Magdalene of Nagasaki

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Magdalene of Nagasaki

Companions of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila
Born	1611, Nagasaki, Japan
Died	16 October 1634, Nagasaki, Japan
Beatified	February 18, 1981, Manila, Philippines by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	October 18, 1987, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II
Major shrine	Binondo Church in Binondo, Manila, Philippines
Feast	28 September
Attributes	palm, Augustinian habit (without the typical nun hair net, since she was a lay sister), books
Saints Portal

Magdalene of Nagasaki (長崎のマグダレナ, Nagasaki no Magudarena^?), was born in 1611 as the daughter of a Christian couple martyred about 1620. With the arrival of the Augustinian Order, Magdalene served as an Augustinian lay sister or tertiary, interpreter and catechist for Fathers Francis of Jesus Terrero and Vincent of Saint Anthony Simoens.

In 1632, these two Augustinian friars, who had been her spiritual counselors, were burned alive. After the martyrdom of her counselors, she apprenticed herself to two other Augustinians, Fathers Melchior of Saint Augustine and Martin of Saint Nicholas. When these two friars were also put to death, she turned to Father Jordan de San Esteban, a Dominican.

Some time later, and attired in her Augustinian habit, Magdalene turned herself into the authorities and declared herself a follower of Jesus Christ. At age 23, she died on October 16, 1634 after thirteen days of torture, suffocated to death and suspended upside down in a pit of offal on a gibbet. After death, her body was burned and her ashes scattered in the bay of Nagasaki. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on February 18, 1981 Manila.

Drawn from the oral histories of Japanese Catholic communities, Shusaku Endo's acclaimed novel "Silence" provides detailed accounts of the persecution of Christian communities and the suppression of the Church.