Biography
Vincent Shiwozuka
About Vincent Shiwozuka
Vincent Shiwozuka was a Japanese priest who served Christians living in exile and later returned to Japan. The Japanese bishops’ account describes his education at a Jesuit seminary and his gifts as an organist, painter and choir director. After exile, he taught Japanese to missionaries in Manila. It states that his birth date and the date of his ordination are unknown.
A later scholarly account supplies an ordination year of 1619. Historian Regalado Trota Jose places Vincent among Japanese Christians who helped prepare missionaries for work in Japan, specifically noting his language teaching. The article also suggests that he may have worked with the Dominican writer Juan Rueda, but presents that association as a possibility.
In Manila, Vincent belonged to the Franciscan third order before receiving the Dominican habit. The Catholic Church in Norway describes his pastoral work among Japanese Christians in Dilao. In 1636 he volunteered to accompany Antonio Gonzalez and the other members of a mission bound for Japan. He received the Dominican habit before departure and, according to this account, made his religious vows after the group had been arrested.
The same account describes a long imprisonment followed by interrogation and torture in Nagasaki. Vincent renounced his faith under that pressure, but later regretted the renunciation and returned to it with encouragement from his companions. He was killed in Nagasaki in September 1637.
Pope John Paul II recalled Vincent’s choice to return home during his 1981 visit to Nagasaki. He named Vincent alongside Lazarus of Kyoto as exiles who had decided to return in 1636 and bear witness to the faith they had received in Japan. The homily places their journey within the wider remembrance of Japanese Christians who endured persecution.
Vincent was canonized with the other fifteen martyrs of this group on October 18, 1987. The Dominican Order names him among its priests and celebrates the group’s memorial on September 28.
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