Jacobo Kyushei Gorobioye Tomonaga de Santa María, OP ( ja, ヤコボ・デ・サンタ・マリア朝長五郎兵衛, ''Yakobo de Santa Maria Tomonaga Gorōbyōe''; c. 1582 – August 17, 1633) was a Japanese Dominican priest. He composed one of the first modern Japanese dictionaries. He was martyred in 1633.

Life

Jacobo Kyushei Gorobioye Tomonaga was born of a noble Christian family in Kuidetsu (part of modern Ōmura,

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In his youth, he studied with the Jesuits and became a catechist. After 1614, he came to

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

and became a Franciscan tertiary. He then sought admission to the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

and was accepted. He was ordained a priest in 1626 and sent to the island of Formosa (Taiwan). He returned to Manila in 1630. He returned to Japan in 1632 as a missionary.Holböck, Ferdinand. ''New Saints and Blesseds of the Catholic Church'', Vol. I, Ignatius Press, 2000
He served to spread Catholism during the period of Christians persecution.Saint Jacobo Kyushei Gorobioye Tomonaga de Santa María
Retrieved on 7 Feb 2018 After returning to Japan he spent very difficult years of hunger, his life was at risk and he was continually in hiding. In July 1633 his hiding place was uncovered by the authorities with the help of the traitor Matthew Kohioye, who was his own catechist, he was caught and put into prison. There he was tortured by gallows and thrown into a pit on 15 August 1633. In two days he was dead. His body was not buried but burnt and thrown into the sea.Bl. Jacobo Kyushei Gorobioye Tomonaga
Retrieved on 7 Feb 2018 Jacobo Kyushei Tomonaga was declared Venerable on 11 October 1980 by Pope John Paul II (decree of martyrdom), who later beatified him on 18 February 1981 in

, Philippines and canonized him on 18 October 1987 in

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

References

Sources

*''Lorenzo de Manila, The Proto-Martyr of The Philippines and his Companions'' - Fr. Fidel Villaroel, O.P., 1988 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomonaga, Jacobo Kyushei 1580s births 1633 deaths Japanese Roman Catholic saints Members of the Dominican Order Japanese Roman Catholics 17th-century Christian saints Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Canonizations by Pope John Paul II 17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs