Saint Who?
Saints Who Promoted the Rosary
Blessed Justo Takayama Ukon
Married layman († 1615)Feast: February 3
Takayama Ukon, the “samurai of Christ,” was born in 1552. His father, a noble, was converted by Jesuit missionaries, and Takayama was baptized Justo around age twelve. He married and became a great warrior and general. Justo won many converts, and even his enemies admired his great virtue.
Yet many in Japan feared Christians would become a military threat. As a powerful Christian warrior, Justus was targeted. He was told by the shogun Hideyoshi that priests would be killed and churches burned if he did not surrender his power. And so he did, although it meant risking his life and that of his family. He eventually regained Hideyoshi’s favor, and with it a new estate. But several more periods of persecution followed.
The rosary helped keep Takayama’s family together throughout its trials. When no missionaries could offer Mass, the family prayed the rosary. And when Justo, along with three hundred other Christians, was exiled to the Philippines, he brought a beautiful statue of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary to present to the Dominicans in Manila. The family continued to pray together during the forty-four-day journey to the Philippines, taking turns leading. On the ship, he broke up a knife-fight, rosary in hand. He died of sickness soon after arriving in Manila, and was beatified in 2017.
Almighty Father, through the intercession of
Blessed Justo Takayama, bless all soldiers and leaders, that they may be knights of the Mother of God.
