Guillaume Courtet
Encyclopedia
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
priest who has been described as the first Frenchman to have visited Japan. He was martyred in 1637 and canonized in 1987.
Career
Courtet was born in SérignanSérignan
Sérignan is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France....
, near Béziers
Béziers
Béziers is a town in Languedoc in southern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Hérault department. Béziers hosts the famous Feria de Béziers, centred around bullfighting, every August. A million visitors are attracted to the five-day event...
, in 1589 or 1590. He entered the orders in the city of Béziers and later entered the Capucines in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Courtet was active in the diplomatic field during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
and was remarked by the French statesman Richelieu.
In 1636, Guillaume Courtet entered Japan in secret, with the objective of furthering Western efforts to promote Christianity there. He was accompanied by a Spanish friend named Miguel de Ozaraza.
Entering Japan was a very dangerous endeavour, as Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
had been prohibited in the country since 1613. Courtet entered the country under the Spanish name Tomaso de Santo Domingo. He sailed from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and disembarked in Ishigaki-jima
Ishigaki, Okinawa
Ishigaki is an island west of Okinawa Hontō and the second-largest island of the Yaeyama Island group. It is within the City of Ishigaki in Okinawa Prefecture. The city functions as the business and transport center of the archipelago...
, but a few days later he was caught and imprisoned for one year. From there he was brought to Kagoshima
Kagoshima, Kagoshima
is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture at the southwestern tip of the Kyūshū island of Japan, and the largest city in the prefecture by some margin...
and then Nagasaki.
In an attempt to make him apostacize, he was tortured by being submitted to the "torture of the water
Waterboarding
Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over the face of an immobilized captive, thus causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning...
", the "torture of the alênes" (needles under the fingernails) and the hanging torture of tsurushi
Tsurushi
Tsurushi , or "reverse hanging", was a Japanese torture technique used in the 17th century in order to have Christians recant their faith. Both Japanese and Western Christians are known to have been submitted to the torture...
. He remained true to his faith, however, and as a result he was beheaded with his friends on September 29, 1637.
Guillaume Courtet became a saint on October 18, 1987.