Today the Church celebrates Paul Miki and the 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki. Just decades after Catholic missionaries arrived on the shores of Japan, the emperor’s representatives commanded that 26 believers be executed. While on his cross, St. Paul Miki said: “After Christ’s example, I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.”