This week in Christian history: German missionary arrives in India, Jesuit martyred in Japan, papacy leaves France

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, September 08, 2024

Carlo Spinola martyred – Sept. 10, 1622

Carlo Spinola (1564-1622), a Jesuit missionary who was martyred in Japan. | Wikimedia Commons/Grentidez

This week marks the anniversary of when Carlo Spinola, a Spanish Jesuit missionary and teacher, was martyred in Japan as part of a wave of state-sponsored anti-Christian violence.

Spinola had arrived in Japan back in 1602, initially teaching at a Jesuit school in Kyoto and later moving to Nagasaki to serve the ministries that were thriving in that region.

Shogun Iyeyasu later issued a decree banning foreign missionaries and prohibiting Japanese Christians from practicing their faith, with Spinola being among those arrested and executed.

“Weakened by four years' imprisonment, Spinola died one half hour after the fire was lit,” noted the official Jesuit website. “When fastened to the stake, he intoned the psalm, ‘Praise the Lord, All You Nations,’ and led the other martyrs in a song of thanksgiving to God for being called to witness to their faith.”