Biography
Francis of Nagasaki
About Francis of Nagasaki
Francis of Nagasaki is named among the Japanese lay Christians killed with Paul Miki and companions on 5 February 1597. A Secular Franciscan account calls him Francisco of Nagasaki and describes him as an adult convert, physician, catechist and preacher. It says he treated the sick without charge. These personal details come from a later order summary rather than a surviving account written by Francis himself. His birth year is not securely established.
The group included Franciscan missionaries, Japanese Jesuits and lay people associated with the Franciscan Third Order. The Japanese converts did not all have the same trade or path into Christianity. The New Catholic Encyclopedia lists a physician Francis from Miyako and, separately, a carpenter Francis who joined the prisoners after the first arrests. The carpenter is identified in a Japanese parish account as Francis Kichi; the physician must not be merged with him. Francis of Nagasaki is generally linked to the physician, but the naming is not wholly settled.
A Catholic medical association notes that some reference works assign the medical profession to Caius Francis rather than to Francis of Miyako or Nagasaki. It also reports a differing tradition about the latter’s origins. This record therefore presents the physician identification as attributed, not as a basis for a birth place or precise life chronology. The Secular Franciscan source adds healing and catechesis as elements of his remembered service. His professional label is best read alongside that documented uncertainty.
The twenty-six were executed at Nagasaki on 5 February 1597. They were beatified in 1627 and canonized in 1862. Catholic liturgical remembrance places Paul Miki and companions on 6 February, one day after the execution. Francis of Nagasaki’s individual story is therefore brief in the surviving summaries, yet it remains distinct from the carpenter Kichi and the other named members of the group.
Wondering how to weigh the stories and sources? Learn how to read a saint biography.