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Statue of Antonio de Montesinos in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

This past fourth Sunday of Advent marked the 500^th anniversary of the most famous homily ever given by one of the least known Dominicans in the New World. That Sunday 500 years ago, Fr. Antonio de Montesinos, O.P., proclaimed to his congregation, “you are in mortal sin, and live and die therein by reason of the cruelty and tyranny that you practice on these innocent people.” His congregation were the Spanish colonists of Hispaniola, and the people whom they were treating so cruelly were the native populations of the island, whom they had enslaved. Montesinos asked his congregants, “Why do you so greatly oppress and fatigue them, not giving them enough to eat or caring for them when they fall ill from excessive labors, so that they die or rather are slain by you, so that you may extract and acquire gold every day? And what care do you take that they receive religious instruction and come to know their God and creator, or that they be baptized, hear mass, or observe holidays and Sundays? Are they not men? Do they not have rational souls? Are you not bound to love them as you love yourselves?”

This homily stirred up much controversy, beginning what some see as the first international debate on human rights. To honor the 500^th anniversary of this momentous event, the Public Affairs Institute of in Alma Michigan organized a conference on human rights, which was held in Washington DC from December 2-4, 2011. Several Dominicans honored the memory of their brothers by presenting papers at this conference.

St. Dominic Ibañez and his companions (feast day – Sept. 28) were martyred between 1633 and 1637 in Japan.  This is the fourth of the four groups of Japanese martyrs, historically speaking, and of these 16 martyrs is included the first Filipino martyr, St. Lawrence Ruiz, who was a husband and father as well as a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary.  In the words of St. Guillermo Courtet, they went to Japan “only to preach faith in God and to teach salvation to little ones and to the innocent and to all the rest of the people.”

These Japanese martyrs came mostly from the Philippines (or from Spain through the Philippines) to Japan.  When St. Dominic Ibañez first arrived in Japan in 1623, Christianity was tolerated because a powerful shogun was supportive of it.  However, subsequent shoguns weren’t.  This led to a resurgence in the persecutions that had started back in 1587 with the “Edict of Expulsion of all Missionaries.”

As a result, the Dominicans ended up working in cognito, until they were found out and martyred by crucifixions, beheadings, water torture, and the “gallows and hole” torture, which often lasted for days.  The Second Reading for Matins on this feast, by St. Dominic Ibañez, is particularly detailed when it comes to describing the martyrdoms:

Last month, many were burned alive and about thirty were sawed in two. As horrible as these were, the tortures by which they tried to force the sufferers to renounce the faith were even more cruel. They slowly boiled some in water mixed with sulphur, resin, oil, and other things to increase the pain; they crucified others, some they submerged in freezing water, others they buried up to the waist and sawed them in half slowly, so that the pain might be dragged out over seven or eight days. Up to this point, they have only executed the religious by burning them alive while suspended over a pit, so that since the flames did not encircle the body they might die slowly.

Let us then pray for the Church in Japan and look to the martyrs as an example of fidelity and faithfulness to the spread of the Gospel.  As Bl. Pope John Paul II said in his canonization homily, “The Holy martyrs speak to the Church in Japan, particularly to the Archdiocese of Nagasaki, to the Church in Taiwan and in Macao and to all Christ’s followers in Asia: may the example and intercession of the new Saints help to extend Christian truth and love throughout the length and breadth of this vast continent!“

O Lord, give us the perseverance of your blessed martyrs Dominic, James, Lawrence, and their companions, in service of you and our neighbor; for they who suffered persecution for the sake of justice now reign with you among the blessed.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

[Here's a link to the Vatican biographies of the individual saints, as well as links to the beatification homily and the canonization homily (which does have some English, just scroll down).]

St. Juan Macias (1585-1645, feast day – Sept. 18) lived in Lima, Peru at the same time as St. Martin de Porres and only 5 years after the death of St. Rose of Lima.  Originally from Spain, St. Juan Macias first met the Dominicans at the age of 16 but was told in a revelation that he wasn’t to enter yet.  Later, he traveled to the New World, and at the age of 35, he entered the Dominican convent of St. Mary Magdalene in Lima (St. Martin was in the convent of Santo Domingo, otherwise known as Holy Rosary) as a laybrother (cooperator brothers were called laybrothers then).

Now while many historians might try to avoid talk of miracles and the supernatural and look solely at the heroic sanctity of saints, sometimes it is good to look at how God can work in these scientifically unexplainable ways.  And even though St. Juan Macias wasn’t known to be a miracle worker of the magnitude of saints like St. Vincent Ferrer or St. Martin de Porres, he still lived a life full of supernatural graces.

For instance, he was attacked by demons from the moment that he enter the Order, he had visions of St. John the Evangelist throughout his life, he would disappear when the overly curious or wealthy were looking at him, and he was visited by many of the souls whom he had liberated from Purgatory (he is said to have freed more than a million through his prayers and sacrifices – talk about devotion to the souls in Purgatory).

He was well known mainly for two things during his life.  First, he was known to love the Rosary, which he began to pray as a child in Spain while he shepherded his uncle’s flock of sheep.  He would pray the Rosary constantly, especially when he had any moment of free time.  Secondly, he was known for his generosity to the poor, 200 of whom he fed every day.  He was greatly aided in this by his little donkey that he sent through Lima.  He had a little sign which put on it asking for donations for the poor.  The donkey, knowing his route perfectly, would travel through the streets and come back with benefactions for the city’s poor.  Often the donkey would stop at certain locations and make loud noises so that the people inside would come out to make their donations.

St. Juan Macias was beatified with St. Martin de Porres in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI and was canonized in 1975 by Pope Paul VI.

O God, you went before the blessed confessor, John, in the fullness of your grace, and willed that he should flourish in a humble state of life by the radiance of his ways; grant us, we beg, to tread in his steps that we may reach you with unsullied souls.

St. Augustine (354-430, feast day – Aug. 28) is referred to as “Our Holy Father” along with St. Dominic and St. Francis. Why? Because St. Dominic was required to choose a pre-existing Rule when he founded the Order of Friars Preachers. He and the first friars chose to follow the Rule of St. Augustine, and so we who, almost 800 years later, continue to profess obedience to “the Rule of Blessed Augustine” also continue to invoke his patronage over the whole Order.