Biography
Thomas Kozaki
About Thomas Kozaki
Thomas Kozaki was a Japanese boy who lived among the Franciscans and died with his father, Michael, among the twenty-six martyrs of Nagasaki. The Japanese Daughters of Saint Paul identify Ise as his birthplace and describe his upbringing in the Franciscan community. He received religious instruction there before living at the friars’ house in Osaka.
Vatican Radio’s account describes Thomas helping the friars with everyday tasks from childhood. He was arrested while accompanying a priest to Kyoto. The group was taken to Nishizaka in Nagasaki and executed on February 5, 1597. Thomas’s father was among those killed with him.
A farewell letter attributed to Thomas gives his mother a central place in his remembrance. In the version published by the Daughters of Saint Paul, he asks her not to worry about him or Michael, expresses hope of reunion in heaven, and urges patience and love toward others. He also asks her to care for his younger brothers, Mancio and Philip. The letter preserves the concerns of a son and brother alongside his religious resolve.
Accounts differ on Thomas’s exact age: the Japanese devotional text calls him fifteen, while a Catholic Sun account calls him fourteen. Both portray him as an adolescent. No precise birth year is assigned here from those differing ages.
Thomas is honored with the twenty-six martyrs canonized by Pius IX on June 8, 1862. Vatican Radio places their liturgical remembrance on February 6.
In Japan, the bishops’ conference lists the group’s feast on February 5, the anniversary of their execution. Vatican Radio reports a February 6 remembrance. The Japanese bishops’ account records the group’s beatification in 1627 before its later canonization.
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