Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tokyo

Archdiocese of Tokyo
Archidioecesis Tokiensis
カトリック東京大司教区

Location
Country Japan
Ecclesiastical province Tokyo
Statistics
Area 7,316 km2 (2,825 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		 (as of 2010)
19,200,258
96,157 (0.5%)
Information
Rite Roman Rite
Cathedral St. Mary's Cathedral
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop Peter Takeo Okada
Auxiliary Bishops James Kazuo Koda
Vicar General James Kazuo Koda
Emeritus Bishops Paul Kazuhiro Mori Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus (1985-2000)
Map
Website
Website of the Archdiocese

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tokyo (Latin: Archidioecesis Tokiensis, Japanese: カトリック東京大司教区) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Japan. It was erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Japan on May 1, 1846, by Pope Gregory XVI, and its name was later changed by Pope Pius IX to the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Japan on May 22, 1876.

It was elevated to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tokyo by Pope Leo XIII on June 15, 1891, with the suffragan sees of Niigata, Saitama, Sapporo, Sendai, and Yokohama.

Peter Takeo Okada was appointed archbishop on February 17, 2000.

History

The Evangelization of Japan starts in 1549 with the arrival of St.Francis Xavier and goes on until 1587 when Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued the edict forbidding Christianity and orders all missionaries to leave Japan.

In the following years of persecution, also in Edo (actual Tokyo), there were cases of martyrdom in 1612 and 1623.

After the “seclusion period”, the first missionaries of the Paris Mission Society arrived in Japan in 1858 and were stationed in the three ports of Nagasaki, Yokohama and Hakodate.

In 1876 the mission of Japan was divided in two Apostolic Vicariates: Southern Japan with the center in Nagasaki and Northern Japan with the center in Tokyo.

The first Vicar Apostolic of Northern Japan was Mgr. Pierre Marie Osouf.

On April 17, 1891. the Vicariate Apostolic of Northern Japan was divided into the Archdiocese of Tokyo and the Diocese of Hakodate, and Mgr. Osouf was appointed the first Archbishop of Tokyo.

On August 13, 1912, the Archdiocese of Tokyo ceded the prefectures of Toyama, Fukui and Ishikawa to the newly established Prefecture Apostolic of Niigata, and on February 18, 1922, the prefectures of Aichi and Gifu were ceded to the newly established Prefecture Apostolic of Nagoya.

In November 1937, Tokyo was entrusted to the Japanese clergy and confined to Tokyo-to and the prefecture of Chiba. The remaining territory was detached to form the Diocese of Yokohama.

The first Archbishop selected among the Japanese clergy was Archbishop Peter Tatsu Doi.[1]

List of ordinaries

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://tokyo.catholic.jp/english/archdiocese_en/

Coordinates: 35°42′N 139°43′E / 35.700°N 139.717°E / 35.700; 139.717

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