left hand as if holding something, perhaps a globe, which fell long ago. The statue is surrounded by carvings of lilies and chrysanthemums. On either side of Jesus are carved the instruments of the crucifixion: on the right, as one looks at the facade, a ladder, three nails, a green reed and a Roman standard; on the left, a crown of thorns, a whip, a hammer, pinchers and a lance. The tier is divided by four columns, and in between each pair of columns is an angel. The angel on the right carries the whipping pillar; the angel on the left bears a cross with the inscription I. N. R. I. (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews). Beyond the outside column, on the right, is a sheaf of wheat, symbol of the Eucharist, while at the opposite end of the tier is a rope, symbol of the rope with which Jesus was tied up. At each end of the tier is an obelisk supporting a sphere. At the base of the obelisk on the right is the name of St. Paul and on the left is the name of St. Peter. The statues of these saints were never added to the façade. Both obelisks are flanked by two smaller obelisks showing on their bases smiling oriental lions, symbols of strength and courage.

On the next tier is enshrined a bronze statue of the Mother of God in the centre niche. She has her hands crossed on her breast, and the niche is surrounded by a border of roses with a lily, symbol of purity, at the centre of the arch. The panels flanking the niche contain six angels, three on either side. The two at the top are praying, the central ones playing music and the two at the bottom are swinging incense burners.

The tier is divided by six columns, three on each side of the niche. On the right side, on the first panel after the angels, is the Tree of Life, and on the second panel a seven-headed dragon over which is a virgin in prayer with a Chinese inscription reading: "The Holy Mother tramples on the dragon's head". On the third panel is a skeleton with a sickle, the symbol of death; the skeleton is lying down pierced with two arrows, one in his flank and another in his fibs, with the Chinese inscription: "Remember death and you shall never sin". On the fourth panel, between two obelisks, is a crown pierced by two crossed arrows.

On the left side of this tier, on the first panel after the angels is the Fountain of Life, and on the second panel is a three-masted ship battling through the stormy seas; above the ship is the Virgin Mary, the Star of the Sea. On the next panel is the figure of a devil but with the devil's head and a woman's body, symbolizing the temptations of the world. The devil lies prostrate, shot through with an arrow; a Chinese inscription reads: "Because of the devil, man becomes sinful". On the fourth panel, between two obelisks, is a dove.

All the panels in this tier have below them small sculptured panels: from the left as one looks at the façade, they consist of a tabernacle door under the dove, local flowers (poppies and lychees) under the devil, a seven-armed candelabra under the Fountain of Life, a chalice with a host covered with a veil under the skeleton and a window surrounded by flowers under the crown. Each side of this tier is finished with five obelisks, the end ones bearing smiling lions.

The next tier contains three large windows and the statues of four Jesuit saints. The central window is flanked by two palm trees carved into the stone. Looking at the façade from the left the saints are: St. Francis Borgia, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Xavier and St. Louis Gonzaga. Under the statues of St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier is carved an "S" for Saint; they were both canonized in 1622. Under the statues of St. Francis Borgia and St. Louis is carved "B" for Blessed; neither of them had been canonized when the statues were put on the façade. St. Francis Borgia was declared blessed in 1634, so it is possible that the statues were added to the façade after that date. St. Francis Borgia was not declared a saint until 1671 and St. Louis was declared blessed on October 10th, 1605, and saint in 1726.

The bottom tier has three doors with iron gates. Over the main doorway is the name of the Church, Mater Dei (Mother of God). Over the other two doors is the inscription I. H. S. (Jesus Saviour of Men). An inscription on the cornerstone reads:

VIRGINI MAGNAE MATRI CIVITAS MACAENSIS LIBENS POSUIT AN. 1602

[To the Great Virgin Mother, the city of Macau willingly placed this in the year 1602]

JAPANESE ARTISTS AT ST. PAUL'S

Father Giovanni Nicolao or Cola was the founder of the Japanese school of painting and trained many disciples. He was born at Nola, near Salerno, Italy, in 1560. He joined the Society of Jesus in December 1577 and sailed on the Reis Magos from Lisbon to Goa on April 8th, 1581. On April 26th, 1582, he left Goa for Macau with six other Jesuits including the famous Matteo Ricci. They reached Malacca on June 14th and Macau on August 7th. In Macau Father Nicolao painted a picture of the Saviour which Father Francisco Pasio had ordered for Shiu Hing in February 1583 and founded a school of painting.

On July 14th, 1583, Father Nicolao sailed to Nagasaki, arriving there on July 25th. In 1601 he opened a school of painting at Arima, and from 1603 to 1613, he ran another school at Nagasaki. Not only was Father Nicolao a painter, but he was also skilful with mechanical devices, including clocks, musical instruments, and bamboo organs. The Shogun Ieyasu was once given an ingenious striking clock by Father João Rodrigues, SJ, and it is thought that Father Nicolao made this clock. In addition to telling the time, it also indicated the days of the month and the movement of the sun and moon. Ieyasu was fascinated by European clocks and ordered this one to be mounted in a tower of Fushimi Castle.

When the Christians were expelled from Japan in the early seventeenth century, Father Nicolao came with them to Macau in 1614. He carried on his painting and teaching until his death on March 16th, 1626. He was buried in St. Paul's Church at the side of the Holy Spirit Chapel.

The Japanese disciples of Father Nicolao who came to Macau included Mancio Taichiku, who joined the Society of Jesus in Japan in 1607 and took refuge in Macau in 1614. He died on January 20th, 1615, and was buried near St. Michael's altar. Another disciple, Pedro Chicuam, who was also called Pedro João, joined the Society of Jesus in 1585 and probably came to Macau in 1614. He died in Macau on November 28th, 1622. Still another disciple, Tadeu, joined the Society in 1590 and died in Macau on November 16th, 1627. He was buried at the entrance to St. Michael's altar, between the tombstones of Brother André Pinto and Pedro Chicuam.

The most outstanding of Father Nicolao's disciples was Jacob Neva, or Jacob Nuia, in Chinese Ni Yi Cheng. He was born in 1579 in Japan, the son of a Chinese father and a Japanese mother. He studied in the Seminary of Shiki, Amakusa, where lived Father Nicolau under whom he studied European painting from his early youth. Jacob was appointed to the China Mission and came to Macau in 1601, where he made a painting of the Assumption and another of the Eleven Thousand Martyr Virgins for St. Paul's Church; after the church burned, he painted for the new church.

In July 1602, Nuia went to Peking and remained there as a candidate for the Society of Jesus. He painted and one of his paintings, that of the Virgin with the baby Jesus in her arms, was presented by Matteo Ricci to the Emperor. On Christmas Day 1604, the painting was exhibited in public. It, as well as others he painted, astonished the Chinese who, according to Ricci, said that nothing could compare with them, although previously the Chinese had considered their own paintings unequalled. He came back to Macau in 1606.

Until his death on October 26th, 1638, at the age of fifty eight, Nuia continued his painting both in China and Macau. At Nan-tch'ang, where he had his novitiate, he painted portraits of the Saviour and of the Virgin for the public chapels. The Christians of Nan-tch'ang possessed reproductions of these paintings. In 1609 he became a Jesuit. The Jesuit catalogue of December 1623 described him as weak in strength and health; nevertheless he lived fifteen more years and died in Macau. He was buried near St. Michael's altar in St. Paul's Church. 5

THE JAPANESE EMBASSY

The Visitor of the Jesuits, Fr. Alexander Valignano, planned in 1582 a Japanese Embassy to Rome and Lisbon. The Christian Daimyos of Kyushu, Sumitada Omura, Sorin Otomo and Harunobu Arima agreed to send as their representatives two young men, Mancio Ito and Miguel Chijiwa, accompanied by two boys, Julian Nakaura and Martinho Hara. Fr. Diogo de Mesquita, SJ, went with them as guide and Fr. Valignano intended accompanying them as well.

They sailed from Nagasaki on February 20th, 1582, on the ship of Inácio de Lima, which arrived in Macau on March 9th. They were welcomed by Bishop D. Leonardo de Sá, by Captain-Major. D. João de Almeida, and by the Jesuits. They were lodged at the Jesuit Residence, staying in Macau for nearly ten months. They spent their time reading, writing, playing musical instruments and conversing with the Jesuit Fathers.

