Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan

February 5, 1597

On a hillside outside Nagasaki, twenty-six Catholics, including six European Franciscans and twenty Japanese converts, were crucified on Hideyoshi's orders. They sang a hymn as they died. The executions marked the beginning of the long, grinding suppression of Christianity in Japan, which would accelerate under the Tokugawa. Their crucifixion began the long suppression of Christianity in Japan, accelerating under the Tokugawa. They were canonized in 1862.