Marcello Francesco Mastrilli (1603 – October 17, 1637) was an Italian Jesuit missionary who was martyred in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 during the Tokugawa Shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

, which had banned Christianity

Kirishitan

, from Portuguese cristão, referred to Roman Catholic Christians in Japanese and is used as a historiographic term for Roman Catholics in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries. Christian missionaries were known as bateren or iruman...

 in 1614. After sailing for Japan out to find and possibly reconvert the notorious apostate Christavao Ferreira, who went to Japan and renounced his faith there, he was arrested as soon as he got off his ship. After three days of torture in the pit of Nagasaki

Nagasaki

is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...

, he was beheaded. A painting of his death, Martyrdom of Saint Marcello Mastrilli (1664), was made by Antonio Maria Vassallo

Antonio Maria Vassallo

Antonio Maria Vassallo was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Genoa, and painting mythologic scenes and still lifes....

.

Supposedly susceptible to visions, he was particularly conducive to apparitions of Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534...

, who appeared to him twice, in 1633 and in 1643, and foretold him his martyrdom. St. Frances Xavier is credited with twice miraculously restoring Mastrilli's health (even if only to incite him to do missionary work in Japan), and since the account reportedly spread quickly through Italy, the "novena of grace

Novena of Grace

The Novena of Grace is a Catholic devotion addressed to Saint Francis Xavier. It is usually performed from March 4 to March 12 included.In Naples in 1633 there lived Fr. Marcello Mastrilli, S.J...

," in honor of St. Francis Xavier, was established. Mastrilli's initiative is supposedly to thank for the presence of a silver casket in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa

Old Goa

Old Goa or Velha Goa is a historical city in North Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. The city was constructed by the Bijapur Sultanate in the 15th century, and served as capital of Portuguese India from the 16th century until its abandonment in the 18th century due to plague...

, which houses relics of the body of St. Francis Xavier.