On the 31st of December 1582, they sailed to Malacca aboard the Santiago, accompanied by Fathers Valignano, Mesquita, Oliveira Toscanello and a Japanese lay brother of the Society of Jesus.

After several months they reached Goa where Fr. Valignano was appointed Provincial of the Jesuits and had to remain; Fr. Nuno Rodrigues took his place and accompanied the Japanese Embassy to Lisbon, where they arrived on August 10th, 1584.

After visiting many cities of Portugal and Spain, they went to Rome, where they were officially received in audience by Pope Gregory XIII on the 23rd of May, 1585.

They sailed back from Lisbon on April 13th, 1586 and arrived in Macau on July 28th, 1588. They lodged again at St. Paul's and left for Nagasaki on June 23rd, 1590, accompanied by Fr. Valignano.

In 1582, when the embassy left Japan, the Christians there were under the benevolent protection of Shogun Nobunaga. Before the year was out, he had been killed and was succeeded by one of his generals, Hideyoshi, under whom the Christians continued to enjoy peace and prosperity. Shortly after, however, the climate changed and persecutions began. Nevertheless, when the embassy returned, Hideyoshi agreed to receive them together with Father Valignano as he was the official envoy of the Viceroy of Goa.

Although the envoys subsequently spoke about Europe and showed the various objects they had brought back in the courts of some daimyos of Kyushu, they were unable to share their experiences with the whole nation. Indeed, it is rather ironic that very soon after their return, two centuries of almost total isolation in Japan followed. Although the embassy had successfully encouraged the Pope to place Japan clearly within the Jesuit domain, the fact remains that soon after, even the Jesuits were denied access to Japan.

As for the young envoys, they all entered the Society of Jesus, the most famous being Julian, who died as a martyr in 1663. Earlier, Maurício had died a natural death in 1612. Miguel later left the Society. Martinho taught the Japanese language in Macau for the rest of his life.

THE PAINTING OF THE MARTYRS IN ST. JOSEPH'S SEMINARY

The 5th of February 1597 is a date to remember well. It is the most glorious in the ecclesiastical history of Japan. Twenty six men sealed, with blood, their faith.

The place where they suffered their martyrdom at that time was called Nishizaka Hill. It is now known as the Martyr's Hill. The Martyrs' route is called the Martyrs' Path where they walked for one month from Urakimi to Nagasaki with bare feet and their right ears cut off, enduring an act of martyrdom which is famous in history.

They were condemned by Toyotomo Hideyoshi, commonly known as Taikosama. What was the reason for this edict? In the words of the original transcript Taikosama said:

Because these men came from the Philippines with the title of Ambassadors and remained in Miyako, teaching Christian law which has been strictly forbidden by me in the last years, I order that they will be punished together with the Japanese converted to their law.

There is a painting of these Martyrs in St. Joseph's Seminary, Macau. The painting was done in Macau in 1640, costing 33 patacas paid by Leal Senado. In 1981, it was restored in London by Alan Bradford. This restoration work cost 450,000 Hong Kong dollars paid by Mr. Stanley Ho.

The painting is faithful to history. On the right side is shown the Jesuit College building where the Bishop of Japan, D. Pedro Martins, SJ, lived with the members of the Society of Jesus; two are shown by his side. The Bishop was an eye-witness to the Martyrdom and made the first report of it.

In the background, on his left side, a junk is shown floating in Nagasaki Bay. This represents the boat Santo António belonging to Captain-Major Rui Mendes de Figueiredo, another eye-witness of the Martyrdom. The calm of the waters symbolizes the serenity and peacefulness of heaven that succeeded the struggle and torment of the Martyrs.

Near the crosses, executioners are shown piercing the Martyrs' hearts with lances: women collect the blood onto pillows. In front, mounted samurais witness the execution, while Christians are shown kneeling in prayer representing four thousand of the faithful that prayed, cried and wailed.

A woman is shown pointing out the martyrs to her child, demonstrating how one should die on behalf of Christ. In front of the Martyrs, two empty crosses lie on the ground.

In the sky, in the centre, the crucified Christ is shown giving courage to the martyrs and opening paradise to them. On both sides, flying angels wait for the moment to crown the fighters.

Dark clouds on the horizon show the horror of such an atrocity. The colours of the panel are dark brown (symbol of suffering) and blue (symbol of the peace that follows the storm).

The faces of the martyrs are shown with no contortions or spasms but instead they reveal outstanding serenity.

Two small crosses, in the foreground, are shown with two children, Luís, aged twelve and António aged thirteen.

These give contradictory feelings, on one hand horror at the cruelty of the tyrant and on the other sympathy and admiration for their innocent smile and the heroic strength of these two small flowers picked at bud.

The martyrs can be divided into six groups:

1 - Six Franciscans, Father Pedro Bautista, Martin de la Ascensión and Francisco Blanco.

Brothers Francisco de San Miguel, Gonçalo Garcia and the clerical student Felipe de Jesús.

2 - Jesuits, Brother Paulo Miki and two auxiliaries João de Goto and Diogo Kisai.

3 - Seven Franciscan catechists, Cosme Buenaventura, Gabriel, Tomás Danki, the two brothers Paulo Ibaraki and León Karasumaru and Francisco who was a medical doctor at St. Joseph's Hospital.

4 - Six Franciscan auxiliaries, Miguel Kozaki and his son Tomás Kozaki, fifteen years old, Paulo, João, Matias and the cook Joaquim.

5 - Two children, Luis Ibaraki, twelve years old and António, thirteen years old.

6 - Two new-comers, Pedro Sukejiro and Francisco, the carpenter from Kyoto. These two joined the original twenty four martyrs on the road to Nagasaki.

It is appropriate that we comment on each of the above martyrs.

1) Pedro Bautista Blázquez (1549-1597), from San Estéban del Valle (Ávila) forty eight years old, a Doctor of Philosophy and Theology, commissary of the Franciscans, Father of the Lepers.

2) Martin de la Ascensión (1567-1597) from Guipúzcoa, thirty years old, a Franciscan father from Seville Convent. In the panel is written "Martinho de Lugnez, natural of Varangueza in Biscay".

3) Francisco Blanco (1567-1597) from Monterrey, Galicia, thirty years old, was a missionary in Mexico, the Philippines and Japan.

4) Gonçalo Garcia (1557-1597) from Bassein in Portuguese India, was the son of a Portuguese father and an Indian mother; catechist of the Jesuits in Japan, trader during seven years in Macau; he professed in the Franciscan's convent in Manila on the 3rd of July 1588, spoke the Japanese language fluently. He is the patron of Bombay's diocese.

5) Felipe de Jesús (1573-1597) from Mexico, twenty four years old, by then he was called Francisco de las Casas, a chorister, was the first to die.

6) Francisco de San Miguel (1544-1597) from La Parrilla (Valladolid), fifty three years old, lay Franciscan brother, worked in Rome, Mexico, Philippines and Japan.

7) Luís Ibaraki from Owara, twelve years old, nephew of Paulo Ibaraki and León Karasumaru. When his ear was cut off, he laughed and sang on his way to martyrdom.

8) António Deysan from Nagasaki, thirteen years old, was the son of a Chinese father and a Japanese mother.

9) Tomás Kozaki from Ise, fifteen years old, catechist from the Franciscan Convent of Osaka.

10) Paulo Ibaraki from Owara, a Samurai, who was baptized by the Jesuits, lived poorly under the protection of the Franciscan Convent of Kyoto. He helped in the production of wine and rice, also aided the poor and was an apostle.

11) Matias from Miyako (now called Kyoto) was a Franciscan auxiliary. He offered himself as a martyr instead of another also called Matias who was being hunted by the soldiers, and was not found.

12) León Karusumaru from Kyoto, younger brother to Paulo Ibaraki, was a Franciscan catechist; he was a Buddhist monk before conversion. In the panel his name is inscribed as: "Leão Carainmaro de Grasa".

13) Buenaventura from Kyoto, was also a Franciscan catechist.

14) Joaquim Sakakibara, from Osaka, forty years old was the cook in the Franciscan Convent of Osaka.

15) Francisco from Kyoto, forty six years old, was a medical doctor in St. Joseph's Franciscan Hospital in Kyoto.

16) Tomás Danki from Ise was a Franciscan catechist. He was a chemist and treated the poor for free. In the panel his name is inscribed as "Thomaz Danoquidanque".

