おらしょ こころ旅

Registered asset

Nagasaki

Shitsu church

  • In September 1865, following the Discovery of the Hidden Christians at Nagasaki’s Oura Cathedral in March of the same year, Father Petitjean (the priest to whom they had confessed their faith) visited Sotome and successfully made contact with Hidden Christians living there.
  • After the lifting of the ban on Christianity, Father Pelu built a temporary church in Shitsu and undertook missionary work. In 1879, Father de Rotz was appointed to Shitsu He soon designed and built Shitsu church, which was consecrated in 1882.
  • The church has two bell towers, giving it a distinctive appearance. These were added during extension work in 1891 and 1909.
  • The church is made of bricks which have been covered over with plaster. One of its unusual features is the area around the altar, which is semicircular in shape and is level with the rest of the church.
  • It is thought that the church’s low roof was built in order to protect it from strong coastal winds.

Related persons and terms（By hovering your mouse pointer over an item, explanation of the item are displayed.）

Plaster

［Plaster］ Stucco is a building material used for bonding tiles and stones, filling in joints, and painting over walls, and is applied to the surfaces of the Oura Cathedral and Shitsu Church.

Discovery of Hidden Christians

［Discovery of Hidden Christians］ The Discovery of Hidden Christians is an event in which several Senpuku Kirishitans (hidden Christians) in Urakami confessed their faith to a priest for the first time in about 250 years, in 1865, even when the ban on Christianity had not yet been lifted. This historical event happened at the Oura Cathedral built in the foreign settlement of Nagasaki.

Nave

［Nave］ Nave refers to the central aisle from the entrance of a church to the main altar.

Senpuku Kirishitan

［Senpuku Kirishitan］ Senpuku Kirishitan (hidden Christians) lived ostensibly as Buddhists during the ban on Christianity but secretly carried on their faith.

Marc Marie de Rotz

［Marc Marie de Rotz］ Marc Marie de Rotz, a missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, landed at Nagasaki as a diocesan bishop in 1868. After printing doctrinal books using lithography at Oura Cathedral, he was assigned as the parish priest of the Sotome area in 1879 and engaged in various welfare activities, including establishing an aid center. He also had a profound knowledge of architecture and was involved in the construction of Shitsu Church and Ono Church.

Paris Foreign Missions Society

［Paris Foreign Missions Society］ The Paris Foreign Missions Society is a missionary organization of the Catholic Church headquartered in Paris, France. It was involved in the reconstruction of the Catholic Church in Japan after the end of the Edo period.

Bernard-Thadée Petitjean

［Bernard-Thadée Petitjean］ Bernard-Thadée Petitjean was a missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. He landed in Ryukyu in 1860, Yokohama in 1862, and arrived in Nagasaki in August 1863, where he began construction of the Oura Cathedral and held the consecration in February 1865. Shortly after that, he encountered Senpuku Kirishitans in the Discovery of Hidden Christians.

Biography & Glossary >>

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