Nagasaki

Stored: Nagasaki

Populated Place: Nagasaki
32.7505, 129.8775
Status (Church Vitality):	Active
Historic:	Yes
Type:	City
Country:	Japan
Subdivision:	Nagasaki Prefecture
Founded:
Population:	397000
Catholic Population:
Catholic Percentage:	4.5%
Official Languages:
Catholicism Introduced:
Catholicism Status:
Parishes:	72
Notable Catholic Sites:	Urakami Cathedral (Immaculate Conception Cathedral); Oura Church (Church of the 26 Japanese Martyrs); Monument to the 26 Martyrs of Japan; Dejima Catholic Church
Patron Saint:	Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan
Website:	https://www.city.nagasaki.lg.jp

Nagasaki (Japanese: 長崎市) is a historic port city on the western coast of Kyushu island in southwestern Japan, capital of Nagasaki Prefecture. With a population of approximately 397,000 as of 2025 estimates, it serves as the seat of the Archdiocese of Nagasaki, one of Japan's oldest Christian communities, where Catholics comprise about 4.5% of residents amid a landscape scarred by persecution and atomic devastation yet radiant with resilient faith. Renowned as the gateway through which Christianity entered Japan in 1549 and the site of the 1597 martyrdom of the Twenty-Six Holy Martyrs—crucified along Nishizaka Hill—Nagasaki embodies the Church's hidden perseverance, culminating in the 1945 atomic bombing that claimed 8,500 Catholic lives but spared the Oura Church as a symbol of divine mercy.

History

Nagasaki originated as a fishing village in the 12th century, flourishing as a trading hub by the 16th century due to its natural harbor.

Early Settlement

Portuguese Jesuits arrived in 1549, led by Saint Francis Xavier, who preached in nearby Kagoshima but established Nagasaki as a Christian base. By 1560, over 1,000 converts swelled the community, drawn to the faith's message of equality amid feudal hierarchies.

Catholic Evangelization

Proselytism thrived under the Christian daimyo Ōmura Sumitada, who ceded Nagasaki to the Jesuits in 1580. The 1597 edict of Toyotomi Hideyoshi targeted foreign influence; on 5 February, Spanish Franciscans and Japanese laity—led by seminarian St. Paul Miki—were arrested in Kyoto and Osaka, then marched 600 miles to Nagasaki for public execution by crucifixion on Nishizaka Hill. Hagiographic tradition recounts Paul Miki's final sermon from the cross: "The only thing that counts is faith working through love." Their blood soaked the soil, inspiring "Kakure Kirishitan" (hidden Christians) who preserved the faith underground for 250 years through oral catechisms and fumie (trampled images) deceptions.

The 1858 reopening by Commodore Perry allowed French missionaries like Bishop Bernard Petitjean to rediscover 20,000 hidden faithful at Oura Church, who revealed a crucifix hidden since 1614. The Urakami Cathedral, completed 1925, became Japan's largest until its near-total destruction in the 9 August 1945 atomic blast—epicenter just 500 meters away—killing two-thirds of local Catholics.

Modern Faith Life

Postwar reconstruction rebuilt the cathedral by 1959, symbolizing resurrection. The Archdiocese of Nagasaki, erected 1891 and metropolitan since 1959, now tends 57,692 Catholics across 72 parishes as of 2024. Pope Francis's 2019 visit invoked the martyrs for peace, drawing 30,000 to a Nagasaki Mass. Annual 5 February commemorations and the 2025 Jubilee pilgrimage routes sustain vocations, with youth groups promoting nuclear disarmament in the martyrs' spirit.

Geography and demographics

Nagasaki perches at on a terraced peninsula fringed by the East China Sea, encompassing 406 square kilometers of hilly inlets conducive to secluded prayer sites and coastal processions.

The 2025 population estimate is 397,000, with Catholics at 4.5% (about 18,000 municipal, 57,692 diocesan-wide). Japanese is official; Portuguese echoes in Urakami hymns.

The archdiocese unites 72 parishes and 2 missions, with 131 priests serving 736 religious. Core sacramental venues include the Urakami Cathedral (neo-Gothic, atomic survivor, seat of Immaculate Conception); Oura Church (1864 wooden Gothic, UNESCO site, rediscovery locus); Monument to the 26 Martyrs (Nishizaka, annual February vigils); and Dejima Catholic Church (replica of Jesuit seminary). Devotion to the Twenty-Six Martyrs (5 February) features hilltop Stations of the Cross.

Government and culture

Nagasaki's mayor-council administration champions peace education. Liturgical feasts interweave civic life: the Martyrs' Solemnity (5 February) with torchlit marches; Peace Memorial Ceremony (9 August) blending atomic requiems and Eucharistic processions; and Hidden Christian Festival reenacting fumie trials.

Architecture fuses Western Gothic (Oura's spire) with seismic-resistant modernism (rebuilt Urakami). The Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum displays relics like bloodied ropes, fostering dialogue on religious freedom.

Notable Catholic figures

• Saint Francis Xavier (1506–1552) – Jesuit apostle of Japan; baptized first converts in Kagoshima, 1549.
• Saint Paul Miki (1564–1597) – Jesuit seminarian; crucified leader of the 26 Martyrs; patron of Japan.
• The Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan (d. 1597) – collective canonization 1862; symbols of fidelity.
• Saint Magdalena of Nagasaki (1611–1634) – lay catechist; martyred by torture; Augustinian companion.
• Servant of God Takashi Nagai (1905–1952) – radiologist and convert; survived bombing, authored *We of Nagasaki*; cause opened 2017.
• Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura (b. 1962) – current ordinary since 2021.

Related

• Japan
• Nagasaki Prefecture
• Archdiocese of Nagasaki
• Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan
• Francis Xavier