17) João Kinuya from Kyoto, twenty eight years old, a Franciscan auxiliary, was also a silk manufacturer. In the painting he is inscribed as "João Chinoya".

18) Gabriel from Ise, nineteen years old, was also a Franciscan catechist. In the panel he is inscribed as "Gabriel do reino de Isca".

19) Paulo Suzuki from Owara, forty nine years old, also a Franciscan catechist was in charge of St. Joseph's Kyoto Hospital. In the panel he is inscribed as "Paulo Suoquero from the Oara Kingdom".

In the painting there are twenty three martyrs but the inscription only mentions nineteen. The other four are:

20) Cosme Takeya from Owara, baptised by the Jesuits, was a Franciscan catechist. He also acted as a blacksmith.

21) Pedro Sukejiro from Kyoto, was sent by Father Organtino, SJ, to help the original martyrs but was captured en route and shared their fate.

22) Miguel Kozaki from Ise, forty six years old, was a maker of bows and arrows and also helped to build the Franciscan Churches of Kyoto and Osaka.

23) Francisco a carpenter from Kyoto. Omitted from the painting are the three Jesuits:

24) João from Goto, nineteen years old, a Jesuit catechist.

25) Diogo Kisai from Okayama, sixty four years old, coadjutor of the Society of Jesus.

26) Paulo Miki from the Tsunokuni Kingdom, thirty three years old, a Jesuit scholar.

THE MARTYRS OF NAGASAKI

Bishop Martinez6 who had not been allowed to assist, followed the Martyr's sacrifice from a window of his house. A few hours after their holy death he paid a visit to the place of execution. Seeing how the Martyrs had given their blood for Christ, he knelt down, invoked their holy names and recited the oration of the Mass of the Martyrs, recommending himself to them before God's majesty. Later he sent a letter to the Franciscan Provincial in Manila to announce their blessed death and wrote, at the request of the Custos of the Malaca-China Franciscan Custody, another letter, in which he testified to the martyrdom of the Franciscans and their companions.

Commander Landecho and the Spaniards reached Manila in April. When the new governor, Francisco Tello de Sandoval, learned of the tragedy, he sent ambassadors to Japan to obtain the remains of the martyred Franciscans, demanded an explanation and some guarantee of immunity for Spanish ships in the future. They arrived in August, bringing an elephant with elaborate trappings, as well as an elephant keeper liveried to match. Taikosama received them affably and prepared a dignified justification of his actions. The elephant performed so well that, recognising a good bargain, he was delighted to exchange for it the bodies of the martyrs. Unfortunately there were no bodies to exchange. The guards, who had made a pleasant profit from the sale of relics, had not been cynical about them being cut up and sold. Only a few bones were recovered. These were boxed and shipped to Manila, but the box was lost at sea. 7

Therefore, none of the relics kept in Macau belong to the Martyrs of Nagasaki. The only thing to be seen is the very old painting in the Macau Museum depicting these martyrs.

After the martyrdom many Japanese and Portuguese Christians daily visited Tateyama, the "Holy Mountain" as it was soon called, to pay their respects to the Martyrs, to ask their intercession with the Lord and also to gather relics of the Martyrs.

The bodies of the martyrs were, according to Japanese custom, left on the crosses where they remained a long time. This forced the Bishop to forbid, under penalty of excommunication, the taking away of relics and it likewise compelled the authorities to place guards near the entrance to the execution ground. These precautions however, did not prevent pious larceny: the Christians continued to take minor relics. When Hideyoshi, at the insistance of the ambassador Luis Navarete sent by Manila, permitted after nine months the removal of the sacred remains of the Martyrs, there was a rush to the Holy Mountain for collecting relics. And as Ribadenera says: "When the ambassador returning from Kyoto arrived at Nagasaki, there were very few remains to be collected: even the crosses had disappeared."8

Four surviving Friars had seen the drama from the deck of the Portuguese carrack. Bishop Martinez, forbidden to leave his house, had watched it from his window. Soon afterward he set about preparing documents for Rome. Others wrote their own versions of the story, and fragmentary accounts were completed from hearsay. They include a plethora of miracles said to have occurred during the months that the bodies remained on the crosses:

The carrion crows, always prompt to clean the bones of the dead, hovered over the Hill of Wheat but did not touch the flesh of the Martyrs; terrifying displays of coloured light appeared in the sky, and Father Pedro Bautista descended from his cross long enough to say several Masses for the Japanese.

EXPELLED FROM JAPAN

On January 27th, 1614, Ieyasu issued a decree ordering all missionaries to leave Japan and all the Catholics to return to the religion of their ancestors.

On November 7th and 8th, many Missionaries and Christians left Japan in five ships, two of which sailed to Manila and three to Macau and Siam.

In 1592, there were three hundred Japanese Christians in Manila; in 1606, 1,500; and in 1628, three thousand. They founded two towns in the Philippines: Dilao in 1592; and San Miguel in 1615.

In 1636, the Japanese women (married to the Portuguese), and their children were banished to Macau; they were 287 in all. We know of a Japanese, John Pacheco, born in Macau on March 8th, 1668, who studied at St. Ignatius Seminary and was ordained priest in 1694; he died on April 4th, 1725 and was buried in St. Paul's. Records of Deaths give the names of twenty five Japanese, who were buried in St. Paul's Church.

ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

By Ieyasu's decree of January 27th 1614, all missionaries were banned from Japan. Father Giovanni Nicolao, SJ, who had founded there two European painting schools (Namban), brought out with him his disciples and continued his school in St. Paul's College in Macau. It is said that they painted this portrait of St. Michael which survived the fire of the Mother of God's Church (commonly known as St. Paul's) on the 26th of January 1835 and is now in St. Joseph's Seminary.

As is known, St. Michael the Archangel is the leader of the heavenly hosts battling with Lucifer and his followers. His name means "Who is like God" and he is represented by a warrior fighting the infernal dragon. On his chest there is a small figure of Our Lady.

Therefore it is not surprising that the Japanese painter chose as his model the image of a Samurai: the Oriental eyes, Samurai curved sword and armour and on the head a helmet with an aureola of shining rays.

He adopts the attitude of one who fights an invisible enemy but we can guess that it is the dragon which breathes flames that bum near his right foot.

If it were not for the cruxifix inside the relic case resting under his left foot, we could think that this was an Oriental hero or a warrior with an angry look and a bare sword guarding the entrance of the Buddhists temples.

