Blessed Leonard Kimura

Memorial: 18 November
Profile: His grandfather was the first Japanese person baptized by Saint Francis Xavier, and Leonard was raised Christian; relative of Blessed Anthony Kimura. Attended the Jesuit school in Nagasaki. Served as lay catechist. Travelled with Jesuit priests on missionary trips. Jesuit Coadjutor Brother, serving as cook and tailor. When the Jesuits were expelled from Japan in 1614, Leonard stayed behind and worked alone for years, living as a fugitive for his faith.

In 1619 he was captured with a small group of Christians. He was dressed as a Japanese gentleman, and the priest hunters had no idea they'd nabbed a Jesuit. At his trial the judge offered him the usual 200 pieces of silver if he would reveal the whereabouts of a Jesuit priest. Kimura said, "I know one Jesuit; he is a Coadjutor Brother and not a priest, and I am that Brother." This admission sent him to prison. There he continued his mission as catechist, converted jailers and prisoners, and turned the prison into a Christian community with fixed times for prayer and meditation; this worked sent him to martyrdom.
Born: 1575 at Nagasaki, Japan
Died: roasted to death over a slow fire in 1619 in front of 20,000 people at Nagasaki, Japan
Canonized: pending
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