Do you know how many Japanese saints there are? I'm not sure how to say "saint" in Japanese. 聖人？ In the Catholic Church, a saint is a holy (聖） person who is known for his or her "heroic sanctity" (健気な尊厳？) and who is thought to be in heaven. There are more than 10,000 saints recognized (定評されている？）by the Roman Catholic Church. I checked on the internet and I found 42 Japanese saints!
I heard that today is the feast day (宗教的な祭日、祝祭日）of St. Thomas Nishi, a Japanese saint. I found information about him on this website:
https://www.militia-immaculatae.asia/english/info336.php
By chance, I recently attended the church referred to in the above website. It's called Nakamachi Catholic Church. It's a beautiful church in Nagasaki with charming stained glass windows. At the time, I didn't realize the history of the church. Today I learned that the church is dedicated to the 16 Martyrs (16人殉教者?) of Nagasaki. One of them is St. Thomas Nishi.
By the way, one of the 16 Martyrs is also the first woman saint in Japan. You can read her story at the above link. She died an extremely cruel death for being a Christian. I still feel sick now after reading about it.
How can people be so cruel to each other? I don't understand. And, of course I'm not only talking about the persecution (迫害？) of Christians in Japan. All throughout history, in every area of the world, people have done such cruel things to each other.
One reason that I love the Catholic Church is that it is "a hospital for sinners" (罪人の病院), and God is the "good doctor". Whether we admit it or not, we are all sick.
There is a famous quote by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (アレクサンドル ソルジェニーツィン). It's from a very famous book he wrote called The Gulag Archipelago （収容所群島）:
If only there were evil people somewhere doing evil things, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.
I can't find a Japanese translation to this quote on the internet. Maybe this book isn't so famous in Japan? Have you heard of this book?
Jesus (イエス) said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
「丈夫な人には医者はいらない。いるのは病人である。わたしがきたのは、義人を招くためではなく、罪人を招くためである。」
So, we all need a "good doctor". That's why I go to church. It's my hospital.
St. Thoman Nishi, pray for us!