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style="border-style: none; border-width: medium; " width=678 bordercolor="#000000"> style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman';font-size:16pt;">RELICS OF JAPANESE MARTYRS PRESERVED IN MACAU
style="border-style: none; border-width: medium; " width=678 bordercolor="#000000"> lang=EN-US style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Now they are all mixed up, but preserved in St. Francis Xavier Church in Coloane:
style="border-style: none; border-width: medium; " width=197 bordercolor="#000000" bordercolorlight="#000000" bordercolordark="#000000"> CHRISTIAN NAMES	width=243 bordercolor="#000000" bordercolorlight="#000000" bordercolordark="#000000"> MARTYR IN	style="border-style: none; border-width: medium; " width=238 bordercolor="#000000" bordercolorlight="#000000" bordercolordark="#000000"> JAPANESE NAME
style="border-style: none; border-width: medium" width=205 bordercolor="#000000"> 1.Joana Taisafaixi 2.Pedro Quiain 3.Pedro Tintaro 4.Tom  Voregi 5.Jo~~ao Nexi 6.Mar Faiaxida 7.Jo~~ao Tatun 8.Le~~ao Taiaxida 9.Jacob Taiaxida 10.Jo~~ao Tafiore 11.Sim~~ao Tajeda 12.Tom Vada Tagbaje 13.Le~~ao Quita 14.Miguel Fingemon 15.Marta Voda 16.Jacob Voda 17.Tom  Maithaiti 18.Inez Tingano 19.Le~~ao Tapdami 20.Joaquim Vatamabi 21.Justo Veda 22.Joana Tajeda 23.Miguel Vatanabi 24.Paulo Tagedomi 25.Matias Vatanaba 26.Luis Minami 27.Madalena Taiaxida 28.Jo~~ao Quango 29.Domingos Jorge 30.Fr. Trad. Garcia 31.Diogo Kissai 32.Mafia Madalena 33.Miguel Mituachai 34.Joana Canquazaqui 35.Adri~~ao Zacataxi 36.Diogo Cangugami 37.Tom  Tamaguihi 38.Leonardo Magataxi 39.Estev~~ao Mitarai 40.Le~~ao Tagedomi 41.Tom  Miteami 42.Pedro Tituro 43.Jo~~ao Naco 44.Justo Voda 45.Tom  Vitanabi 46.Jo~~ao Minami 47.Dami~~ao Tamagiki 48.Bento Tabaja 49.Paulo Tagedomi 50.Madalena Minormi 51.In cio Tai 52.Sime~~ao Velho 53.Vicente, Catechist 54.Francisco Tolame 55.Jor~~ao Bugo 56.Gaspar Nexi 57.Ursula Nexi 58.Matias Voda 59.Jacob Cunochi Xugiro	style="border-style: none; border-width: medium" width=243 bordercolor="#000000"> Arima, Oct.7,1613 Arima, Nov.22,1614 Yatsushiro, Jan.11,1609 Arima, Oct.9,1613 Ikitsuki, Nov.14,1609 Arima, Oct.7,1613 Arima, Oct.7,1613 Arima, Oct.7,1613 Yatsushiro, Feb.4,1609 Yatsushiro, Dec.8,1603 Arima, Jan.28,1613 Arima, Aug.22,1612 Hirato, Mar.6,1624 Arima (Kitaoka),Jan.28,1613 Arima (Kitaoka),Jan.28,1613 Yatsushiro, Feb.4,1609 Yatsushiro Dec.9,1603 Kumamoto, Aug.26,1606 Arima (Kitaoka),Jan.28,1613 Yatsushiro, Dec.9,1603 Arima, Jul.25,1612 Arima, Oct.7,1613 Arima, Jul.25,1612 Yatsushiro, Feb.11,1603 Arima, Oct.7,1613 Nagasaki, Aug.19,1622 Nagasaki, Nov.18,1619 Yatsushiro, Dec.9,1603 Yatsushiro, Feb.6,1609 Arima, Oct.7,1613 Kuchinotsu, Nov.22,1614 Arima, Oct.7 ,1613 Arima,1613-14 Arima (Kitaoka),Jan.28,1613 Fukuoka, Mar.24 ,1614 Yasushiro, Feb.11,1603 Yamaguchi, August 16,1605 Arima, Oct.7,1613 Yatsushiro, Dec.9,1603 Hiroshima Feb.16,1624 Notsu (Bungo) 1588 Ikitsubi, Nov.14,1609 Ikitsuki, Nov.14,1609 Arima, Jan.28,1613 Macau, Nov.-Dec.,1627	style="border-style: none; border-width: medium" width=238 bordercolor="#000000"> Joana Takahashi Pedro Kyuan Pedro Mattori Gintaro Tomé  Kawakami Catechist Jo~~ao Nishi Marta Hayashida Le~~ao Hayashida Sukeyemon Jacobo (Dieogo) Hayashida Jo~~ao Hattori Sim~~ao Takeda Gohyoye Tomé Onda Heibyoye Le~~ao Kita Kizaemon Miguel Yamada Heiemon Marta Onda Jacobo Onda Tomé  Mitsuishi Inês Takeda Joachim Watanabe Jirozayemon Justo Onda Joana Takeda Miguel Watanabe (Ito) Paulo Taketomi Matias Watanabe (Ito) Luis Minami Magdalena Hayashida Jo~~ao Yango Yogord Domingos Jorge Maria Magdalena Minami Miguel Mitsuishi Adrian Takahashi Mondo Diogo Kagayama Tom  Teramachi Le~~ao Takemoti Kanyemon Tom  Matshushima Justo Onda Tomé  Watanabe Jo~~ao Minami Dami~~ao Yamaguchi Paulo Taketomi Magdalena Minami Francisco Toyama Joram Nakama (of Bungo) Gaspar Nishi Genka Ursula Nishi Matias Onda Jacobo Konishi Chuujiro href='#"LAB2001700130010")' name=RETLAB2001700130010>9

THE VIETNAMESE MARTYRS                   Besides these Martyrs of Japan, held in the  same cases were these relics from Cochinchina:   60.Domingos                                      61.Tomás                                       62.Pedro                                         63.Caio                                          64.João                                        65.Benedicto                                     66.Martinha                                      67.Agostinha                                     68.Inácio Filongotis                           69.Marinho                                       70.Pedro Dang                                    71.Vicente                                       72.Aleixo                                        73.André, proto-martyr of Cochinchina.

Why is the cruxifix inside the relic case? We can only assume that it represents the concept of some Church Doctors: Lucifer rebelled when God told him that he should adore Christ made Man.

There is an admirable fusion between East and West, of two extreme cultures fusing in the City of the Name of God. The same city that is also the City of the Buddhist Goddess A-Má. St. Michael is the protector and patron of the Universal Church.

His feast day is celebrated on the 29th of September.

All these cases were kept in the Chapel of St. Francis Xavier in St. Paul's. This Church was burned down on January 25th, 1835. On February 3rd, 1835, all relics were transferred to St. Anthony's Church and on the 19th of the same month to the Cathedral, where they were buried under the floor of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. In 1937-38 the Cathedral was rebuilt and the relics were transferred to a small room behind and above the same Chapel. They were all mixed up and the identification lost.

These relics remained in that room above the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, in the Cathedral, until October 5th, 1974, when they were transferred to St. Francis Xavier School in Coloane and in September 1976 to the Church of St. Francis Xavier on the same island.

A JAPANESE SEMINARY

The Seminary of St. Ignatius was founded by a Japanese priest and by a Jesuit martyr in Macau. The Japanese priest, Paulo dos Santos, gave some 12,000 taels; the Jesuit martyr, Blessed Francisco Pacheco, founded the Seminary with this money in 1623.

Fr. Pacheco, son of Garcia Lopes Pacheco and of Maria Borges de Mesquita, was born in 1565, in Ponte de Lima, Portugal. He joined the Society of Jesus in Coimbra on December 30th, 1585. In 1592, he sailed to India and thence to Macau and to Japan. He was recalled from Japan to become rector of St. Paul's College, in Macau (1604-1609). In 1612, he returned to Japan; two years later, he was expelled to Macau. In 1615, he returned to Japan, where in 1622 he was appointed by the Pope as Governor of the Bishopric and Superior of the Jesuits. He was arrested in 1625 and was burnt alive in the following year together with two other Jesuit Fathers, João Baptista Zola and Baltazar de Torres, a Korean Jesuit, nine Japanese laymen and four Japanese Jesuits: Pedro Rinxei, Gaspar Sadamatsu, Paulo Xintaki and João Kinsako. All these fifteen martyrs were beatified by Pope Pius IX on July 7th, 1867.

The Japanese founder of the Seminary of St. Ignatius, Fr. Paulo dos Santos, was involved in the following Japanese-Portuguese incident, as related by C. R. Boxer:

On August 1st, 1634, the flagship, Santo António, left Macau for Nagasaki under the command of Lopo Sarmento de Carvalho; she ran into a typhoon, but was able to reach Nagasaki at the end of August.

When the solitary galliot reached harbour, the troubles of the Portuguese were by no means over. One of the merchants on board the Santo António, Jerónimo Luís de Gouveia, had been imprudent enough to carry a letter from a Japanese priest in Macau named Paulo dos Santos, addressed to another Japanese in Nagasaki, demanding payment of a debt. This letter was discovered by the port officials, and the unlucky Gouveia was arrested and imprisoned, being finally burnt at the stake in October of the following year. On the discovery of this letter, the Nagasaki authorities wrote to the Senate of Macao, urging that Paulo dos Santos should be sent to India or somewhere whence he could no longer correspond with Japan. This demand was strongly supported by all the Portuguese who were interested in the Japan trade, and despite his strenuous protests Paulo dos Santos was sent away to the Indo-China mission field. He was back at Macao within a few months, however, and in December 1635, we find Manuel Ramos, the Ouvidor at Macao, writing the Viceroy to send a categorical order for the Japanese priest to be transferred to Cochin, since the authorities at Nagasaki were in no mood to be trifled with. In this year, the Portuguese at Nagasaki were forbidden to carry rosaries or to make the sign of the cross in public and their compliance with this order was strongly denounced by the acting governor of the bishopric of Macao. He likewise stigmatised the muitos filhos de Portuguezes que ha em Jappão havidos de publicos amancebamentos com gentias e arrenegadas, sem nunhum delles receber a agoa de baptismo (many children of the Portuguese living in Japan in public concubinage with Japanese and apostate women, who had not received the waters of baptism). 10

Boxer adds in a footnote:

What annoyed the Japanese most of all about this affair was that Paulo dos Santos was collecting the money for the maintenance of twelve Japanese Christian youths at Macao, who were to be sent as clandestine missionaries to Japan in later years in defiance of all the Bakufu's edicts.

