1:55
PM - Public
The photo on this page
is a bird's-eye view of one of the sulfurous hot springs atop the Shimabara
volcano where so many Christians--Kirish'tan, that is--were boiled by the local
daimyo's minions in order to procure their apostasy. Here died many a
Japanese Kirish'tan hero, among them Blessed Paulo Uchibori, whom the torturers
hung upside down and dipped into the boiling sulfur-bath head-first.
They pulled him out, expecting him to renounce Christ, but to their astonishment, Paulo shouted a victory cry: "Praised Be the Most Blessed Sacrament!"
Again they dunked him, determined to boil away that strength of Spirit in him, but when they pulled up the rope again, the boiled Christian's shout of faith resounded in redoubled strength: "Praised Be the Most Blessed Sacrament!"
They plunged him in again, this time not to force a change of heart--for this was too plainly impossible--but to drown him in the boiling hell which would send him straight to Heaven. Perhaps their consciences could no longer bear the sting of Truth burning in those words of his, those quintessential Kirish'tan words: "Praised Be the Most Blessed Sacrament!"
May God grant that we all learn from his example--in this present age so steeped in lies--to not traduce the Truth: our Faith.
They pulled him out, expecting him to renounce Christ, but to their astonishment, Paulo shouted a victory cry: "Praised Be the Most Blessed Sacrament!"
Again they dunked him, determined to boil away that strength of Spirit in him, but when they pulled up the rope again, the boiled Christian's shout of faith resounded in redoubled strength: "Praised Be the Most Blessed Sacrament!"
They plunged him in again, this time not to force a change of heart--for this was too plainly impossible--but to drown him in the boiling hell which would send him straight to Heaven. Perhaps their consciences could no longer bear the sting of Truth burning in those words of his, those quintessential Kirish'tan words: "Praised Be the Most Blessed Sacrament!"
May God grant that we all learn from his example--in this present age so steeped in lies--to not traduce the Truth: our Faith.
