Biography
Leo Karasumaru
About Leo Karasumaru
Leo Karasumaru helped sustain the Franciscan mission in Japan. The order’s modern account remembers him as a former Buddhist religious who became a Christian, then served as a leading catechist.
Yuki’s sketch describes practical work as well as teaching: the friars relied on him when they needed land, church construction, or help with a hospital. He was remembered as a man of prayer and an important lay supporter of the mission.
Later accounts call him Korean, but the historian Hitomi Omata Rappo explains that this claim is disputed. Her discussion points to contemporary sources placing Leo and his Ibaraki relatives in Owari, Japan. The exact family relationships also vary in the later tradition.
He was crucified at Nagasaki with the twenty-six martyrs on February 5, 1597. The group was canonized by PiusIX in 1862.
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