Boxer translates the letter of October 5th, 1634, sent to the Japanese authorities by the municipal councillors of Macau, Lopo Sarmento de Carvalho, Manuel de Sequeira, Dom Gonçalo da Silva, António de Oliveira Aranha, Jorge Bastiam, Gregório de Moraes Sarmento, Manuel Sanhado de Sousa, Francisco Luiz Leal, Jerónimo Ribeiro, Manuel Caldeira Lobo, and Lourenço Gonçalves.

In the time of Mizuno Kawachi-dono, there was a faxaque forbidding the bringing or carrying of letters, chits, or supplies for the Padres who go about clandestinely in these regions; and a paper was signed by the Captain-major, Factor, and other persons, promising obedience to this edict. This year there came some letters. from Padre Christóvão Paulo for which we are extremely sorry, and we have no adequate justification to offer on this particular point and admit that we are guilty.

The letters of the said Padre Paulo were written in Japanese characters and handed by a Japanese in Macao to Jeronimo Luiz, with the request that he should carry them to Nakaya Matayemon and Kagaya Sochchibioye in Nagasaki. The said Jeronimo Luiz thought that the letters were written by that same Japanese; and if he had realised that they were from the said Padre, he would not have accepted them, on account of the City's prohibition against carrying such correspondence, or even if he had accepted them, he would have later thrown them into the sea. His innocence is manifest from this, and also from the fact that he gave them to the Buygo, together with the other Portuguese letters. This is our explanation, but we realise that it will not be sufficient for the justice, and therefore we will not adduce any more arguments...

As for the Padre Paulo Christóvão, he does not behave like a priest, but clearly lives by trading, and thus we of Macao regard him as a commercial priest, but since he is a Padre we are not allowed to speak ill of him. Since he is implicated in this affair of the great faxaque and illicit correspondence, it will be well to exile him to India, which we presume is what your lordships ordain. 11

Fr. Paulo Christóvão dos Santos continued to maintain the Seminary of St. Ignatius, where Japanese seminarians were studying to be sent as missionaries to Japan. Fr. Juan Martin Climent, a Spanish Franciscan who came from Manila to Macau in 1672, refers to this seminary, where Japanese and Cochin-China youths were being trained for the priesthood. 12

The Jesuits were expelled from Macau in 1762. On August 5th, 1755, D. Alexandre Pedrosa Guimarães, Bishop of Macau, wrote to the King of Portugal saying that, as Japan was closed, he was asking his royal permission to transfer the legacy of Fr. Paulo dos Santos from the College of St. Paul to St. Joseph's Seminary where youths were being trained for the China Mission. Permission was granted in 1783, in a letter written by Queen Mary I to Bishop D. Alexandre de Gouveia.

JAPANESE BURIED IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCH

Toba Maria Bicuni. She was exiled from Japan and was buried in the aisle of Jesus near the pulpit.

Luís and Lino. They were buried in the aisle of the Eleven Thousand Virgins. Both were 'dojuku', a Japanese word meaning guest or tenant, C. R. Boxer explains:

The only possible source of recruits for the Society was the dojuku, or doshuku, who formed the catechists, acolytes, sacristans and so on, of the missionaries and who, as Father Valignano frankly admitted, really bore the burden and heat of the day.

The term and the idea had been taken over by the Jesuits from their Buddhist opponents, for the dojuku were the disciples or aspirant monks who performed the household and routine duties in the monasteries. Although they knew no Latin, and sometimes only the rudiments of catechism, they were the most promising material and if given proper training in one of the seminaries would make excellent recruits. Many of them were being brought up on this understanding, and if they were disappointed in their hopes of being able to enter the Society in due course, they would probably become embittered and might even apostatize. The chief difficulty was their ignorance of Latin, for it was virtually impossible for adult Japanese to cope with this language, and only those dojuku who were taught it from childhood could hope to reach the standard normally demanded by the Company of Jesus from its members. 13

Regina Pereira. She died on September 7th, 1648, and was buried in St. Paul's.

A Japanese woman, the mother of Gaspar Barbosa, died in November 1648 and was also buried in St. Paul's.

Maria Dias, died on November 3rd, 1649, and was buried in front of the pulpit.

Tomásia da Costa, a Japanese, the mother of Brother Bartolomeu da Costa, was buried on October 7th, 1652, in the grave where Gaspar Barbosa's mother was previously buried.

Marta Songua, died on April 10th, 1654.

Maria Fernandes, the aunt of the medical doctor Xivon Dono, died on March 10th, 1655.

A Japanese woman, mother of the Jesuit novice António Rodrigues, died on August 10th, 1655.

André Cusaki, the son of Xizube Dono, died on June 19th, 1658.

Paulo Xarobe Dono, died on October 5th, 1670, and his wife Isabel Jozze, died on January 10th, 1685.

Monica Jozze was buried in St. Paul's.

Monica Pires, died on January 17th, 1687, and her sister Jeronima Pires died before her.

Leonarda da Fonseca, died on September 15th, 1688.

LUÍS DE ALMEIDA, SJ

Luís de Almeida, SJ, was born in Lisbon around 1525 and died in Japan in 1583. A monument in his honour was erected in Honda, capital of the Amakusa Islands. In Nagasaki, a stone was inaugurated in October 1967, with the following inscription: "Luís De Almeida, Medical Doctor and Missionary. The first Portuguese to arrive in Nagasaki in 1567!" His name was also given to the largest hospital in Oita, Japan.

Almeida had been a doctor, a missionary, and a trader. He was intimately connected with Japan, because he introduced European medicine to the Japanese. He was to become one of the greatest apostles of that country.

He is also connected to Macau because it was there here that he received his priest's ordination.

The Visitor of the Jesuits, Alexander Valignano, sailed to Japan on July 7th, 1579, in the ship of the Captain-Major Leonel de Brito and arrived at Kuchinotsu on July 25th. The Visitor sent four Jesuit Brothers to Macau to be ordained as priests. These were: -Francisco Laguna; Francisco Carrien, Miguel Vaz and Luís de Almeida. They sailed on board the same ship and were ordained by Bishop Melchior Carneiro, SJ, at the Cathedral.

They returned to Japan on the ship of Don Miguel de Gama, and arrived in Nagasaki in July, 1580.

THE PORTUGUESE-PLANNED INVASION OF CHINA

The connection between the rebuilding of St. Paul's and a Japanese invasion of Canton in 1606 may not be immediately apparent, but there are the facts behind this strange incident in the history of the Japanese in Macau, facts gathered by C. R. Boxer and Montalto de Jesus. 14 Boxer's narrative sets the stage:

1606. Dom Diogo de Vasconcelos made a prosperous voyage to Japan this year, which was otherwise noteworthy as witnessing a fantastic invasion-scare at Canton. Dom Diogo and the Jesuits were accused by hostile Cantonese of levying Japanese Christian mercenaries to invade China in conjunction with the Portuguese of Macau, and with the Dutch! The fears aroused by this extraordinary scare were only allayed with great difficulty and after a Chinese Jesuit Brother had been tortured to death in a Canton prison. 15

An explanation has been provided by Montalto de Jesus.

Extremely mistrustful and ever ready to be duped by anti-foreign alarmists, the Chinese were now even led to mistaking churches for forts - misapprehensions which might have originated from the unusual circumstances attending the construction of St. Paul's. Up to the day when the matsheds dropped all of a sudden, the bells rang merrily, and the community rushed to gaze at the beauteous structure, care was taken to conceal the massive building from public view; and the fact of the labourers being Japanese might have lent colour to the Chinese conjecture that a huge fortress was being secretly constructed. At the Ilha Verde, moreover, the Jesuits raised a chapel which the Chinese took for a fort; and as the outcome of a religious controversy, in which the rector of the Jesuits carried the point, it was spitefully hinted to the Chinese that he was about to revolutionise and conquer China.

