Blesseds Matthias Araki Hyōzaemon and 7 companions

In the annals of the Church, few testimonies resonate with the raw intensity of the Japanese martyrs. Among them stand the Blesseds Matthias Araki Hyōzaemon and seven companions, whose names are etched in the memory of the faithful not through the chronicles of their daily lives, but through the finality of their sacrifice. At Nagasaki in Japan, this group suffered martyrdom for Christ, offering their blood as a seed for the Church that would eventually flourish once more in the land of the rising sun.