The Beatification ceremony of the Japanese martyr Justo Takayama in Osaka, Japan, brought together several sisters from the Nayoga Community and the Asia Province Council.
Justo Takayama Ukon, a 16th century samurai who preferred to renounce his possessions, live in poverty and die in exile rather than renounce his Catholic faith. Takayama was born in 1552, three years after the Jesuit missionary Saint Francis Xavier took the Christianity to Japan. His family, which was noble, assisted in missionary activities in Japan and were protectors of Christians and Jesuit missionaries. In 1587, when the persecution against the Church had begun in his country, Takayama and his father abandoned their lands and honors so as not to fight against his brothers and to keep the faith.
Then, when the Tokugawa shogun outlawed Christianity for good in 1614, Takayama went into exile, leading a group of 300 Japanese Catholics to the Philippines. The now blessed died on February 4, after having been weakened by persecution in Japan.