The construction of a wall for defensive purposes substantiated the suspicion. It was rumoured that the Portuguese harboured aggressive designs upon China, and that after raising several citadels -so were the churches called- they were now, in 1606, fortifying the sea-shore. It was even whispered that Cataneo, a Jesuit, had been selected for Emperor...

But soon the smouldering fire was kindled again; in an essay of foreign invasion, a Chinese scholar, with a pen dipped in gall, denounced Cataneo as a pretender to the throne, who had designedly visited the principal cities of China from Macau to Peking, thoroughly acquainted himself with the land and sea routes as well as with the language, manners and customs of the empire, and secured a great number of followers, who only awaited a powerful fleet, long since despatched from Portugal, and auxiliaries from Japan and Malacca -formidable forces that were hourly expected- to reduce the Celestials to slavery, and place the Flowery Kingdom in the hands of barbarians. This essay, widely circulated and eagerly read at Macao, created a panic among the Chinese, who fled to Canton...

At Macau the trade was stopped, starvation imminent. The senate sent a most humble deputation to show the viceroy how absurd it was to credit a handful of merchants with such ambitions, undreamt of projects. Upon a few Chinese being permitted to return to Macau on trial and to investigate matters there, an agitation was raised at Canton; it was bitterly complained that, on a vain pretext, the hai-tao had wantonly caused so many houses to be pulled down, and there was an outcry for indemnity as well as for sending him in chains to Peking for trial and condemnation...

To vindicate himself before the people, he eagerly availed himself of a charge laid before him, against a young missionary of Macau, Martinez, who had scarcely reached Canton from the interior, when, in the midst of a great commotion, a renegade neophyte, rabidly hostile to the Christians, denounced him as a spy and lieutenant of the pretender, on the way to serve as a guide to the foreign armies expected at Macao, after paving the way for an insurrection in the country...

Martinez was barbarously lashed and condemned to death, subject to further tortures and interrogation by the viceroy; but, horribly lacerated, he expired on the way to the viceregal tribunal. The viceroy then ordered the provincial commander-inchief to proceed with the army to besiege Macau. This prudent mandarin thought it well, beforehand, to ascertain matters officially. An officer of his, on arrival at Macau, repaired to the seminary and desired to be shown the redoubtable Ko-ti-nion who aspired to the throne of the Celestial Empire. The good-natured priest showed him over the establishment, to convince him that it was no arsenal full of munitions and engines of war. Pointing to the books in the library, Cataneo remarked that those were the arms with which he projected subduing the empire. The mandarin smiled, and no longer seemed frightened.

Conducting him next into the hall where the seminarists were quietly studying, Cataneo said they were the army that would fight under his command and help him to ascend the throne. The mandarin, now quite reassured, next visited the churches, monasteries and other establishments. His report having disillusioned the Canton authorities, the disarmament was gradually effected, peace restored, and the trade resumed as usual. 16

The only victim of these fantastic rumours was the innocent Brother Francisco Martins, SJ, who thus became proto-martyr of China.

AN IMBROGLIO IN MACAU

A serious disturbance involving the crews of two Japanese junks and the Portuguese military took place in Macau, on November 30th, 1608. Both of the junks had arrived in Macau but, unfortunately, one of the junks had been shipwrecked nearby. There is no record to suggest why both crews behaved in a menacing manner, thereafter, in Macau.

However, they roamed around the city in armed bands of thirty to forty men. This insolent behaviour alarmed many of the citizens who asked the authorities to expel the Japanese. The city councillors preferred, instead, to advise the Japanese to moderate their behaviour and to dress like the Chinese citizens.

The Japanese refused to obey these requests. As a result serious disorder within the city took place. In the course of the fighting, the Ouvidor or Judge of Macau was wounded and some of the Japanese were killed.

The church bells gave the alarm and the Captain-Major or Governor, Andre Pessoa, accompanied with soldiers, arrived at the scene of the fighting. The Japanese hurriedly barricaded themselves in a house; some of them actually surrendered and were placed briefly in prison. However, about forty of them fought to the last man.

Another group of fifty Japanese who were not involved in the disturbance, took refuge in another house. Bishop João Pinto Ribeiro da Piedade (1604-1626) and a number of the Jesuits intervened. The Japanese were given the promise of life and freedom if they agreed to surrender, which they did. The majority of them were eventually freed. Nevertheless, one or two of the ringleaders were strangled in prison.

In 1609, Captain André Pessoa sailed to Nagasaki in the carrack Nossa Senhora da Graça (Our Lady of Grace). He arrived there on July 29th of the same year. In the meantime, the relatives of those killed in Macau complained to Daimyo Arima Harunobu, and appealed to him to punish Pessoa. The Japanese prepared plans to attack Pessoa and on January 3rd, 1610, his ship was attacked by dozens of Japanese junks. This attack force was supported by 1,200 Samurai warriors. The battle lasted for three days and three nights. The Portuguese defenders on board the ship, sensing victory was theirs began cheering when, suddenly, a shot from one of the Japanese junks fell into a fire-pot that a Portuguese was preparing to throw, causing it to set alight some gun-powder at his feet, starting a fire which could not be brought under control. The captain, realising that he and his crew could be taken prisoner, and fearing for their lives, ordered that the powder magazine be fired, with the result that the carrack was blown up, and with such force, that the noise of the explosion was heard in places far away from Nagasaki! The ship was shattered in half and quickly sank in thirty-two fathoms of water.

Japanese divers tried to recover the rich cargo during the next two-hundred years, but without success. In 1928, and again, in 1933, divers retrieved some objects: the navigation astrolab, a bronze cannon and other items were brought to the surface. A cannon ball from the armoury of the Nossa Senhora da Graça can be seen by visitors at São Francisco Headquarters in the Military Museum of Macau.

THE RELIC OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER

St. Francis Xavier died in Sancian Island in 1552, and his uncorrupted body was taken to Malacca and thence to Goa, where it is venerated in the Basilica of Bom Jesus.

As the persecution raged in Japan against the Catholic religion, the Jesuit missionaries wrote a letter to the Father General in Rome, Mucio Vitellesci, asking for a relic of the saint to be sent to Japan. The Father General, complying with the request, ordered the Provincial of Goa, Fr. Jacome de Medeiros, to cut the saint's arm. He did so on April 27th, 1619: "We extracted the bone of the right arm, which extends from the elbow to the shoulder and we gave it to Fr. Gabriel de Matos to take it to Japan." This relic is the humerus of the saint, 13cm. long.

There was then in Goa the Bishop of Japan, D. Diogo Correia Valente, SJ, who had arrived from Portugal on November 4th, 1618.

The relic was entrusted to him, and he sailed on May 20th, 1619, to Macau, where he arrived on July 18th. During the trip, the relic saved the travellers from a shipwreck. In thanksgiving, they made an arm of silver in which to set the bone.

As the persecution prevented the Bishop from going to Japan, it was Fr. Gabriel de Matos, procurator of the Japan Province, who took the relic there in the same year 1619. On January 15th, 1620, the Visitor of Japan, Fr. Jeronimo Rodrigues, wrote to Fr. Mucio Vitellesci thanking him for the precious relic.

Due to the continuous persecution in Japan, it was not safe to keep the relic there. Therefore it was taken back to Macau before 1635. Bocarro, writing in 1635, mentions this:

Formerly there used to be [in Macau] great wind storms called typhoons, which uprooted large trees and hurled men violently to the ground; but since an arm of the glorious Saint Francis Xavier was taken there, they now occur far less often. 17

The relic was venerated in St. Paul's Church for two hundred years; when the Church was burnt in 1835, it was taken to St. Anthony's Church and later to the Cathedral. The relic was then venerated in St. Joseph's Church, on St. Joseph's altar. It was kept in a precious reliquary of pure silver, 72 cm. high, bearing this inscription: "This reliquary was made in London by order of Antonio Pereira, his children and daughters-in-law. It was presented to the Cathedral of Macau, on September 1st, 1865."

In December 1952, the relic of St. Francis Xavier was taken temporarily to Malacca, where it was venerated by thousands of people on the occasion of the celebrations of the fourth centenary of Xavier's death. In 1965, the relic was for a short time in the U. S. A. at the request of Cardinal Francis Spelman, Archbishop of New York. It was venerated by hundreds of thousands of Americans in Newark, New Jersey. On October 5th, 1974, this relic was transferred to the Church of St. Francis, in Coloane.

