Nov 27 Thomas Kotenda (and companions) d. 1619

Thommy and John
Good morning
I love you

There’s this one blessed for whom we have a three sentence blurb, including ‘companions’.
I pulled him out because
a. he’s a Thomas
b. he’s a Jesuit by education not by vow
c. he’s Japanese – well, for a. and b., actually either would have been sufficient. That he is Japanese is simply who he is. I used to say I had a Japanese. That is until I met her and she explained, with hard to understand English, that she is Okinowan, very different! When I was in the novitiate, I had a classmate, a retired sergeant in the Army who had been stationed in Japan, spoke Japanese [so what do you think he was doing there for uncle sam?] and who was hoping to, planning to, go back to the Jesuit missions there.


Bl. Thomas Kotenda and Companions:
Bl. John Ivanango & John Montajana
Bl. Matthias Kosaka & Bl Matthias Nakano
Bl. Michael Takeshita
Bl. Alexius Nakamura
Bl. Anthony Kimura
Bl. Bartholomew Sheki
Bl. Leo Nakanishi

[so, after I wrote my feeloughts connected to Thomas Kotenda (and companions) I continued down the list in Catholic online for November 27th. First I pulled out the Johns – Ivanango and Montajana; with fundamentally the same blurb as Thomas Kotenda. Then I figured that just maybe the other companions would be there on the 27th as well. Not so hard to find on a list with Christian first names and obvious ‘Japanese’ last names. So I figured I’d just append onto the Thomas blog….]


Feastday: November 27
d. 1619
Thomas Kotenda was a member of a high-ranking noble family of Japan. Pedigree does matter, I assume; especially since almost every blurb about a saint not only identifies the parents but the pedigree. And, for the Jesuits, having learned the missionary strategies from Xavier who probably picked a few pointers from Patrick, the first focus of proselytizing would have been the nobles. Leverage. A strategy for any change effort.

Thomas was a devoted Christian, having been educated by the Jesuits. I hope that your receive more Jesuit education that the tiny tidbits I have to offer from my living and my saying and my writing – from your learning. I’m sorry you were prevented from that and directed away from that by your mother; there’s still lots of opportunities – from retreats to parishes to universities et al.

Thomas Kotenda was exiled for his beliefs from his native province. Unfortunately you have abdicated your beliefs for fear of being exiled. Oro pro vobis; ora pro nobis. Thomas Kotenda has something to offer you in addition to the balls of faith….
Thomas Kotanda lived at Nagasaki until his condemnation and beheading, He was martyred along with ten companions. Yes, we do suffer for our faith – or suffer more for abdicating our faith. The former is the Peace of Christ; which I wish be with you always.

Bl. John Ivanango & John Montajana
“Martyrs of Japan, beheaded at Nagasaki with nine companions. They were beatified in 1867 by Pope Pius IX.” (Catholic online.) Maybe the “and companions” part is the more crucial. It is maybe impossible to keep your faith, to practice your faith, in the face of exile or termination, when you are alone. Who are your companions? More importantly, who are your companions in faith? Not only in the “I am Catholic” sayers but much more importantly the “I am Catholic Doers” those who may not even say a word. The list does not have to be nine. Certainly there a few necessary ones: Jesus, Father, and Spirit. I’d suggest Mary as sufficient after the Trinity. Pick some saints or angels – a Thomas or a William or a John or Kenneth to make it easy to connect. Then you also have your father, your uncle, your cousin [I wish you had each other, that would be the best]; the Nolans, most of us fersure. You have to scour and dig within your peer group; since you have been placed in communities/schools with so few Catholics and little or no connection with Parish, Catholic Schools, Catholic groups…. The and companions is helpful, important, sufficient, [not necessary beyond Jesus?]


Bl. Matthias Kosaka & Matthias Nakano
“Two martyrs of Japan. They were both members of a noble house of the country. Arrested in Omura, they were taken to Nagasaki where they were beheaded. Both were beatified in 1867.” How does a person choose their conversion name? [I don’t even know what your mother picked in her transition through rcia and Catholicism.] Not unlike your parents’ choosing your baptismal name – giving you a name, vowing for your as well as us. Not unlike your choosing your confirmation name – sorry, you confirmed, you chose, you vowed [that’d be a lifetime of eternity commitment, covenant]…. John and Uriel. The first is easy to connect. The latter is a stretch; I hope he is helping with some Catholicism from out of the angel cult from which he was chosen and the choice rewarded.] Put yourself in the head of some Japanese nobles, who were converted by Jesuits, and how do you come up with Matthias?



Bl. Michael Takeshita
“Jesuit martyr of Japan. Michael was a member of a high noble Japanese family and was seized during the persecution against the Church. He was beheaded with ten companions at Nagasaki at the age of twenty-five. Pope Pius IX beatified him in 1867.”
Michael had ten companions. Go figure – someone’s overcounting or missed one…. Maybe the persecution of Catholics and Catholicism is not personal? Maybe these actions are against The Church not against the individuals like Michael Takeshita [phonetically take a shit a?]? Maybe the failure to raise you Catholic, to put you in anti-Catholic schools, was not personal, maybe those acts were a rejection of and efforts to weaken the Catholic Church. But it is personal. It’s not “the Church” – we are Church; we, together are the Body of Christ; the Church is a personal relationship between each of us and Jesus and through Him with each other. It was Michael Takeshita’s head that was cut off – I’d say that was personal. It was John who felt that the school forbade him from writing about and, thus, in his mind, learning about what our Church, Faith, teaches us about right and wrong, i.e., ethics. That’s personal and that is persecution; sure, it’s also anti-Catholic and against The Church – being anti-every-church is no less personal and no less anti-Catholic.

Bl. Alexius Nakamura
“Noble martyr of Japan. Alexius was a Japanese born in Figen, a member of the Ferando family. He was beheaded at Nagasaki for the faith.” It just dawned on me that in this list of companions we do not have any women (or children). There is no doubt that the martyrdom of these men also cost their wives, daughters, probably even their mothers their lives, certainly their well being. They too were martyred for the faith – their own faith, the faith of their family, their husband’s/father’s faith. As it should be. That they are not in the list of the martyred is more church political uncorrectness – and the process of canonization which is in part a way to enhance the proposeers as well as the individuals for the good of the faithful. No women Jesuits – though it may be time for the feminists in our Church who have a relationship with the Jesuits, benefactors of the Jesuits, the revisit the Order’s legacy and put forward the important, saintly women….

Bl. Anthony Kimura
“Japanese martyr. A member of a noble Japanese family, he was also related to Blessed Leonard [aka Leo] Kimura. At age twenty-three, Anthony was beheaded at Nagasaki with ten companions.”

Bl. Leo Nakanishi
“Martyr of Japan. He was a member of a Japanese noble family and was beheaded with ten companions at Nagasaki, Japan. Leo was beatified in 1867.” Maybe the ‘and companions’ were all related? The politics of seventeenth century Japan – an opportunity to wipe out an entire family using The Church as the excuse? Not so personal? One branch of the royal family gets to wipe out another branch because their politics, their faith, their power, their influence, their love for others is inconvenient? Threatening to one’s own modus vivandi? Maybe by their very existence, the lives of some potentates in the family are held up to scorn by necessary comparison and contrast?

Bl. Bartholomew Sheki
“A martyr of Japan. A member of the royal family of Firando, Japan, Bartholomew was arrested as a Christian. He was beheaded at Nagasaki. His beatification took place in 1867.”


In the midst of your persecutions – from whomever – here are some saints to ask for the grace getting into your balls…. Oro pro vobis. Ora pro nobis.


I love you
dad