The , also St. Mary's Cathedral, and often known as after its location

Urakami Urakami was an area in the northern part of the city of Nagasaki, Japan. History In 1614, by the orders of shōgun leader Tokugawa Ieyasu, Christianity was banned in Japan in order to suppress European influence and to prevent the undermining o ...

, is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral located in Motoomachi,

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

History

In 1865, the French priest Bernard Petitjean discovered that almost all the Urakami villagers were Christian. Even then Christianity was forbidden still for the locals, those rediscovered

Kakure Kirishitan ''Kakure Kirishitan'' () is a modern term for a member of the Catholic Church in Japan who went underground at the start of the Edo period in the early 17th century (lifted in 1873) due to Christianity's repression by the Tokugawa shogunate (Apr ...

(Hidden Christians) were persecuted by the then central governments respectively. Between 1869 and 1873, over 3,600 villagers were banished to exile by the newly installed government. During their exile, 650 died. The persecuted came back to their home village after 7 years exile in 1873, and decided to construct their own church. Construction of the original Urakami Cathedral, a brick

Neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

building, began in 1895, after a long-standing ban on Christianity was lifted. They purchased the land of the village chief where the humiliating interrogations had taken place for two centuries. The annual "

fumi-e A was a likeness of Jesus or Mary onto which the religious authorities of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan required suspected Christians (Kirishitan) to step, in order to demonstrate that they were not members of the outlawed religion; other ...

" interrogations required those present to tread upon an icon of the Virgin Mary or Jesus. They thought the place was appropriate considering their memory of the long persecution. Construction of the building was started by Father Francine and was completed under the direction of Father Regani. The frontal twin spires stood 64 meters high were constructed in 1875. When completed in 1925 (''Taishō'' 14), until its destruction in 1945, it was the largest Christian structure in the Asia-Pacific region. The atomic bomb that fell on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, detonated in Urakami only 500 m (1640 ft) from the cathedral, completely destroying it. As the Feast of the Assumption of Mary (August 15) was near, Mass was held on the day and was well attended. The resultant collapse and heat-wave cindered and buried all those present in the cathedral. The destruction of the cathedral hit the religious community of Nagasaki the hardest, as they viewed it as a loss of spirituality. It had such an impact, that noted playwright

Tanaka Chikao was a Japanese playwright and dramatist whose plays focused on the mental, physical, and religious hardships of post-World War II Japan. Tanaka's writing differed greatly from that of other Japanese playwrights at the time because he wrote of es ...

wrote his most successful play, ''Head of Mary'', about the efforts of Christians in Nagasaki to reconstitute their faith by rebuilding the Virgin Mary. The plans to replace the cathedral led to a prolonged debate between the city government and the congregation. The city government had suggested preserving the destroyed cathedral as a heritage site, and offered an alternate site for a new church. However, Christians in Nagasaki strongly wanted to rebuild their cathedral on the original site, as a symbol of their persecution and suffering. In January 1958 the Catholic community announced their intent to build a new, larger cathedral of reinforced concrete on the original site and following the plan of the original cathedral. After further debate the city government accepted this proposal and the new cathedral was finished by October 1959. In 1980 the cathedral was remodeled using brick tiles to more closely resemble the original French style. Statues and artifacts damaged in the bombing, including a French

Angelus bell '' The Angelus'' (1857–1859) by Jean-François Millet The Angelus (; Latin for "angel") is a Catholic devotion commemorating the Incarnation of Christ. As with many Catholic prayers, the name ''Angelus'' is derived from its incipit—t ...

and the Atom-bombed Mary, are now displayed on the grounds. The nearby

Peace Park A transboundary protected area (TBPA) is an ecological protected area that spans boundaries of more than one country or sub-national entity. Such areas are also known as transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) or peace parks. TBPAs exist in ma ...

contains remnants of the original cathedral's walls. What remained of the cathedral is now on display in the

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum The is in the city of Nagasaki, Japan. The museum is a remembrance to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki by the United States on 9 August 1945 at 11:02:35 am. Next to the museum is the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victim ...

References

External links

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Nagasaki City Tourism Guide — Urakami Cathedral

2013 feature film on the life of Takashi Nagai and the atom bombing of Nagasaki
{{Authority control Roman Catholic churches completed in 1925 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Japan Christian organizations established in 1914 1945 disestablishments in Japan Religious buildings and structures in Nagasaki Roman Catholic churches completed in 1959 Roman Catholic cathedrals in Japan Monuments and memorials concerning the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Buildings of the Meiji era Churches in Nagasaki Prefecture Buildings and structures in Japan destroyed during World War II Rebuilt buildings and structures in Japan Destroyed churches

History

See also

References

External links