From a Samurai to the Japanese Martyrs
The building dates back to the 19th century but was almost entirely destroyed during the Second World War and was rebuilt after the Second World War. Inside there are frescoes by the Japanese painter Luca Hasegawa. The Church of the Holy Japanese Martyrs is located in Largo San Francesco d'Assisi. It can be easily reached in a few minutes on foot from Civitavecchia Station
In 1549, some Jesuit fathers left Italy for Japan to convert the Japanese population to Christianity. The mission succeeded in bringing so many proselytes that the Japanese shogun issued a decree of expulsion against the Jesuits. In 1593, the Franciscan friars also landed in Japan and the reaction of the Japanese authorities became increasingly harsh. Twenty-six people were arrested. On February 5, 1597, they were crucified in Nagasaki. They were the first martyrs of that distant country. After this terrible event, the Japanese organized the sending of a delegation to Europe. The delegation landed in Civitavecchia in October 1615 and was subsequently received at the Quirinale by Pope Paul V.
In 1943, the second bombing suffered by Civitavecchia caused the collapse of the Church. The reconstruction was very slow and in October 1950 the new Church of the Holy Japanese Martyrs was inaugurated in Civitavecchia.
Meanwhile, Luca Hasegawa, a well-known Japanese artist who converted to Catholicism, had arrived in Rome and was given the task of decorating the walls of the new church.
Hasegawa worked on the frescoes from 1951 to 1957. Among the first figures that Hasegawa painted, the most notable are undoubtedly the beautiful Madonna and Child with a kimono (with oriental features and wearing 16th century clothes) and the apse scene of the 26 Japanese martyrs, who fell on the hill of Nagasaki on 5 February 1597.
