21 May – Rosary for the end to the pandemic from the Shrine of OUR LADY OF NAGASAGI, Japan – SACBC
THE STORY OF THE MADONNA OF NAGASAKI Shintoism and Buddhism are the majority religions of Japan. Catholicism arrived with Francis Xavier in 1549. This was the beginning of what is now known as Japan’s ‘Age of Christianity’. Persecution of Christians started in 1587 and the religion was formally banned in the early 17th Century. The Catholic community in Nagasaki survived underground for 250 years. When France and Japan signed a trade agreement in 1859, the foreign community in Nagasaki was allowed to build a church: Oura Cathedral. The local Catholics made themselves known to the French...
Source: sacbc.org.za