CHURCH OF OUR LADY DA PENHA DE FRANÇA

Situated at the top of Penha Hill, this church offers the best view of Macau, Taipa, Coloane, the Pearl River, Lappa island and the Chinese mainland.

The Hermitage of Our Lady da Penha de França was built in 1622 by the Augustinians, according to an inscription on the façade which says:

Construída em 1934-1935 em substitução da primitiva capela edificada em 1622 e reedificada em 1835

[Constructed in 1934-1935 in replacement of the original chapel that was built in 1622 and rebuilt in 1837]

This church is connected with Japan for the following reason. On the 28th of July 1620, the pinnace St. Bartolomeu, under the command of Jorge da Silva, on a business voyage from Macau to Japan, encountered a Dutch warship; three other Portuguese vessels appeared there too. The Dutch ship started a fight with the last three but, being lighter,they managed to escape. It then turned around against the pinnace, bombarding it and ordering it to surrender. The Portuguese crew vowed to give Our Lady of Penha de França one percent of the cargo if she saved them from this danger. They were ready to set fire to the pinnace and die in it, rather than surrender but they escaped and arrived in Japan.

On returning to Macau, they turned the money over to the prior of St. Augustin's. Friar Aurélio Coreto. The Leal Senado gave the site on Penha hill and there a chapel was built. On the 29th of April 1622, the new prior of St. Augustin's, Friar Estêvão da Crus, celebrated Mass in the new chapel. A fort was built there also.

Bocarro wrote in 1635:

On Nossa Senhora da Penha de França, which is situated on a hill higher than the lastnamed bulwark (of Nossa Senhora do Bom Parto) there is also a small bastion, mounted with two bronze sakers, each of which fires an iron shot weighing 7 lbs. 18

Marco d'Avalo said in 1638:

The second fort is called Nostra Seignora de la Penna de Francia and contains within its walls a hermitage of the same invocation, it has 6 light guns, firing iron shots of 6 to 8 pounds. 19

Montalto de Jesus says:

That there had been a fort at Macau is beyond doubt. In an old French manuscript, Macau is described as as un petit lieu qui est au bord de la mer au pied d'une montagne où autrefois les Portugais ont eu une forteresse mesmes qu'il y en a beaucoup qui y habitent. According to De Guignes, the hermitage of Penha was originally a fort. The Ao-men Kilioh relates that, for protection against the Dutch, the Portuguese constructed a fort much on the lines of an old one which had been pulled down. Its demolition was evidently due to the same cause which now stood in the way of the colony being walled and fortified: misgivings on the part of the Chinese. Extremely mistrustful and ever ready to be duped by anti-foreign alarmists, the Chinese were now even led to mistaking churches for forts, misapprehensions which might have originated from the unusual circumstances attending the construction of St. Paul's. 20

The statement of Montalto is incorrect. The Ou-Mun Kei-Leok does not say a word about the reconstruction of the fort of Penha after 1622 as a protection against the Dutch. Therefore, Mascarenha had nothing to do with it. The fort that existed there before 1623 was not pulled down and it is sheer imagination to attribute its demolition to misgivings on the part of the Chinese.

The fort was demolished long ago.

In the January of 1927 a marble altar was placed there as an offering from António Artur d'Eça.

In the middle of the esplanade, in front of the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, there used to be a marble slab with two brass plaques. Inscribed on the upper brass plaque was the name and arms of Dom João Paulino and these words: Advenia Regnum tuum. The lower brass plaque bore this inscription:

A PΩ21

HEIC ADQUIESCIT

D. JOANNES. PAVLINVS. DE AZEVEDO. ET.

CASTRO

MACAUNENSIS. EPISCOPVS

VIR. EXIMIA. IN DEVM PIETATE

MORVMQUE INTEGRITATE CONSPICVVS

AMOREM. PATRIAE. ET. LAVDEM.

EMERITVS

QVI. ANNOS. NATVM. LXVI

MACAI. VITA. EXCESSIT. XIII KAL. MART.

MDCCCXVIII

PAX. TIBI. ET GAVDIA. CAELESTIVM

On the lower part, the inscription read:

O CABIDO DA SÉ CATEDRAL DE MACAU

OFERECE E DEDICA ESTE MONUMENTO

On the upper part, the inscription read:

TRASLADADO EM 6 - 2 -1923

PARA A VILA DAS LAGES DO PICO-AÇORES

[Christ, Alpha and Omega. Here lies D. Joao Paulino de Azevedo e Castro, Bishop of Macau, a man of profound piety to God, distinguished by the integrity of his life, remarkable for his love and devotion for his country. He died in Macau on the 17th of February 1818 being 66 years old. Peace be with you and also the happiness of the heavenly saints.

The Chapter of the Cathedral of Macau offers and dedicates this monument. Transferred on 6-2-1923, to Lages do Pico-Açores.]

This plaque disappeared during the Sino-Japanese War.

With the extinction of the convents in 1835, the chapel became public property. It was ruined by the typhoon of August 5th 1835. Forty devotees petitioned the Leal Senado for its administration and use. This was granted them on June 8th 1936, until a superior resolution could be made. Then they had it rebuilt in 1837. The royal decree of September 12th 1846 approved the resolution of the Senate of 1836 to hand over the chapel to the devotees. On the upper esplanade facing the church, a statue of the Immaculate Conception was erected in 1909.

From this esplanade of the church two staircases descend to a lower esplanade where the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes is situated. This land belonged to José Maria de Castro e Basto and his wife, Casimira de Sena Fernandes Basto, who donated it to Bishop D. João Paulino de Azevedo e Castro. In 1908, the bishop constructed an arch five metres high and five metres wide, and under it the grotto with a marble statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. This statue was donated by Vittoria Spinola Pallavicino, of Genoa.

JAPANESE REFUGEES IN MACAU

On March 10th, 1685, a Japanese junk was discovered stranded at Macareira Island (formerly Dom João Island), near Macau. When the Portuguese authorities went to investigate the junk, they also discovered twelve Japanese sailors who, on their knees and with raised arms, begged the Portuguese to save them. They were frightened and hungry. On board the junk seventy four bales of tobacco were found.

They were taken to Macau for questioning but it was impossible to understand them.

The Japanese were afraid that they would be killed by their Portuguese captors. Instead they were given plenty of food which they ate ravenously, as they were starving. In the meantime, an elderly Japanese lady was found and she was brought to speak to the Japanese. She, however, was unable to understand what they were saying initially, as she had forgotten her native language. Slowly, she was able to understand their story.

The Japanese had lived in Ise, in Japan, and had lived in a street called Kamijashiro. The captain, whose name was Tafek, was the owner of the sailing vessel. The names of the members of the crew were: Tarobe, Gempachi, Ginzabro, Diyomu, Shoza, Yafek, Sankiro, Jero and Jubi.

The captain had built his junk at a cost of 1,500 taels, and the cost of the tobacco on board was ninety eight golden coupons. The cargo was jointly owned by the captain, while the remaining half belonged to the crew who were employed by the captain. The junk had sailed from Ise to Nagasaki to sell their cargo, but a storm blew up and much of the cargo had to be thrown overboard, into the sea. For the following five days, they had been unable to see each other in the junk, on account of darkness. After eleven days they arrived at Macareira Island, where the Portuguese had discovered them.

Having decided to take the junk to Macau and to make an inventory of the cargo on board, the authorities returned to the sailing vessel, where they were surprised to discover that forty armed Chinese had taken over the vessel. Since they had no power to force the Chinese off the ship they told them that the Government had ordered three boats and seventy men to take the junk to Macau. Being advised that a larger force of armed men were coming, the Chinese left peaceably. The junk was brought to Macau and the Japanese were housed by the authorities.

This event was considered by the Portuguese to have been a sign of Divine Providence. They had been expelled from Japan forty seven years earlier and now, having provided a safe haven for the Japanese in their care they were hoping to be able to return to Japan to preach the gospel in that country.

In the meantime, the Chinese being aware of the presence of the Japanese in Macau, sent three Mandarin officials to question the city councillors and the Japanese. These people were not, however, interested in the welfare of the Japanese, but they were very interested in looking for silver, gold and Japanese swords. Their presence in the city was to cause the city councillors a lot of trouble.

