Guillaume Courtet
Saint Guillaume Courtet | |
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| Venerated in | Catholic Church |
Guillaume Courtet, OP (1589–1637) was a French Dominican priest who has been described as the first Frenchman to have visited Japan.[1][2] He was martyred in 1637 and canonized in 1987.[3]
Career
[edit]Courtet was born in Sérignan, near Béziers, in 1589 or 1590. He entered the orders in the city of Béziers and later entered the Dominicans in Toulouse.
Courtet was active in the diplomatic field during the Thirty Years' War and was remarked by the French statesman Richelieu.[4]
Courtet became a professor at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.[5] In 1636, Guillaume Courtet entered Japan in secret, with the objective of furthering Western efforts to promote Christianity there. He was accompanied by a Spanish friend named Miguel de Ozaraza.
Entering Japan was a very dangerous endeavour, as Christianity had been prohibited in the country since 1613. Courtet entered the country under the Spanish name Tomaso de Santo Domingo.[4] He sailed from the Philippines and disembarked in Ishigaki-jima, but a few days later he was caught and imprisoned for one year. From there he was brought to Kagoshima and then Nagasaki.[6]
In an attempt to make him apostatize, he was tortured by being submitted to the "torture of the water", the "torture of the alênes" (needles under the fingernails) and the hanging torture of tsurushi. He remained true to his faith, however, and as a result he was beheaded with his friends on 29 September 1637.[4]
Cause of beatification and canonization
[edit]The Positio Super Introductione Causae or the cause of beatification was authored by respected historian, Fidel Villarroel, which led to his beatification during Pope John Paul II's papal visit to the Philippines.[7][8][9] It was the first beatification ceremony to be held outside the Vatican in history.
Guillaume Courtet became a saint on 18 October 1987 among the 16 Martyrs of Japan.
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Polak 2001, p. 13
- ^ Philippe Pons, Le Monde des Livres, July 26, 2002, p.7. Original French:"Guillaume Courtet, le premier francais à avoir foulé le sol nippon, et qui y avait été martyrisé en 1637".
- ^ Butler's Lives of the Saints By Alban Butler, Paul Burns, p.259
- ^ a b c Polak 2001, p.13
- ^ "The Thomasian Saints and Martyrs", The Varsitarian, March 4, 2011
- ^ Ryukyu Studies to 1854: Western Encounter - Page 9, by Patrick Beillevaire
- ^ "UST Archives director Fr. Fidel Villarroel, O.P. : Master key to US". 2 January 2010. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ^ "2-volume UST history charts evolution of higher education in the Philippines". 22 January 2012.
- ^ "UST historian named Master of Theology". 25 March 2010.
References
[edit]- Polak, Christian. (2001). Soie et lumières: L'âge d'or des échanges franco-japonais (des origines aux années 1950). Tokyo: Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Française du Japon, Hachette Fujin Gahōsha (アシェット婦人画報社).
- __________. (2002). 絹と光: 知られざる日仏交流100年の歴史 (江戶時代-1950年代) Kinu to hikariō: shirarezaru Nichi-Futsu kōryū 100-nen no rekishi (Edo jidai-1950-nendai). Tokyo: Ashetto Fujin Gahōsha, 2002. ISBN 978-4-573-06210-8; OCLC 50875162
External links
[edit]- Association of the friends of Guillaume Courtet (French)
- Association of the friends of Guillaume Courtet (English)
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
- French Dominicans
- 1589 births
- 1637 deaths
- French Roman Catholic missionaries
- Beatifications by Pope John Paul II
- Canonizations by Pope John Paul II
- Roman Catholic missionaries in Japan
- Dominican missionaries
- French expatriates in Japan
- French torture victims
- French people executed abroad
- 17th-century Christian saints
- 17th-century executions by Japan
- 17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs
- 17th-century travelers