Remembering Japan's most Catholic city: Nagasaki

Broken statue of Our Lady found on site of Urakami Cathedral

Source: Fides

Yesterday, 9 August, was the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, the second (and hopefully, last) in history, which followed that of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Nagasaki at the time was the most important centre for Japan's Catholic community - whose history dates back to the 16th century and is laden with persecution, but also made up of a community that for a century preserved their faith in silence, secretly baptizing their children, even if they had no access to the Eucharist on account of a lack of priests.

In 1597, 26 Catholics in Nagasaki were martyred for their faith. Another 56 faithful were killed in 1622.

The nuclear bomb exploded at a height of 500 meters, half a kilometre from the cathedral of Urakami Tenshudo, the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, whose spires were used as a landmark by the pilots of the B-29 that dropped the plutonium device nicknamed "Fat Man".

At that moment, in the cathedral were roughly 30 believers going to confession to prepare themselves for the Assumption festivities. The destroyed cathedral was the largest Catholic church in Asia, built over the span of 30 years.

The atomic bomb on Nagasaki killed about 80,000 people instantly, and injured many more. By the end of 1945, up to 226,000 people had perished.