When the Portuguese decided to repatriate the Japanese sailors, they discovered they were unable to buy a boat owing to an insufficiency of money. The Jesuits came to the assistance of the City Council: Father Filippo Maria Fieschi, who lived at St. Paul's College and who was procurator of the Jesuit Province of Japan, sent a letter to the City Council with this proposal: He would buy a boat together with Pedro Vaz de Sequeira, José Pinheiro de Faria and Bernardo da Silva, and offer it to the City Council to take the Japanese to their own country.

However they were unable to get a boat quickly enough and Pedro Vaz de Sequeira22 offered his own frigate called São Paulo. To pay the cost of the journey, Fr. Fieschi agreed to pay one-third and Pinheiro de Faria another. When this business had been finalised, the Japanese junk was dismantled into sections and carried onto the frigate. Manuel de Aguiar Pereira was chosen as captain of the vessel. The Japanese 'before departing from Macau' were given new silk clothing from the City Councillors. The frigate finally set sail on June 30th and arrived in Nagasaki on July 3rd. To the disappointment of the Portuguese, they were not permitted to re-open trade with the Japanese; but the Japanese on board the frigate were permitted to disembark and return home. The frigate, São Paulo returned to Macau on August 30th.

WRECKAGE OF A JAPANESE SHIP

In 1832, a merchant ship sailing from Nagoya to Tokyo with a crew of fourteen sailors was severly damaged. Only three of the crew remained alive, and all were brothers: Iwakichi, twenty eight, Kyukichi, fifteen, and Otokichi, fourteen. Like flotsam, they were tossed along the waters of the Pacific, eventually arriving at Queen Charlotte Islands, in British Columbia, Canada.

During the following two years they experienced much hardship, and were, for a time, put to hard labour by a tribe of Indians who captured them. They lost hope of ever returning to their homeland.

However, in May 1834, an English ship belonging to the Hudson Bay Company arrived at Queen Charlotte Islands. The captain of the ship, Captain MacNeill, while trading with the Indians saw the three Japanese prisioners. He took pity on them and brought them on board his ship. On arrival in Vancouver, he entrusted the three men to the protection of Dr. MacFarling of the same Company, who promised to help to have the Japanese repatriated to Japan.

They left Vancouver on board the H. M. S. Eagle for London. En route to England, the Eagle stopped in Hawaii, then it sailed around Cape Horn in South America and onto London. Whilst in the city of London, the Japanese were very well received. The visitors were taken on visits to the city, which included going to Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul's Cathedral.

When the British Government decided to repatriate the Japanese, they sailed on board the General Palmer, another ship belonging to the Hudson Bay Company. It sailed to Japan via the Cape of Good Hope and arrived in Macau in the month of December, 1835.

In Macau the Japanese brothers were looked after by the Pomeranian Protestant Missionary, Karl Gutzlaff. 23 He brought them to his home until arrangements to finalise the brothers' return to Japan were completed. In the meantime, he instructed them in the Christian religion. From his guests he learned Japanese and was successful in translating St. John's Gospel and his three Epistles. This was not an easy task for Gutzlaff, since these were humble farmers and only one could write. The dialect spoken by the Japanese was of their village, Owairiryo. Karl Gutzlaff's version of St. John's Gospel was finally completed in 1836 and it was printed in Singapore. During this period the Government of the United States was trying to open trade with Japan, but with little success.

In July, 1837, the American ship, Morrison visited Macau. Karl Gutzlaff took this opportunity to embark on the ship. He took the three Japanese with him. The ship arrived in Tokyo on July 27th. Gutzlaff's request for the Japanese to land was refused. The Japanese authorities instead showed him a decree of the same year, 1837, which condemmed to death any Japanese person returning from abroad. Perhaps these negotiations became sullen because the authorities opened fire against the Morrison. The captain did not give up, but sailed from Tokyo to Nagoya. Strong winds there prevented him from anchoring. The journey continued to Kagoshima, in a southerly direction; once again, the Morrison drew fire from the shore and it had to sail away.

The three brothers, after seeing their homeland, its cities, mountains, trees and lakes, had to return to Macau, the city of refuge. What happened to them? Nobody knows! Most probably they became Protestants, married or mixed with Chinese wives and lived anonymously among Macau's Chinese society. Some say that one of them sailed on the Morrison to the U. S. A.

With regard to the translation of St. John's Gospel, a well-known American Missionary, the Rev. Hepburn, discovered it in Singapore and it was used for the translation of the Bible into Japanese (1880-1888). All of these things happened because three humble Japanese suffered a shipwreck in 1832.

How inscrutable are God's ways!

NOTES

1 Tael: 6 tangas or 5/-sterling.

2 Pardão = 6 tangas or 5/-sterling.

3 The report was found in the Ajuda Library by J. M. Braga and quoted by Hugo-Brunt, p. 333.

4 Quoted in C. R. Boxer: Seventeenth Century Macau, pp. 41-42.

5 P. Pasquale D'Elia SJ. Fonti Ricciane. I, 258, note 1.

6 Dom Pedro Martins, SJ, was the first Bishop of Japan (1591-1598).

7 Felipe, by Helene Margaret, the Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee.

8 Confer: Ribadenera, OFM, Historia de las Islas del Archipelago Filipino y Reinos de la Gran China, Tartaria, Cochinchina, Malaca, Siam, Cambodge y Japón., p. 482, 496-497, 511-512, 530-532.

Luís Frois SJ, Relacion del matirio de los 26 christianos crucificados en Nagasaki el 5 Febrero 1597, p. 106 107, 504.

From: Early Franciscans in Japan, T. Uyttenbroeck, OFM Missionary Bulletin Series, Vol. VI.

9 The Japanese names and the dates of the Martyrdom were given to us by Fr. Diego Yuuki SJ.

10 C. R. Boxer, The Great Ship from Amacon, p. 137.

11 C. R. Boxer, pp. 325-26.

12 Sinica Franciscana, Vol. VII. T. II, Relation of Fr. Climent

13 Ibidem. pp. 88-89.

14 C. R. Boxer, The Great Ship from Amacon (Lisbon, 1959), p. 70, and Montalto de Jesus, Historic Macao (Macau, 1926), p. 69.

15 C. R. Boxer, idem, p. 70, see also note (137).

16 Montalto de Jesus, idem, pp. 69-74.

17 C. R. Boxer, Seventeenth Century Macau, p. 38.

18 C. R. Boxer, idem, p. 18.

19 Ibidem, p. 72.

20 Montalto de Jesús, idem, p. 69.

21 A = Alfa, meaning 'the beginning'; Ω= Omega, meaning 'the end'; P = Christus, 'Christ', i. e., 'Christ is the beginning and end of everything'.

22 Pedro Vaz de Sequeira was the son of Captain Gonçalo de Sequeira de Sousa, who was Portuguese Ambassador to Japan (1644-1647). He had also served in India in the Armada de Altobordo (High Seas Fleet), serving under Luis de Mendonça Furtado, from 1657 to 1659, in the re-capture of Canton from the Dutch in 1659 and in the defence of Cochin, once again, against Dutch forces. Later he settled in Macau where he was appointed Captain-General, or Governor. He served two terms of office from 1698-1699 and from 1702-1703. His son, António Sequeira de Noronha also became Captain-General of Macau, in 1711-1714. A son of the Captain-General, Manuel de Camara de Noronha, received the noble title of Fidalgo Cavaleiro in October 1743.

There are still many Noronhas in Macau and in Hong Kong, who might be descendants of this family.

There is another Manuel de Câmara de Noronha who was Captain-General of Macau in 1631-1636. About the Ambassador Gonçalo de Sequeira, see C. R. Boxer: The Embassy of Captain Gonçalo de Sequeira de Souza to Japan in 1644-1647, Macau, 1938.

23 Karl Gutzlaff was born in the province of Pomerania, North Germany. Today this province has been returned to Poland. When he was 23, he sailed to Batavia (Jakarta), in Indonesia. There he studied Chinese, Malay and a little Japanese, however he was unable to preach Christianity there. He then sailed to Thailand where he studied Thai and translated into that language the gospels of St. Luke and St. John. He came to Macau, where his wife opened a school, on December 30th, 1835. He remained interested in his "Biblical Voyages" along the Coasts of China. He went to Manchuria, in Korea he visited Cheju, he went to Okinawa and also Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa. He died and is buried in Hong Kong.

*Famed historian, specialising in the history of Macau and the Catholic Church in the Far East, member of the International Association of Asian Historian and the Portuguese Academy of History.