Holiday:September 28
* 1611 Nishizaka, Japan
† October 15, 1634 Nagasaki, Japan
St. Magdalena was born in 1611 in Nishizaka near the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Her parents were convinced and zealous Christians. She was beautiful and kind to everyone. When she was still young, her parents and brothers were sentenced to death. They died for their loyalty to the Christian faith. In 1624, Magdalena met two Augustinian monks – Francis from Jesus and Vincent from St. Anton. Their deep religiosity attracted her greatly. She decided to consecrate herself completely to God as a Dominican Tertiary. She helped Christians who were suffering from widespread persecution at the time. She gave courage to those who were losing her, taught catechism to children, and begged Portuguese merchants for alms for the poor.
In 1629, together with other Christians, she sought refuge in the mountains around Nagasaki from the persecutors who spread fear and suffering everywhere. She tried to encourage everyone in their faith, took care of wounded and tortured people, visited the sick, baptized children, and pleased everyone with her words and service of love. To effectively prevent the apostasy of tortured and abused Christians, she decided to voluntarily register as a Christian. She put on her tertiary habit, and took a small backpack with her, full of spiritual books, so that she would have something to meditate on in prison. They imprisoned her and tried in every possible way to break her faith. But neither the offers of an advantageous marriage nor the threat of torture could convince her. On October 1, she was hanged by her feet on the gallows, while her head and chest were already in a pit dug directly under the gallows. In addition, they also covered her with a blanket to make it difficult for her to breathe. The heroic young woman resisted the torture for thirteen days, invoking the names of Jesus and Mary. There was a big downpour on the last night. The pit in which her head was filled was filled with water and Magdalena drowned. It happened on October 15, 1634. The tyrants burned her body and scattered the ashes into the sea.
She was declared a saint together with a group of sixteen Dominican martyrs of various nationalities. All were killed in Japan. The first killed from this group was St. Vavrinec Ruiz, who was of Filipino nationality. The entire group was beatified on February 18, 1981, in Manila, Philippines, and canonized on October 18, 1987, in Rome. We celebrate the memory of the entire group of martyrs on September 28. The symbol of St. Magdalena is a palm tree.
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