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| St. Magdalene of Nagasaki |
Magdalene was born near Nagasaki, Japan, around 1611, into a devout Christian family. She grew up during a period of persecution that brought imprisonment, torture, and death to many Catholics. While she was still young, her parents and siblings were martyred. The faith they had taught her became the foundation of a life devoted to Christ and to the service of other persecuted Christians.
In 1624, Magdalene became acquainted with two Augustinian Recollect missionaries, Francis of Jesus and Vincent of Saint Anthony. Their spirituality attracted her, and she became an Augustinian tertiary, a laywoman committed to prayer and Christian service within the Order’s spiritual family. She taught catechism, sought assistance for the poor, and encouraged believers whose faith was being tested by persecution. Her youth did not prevent her from becoming a source of strength for others.
As the persecution intensified, Magdalene joined Christians seeking refuge in the hills around Nagasaki. There she continued her work among people who had been driven from their homes. She helped instruct them in the faith, baptized, and encouraged them to persevere. When her missionary guides were killed, the surviving lay Christians carried on much of the work. Magdalene belonged to this courageous community, sustaining the faith under increasingly difficult conditions.
She later came into contact with the Dominican missionary Jordan of Saint Stephen, who was also working in hiding. Under his guidance, she received the habit of the Dominican Third Order, while retaining her connection to the Augustinian Recollect family. Her spiritual formation thus drew upon both communities. Through these relationships, she continued preparing herself for a life of fidelity to Christ amid danger.
Magdalene knew that torture had led some Christians to renounce their faith. In September 1634, wishing to strengthen those who were wavering, she presented herself to the authorities and openly declared that she was a Christian. She wore her tertiary habit and carried religious books for meditation in prison. She was subjected to severe torture, but she refused to abandon her faith.
Her captors eventually condemned her to the torment known as the hanging and the pit. She was suspended upside down, with part of her body lowered into a covered hole. Accounts of her martyrdom describe her enduring this suffering for approximately thirteen days. She remained faithful throughout the ordeal. According to these accounts, she finally drowned when rainwater filled the pit in October 1634. She was about twenty-three years old.
