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​都の聖母

​TOP わたしたちの教区・概要キリシタン>都の聖母(Notre Dame de Miyako)

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Introduction to "The Holy Mother of the Capital (Miyako no Seibo)"

"Presentation de 《Notre Dame de Miyako》 "

Presentación de "Nuestra Señora de Miyako(la Capital)"

「수도의 성모」 소개

The statue of Notre Dame de Miyako is in the small chapel in the basement of Kawaramachi cathedral.

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Notre Dame de Miyako (Kyoto)

 

Fr. León Robin (1802-1882) who ministered in a small village in the St. Claude diocese in eastern France often read the story of the Japanese martyrs and deeply admired them.

He started a devotional group for the conversion of the Japanese people, and it was officially approved by Bishop Antoine de Chamon of St. Claude on October 22, 1847. The purpose of this group was to pray that bishops and missionaries sent by the Holy Father could enter Japan to preach the Gospel. At that time, the shogunate strictly prohibited Christianity in Japan so that it was impossible for missionaries to enter the country.

When St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552) came to Japan in 1549, he brought a picture of Mary with him. Knowing that Xavier had wanted to build a church in Kyoto dedicated to the Blessed Mother, in 1864 Fr. Robin ordered six bronze statues of the Blessed Mother in Rome. She is portrayed holding the infant Jesus on her lap. On December 31, 1865, the statues were blessed by Pope Pius IX and were named “Notre Dame de Miyako (Kyoto)”.

In 1866, Fr. Robin sent one of these statues to Fr. Barthelemy Girard (1821-1867) who was in Yokohama at that time. With the statue Fr. Robin sent a letter asking that the statue be buried on a hill overlooking Kyoto so that missionaries could enter there as soon as possible. At that time foreigners were not allowed to go out of a foreign settlement (Yokohama, Nagasaki, and Kobe) and so it was still impossible for missionaries to enter Kyoto.

When members of the European diplomatic corps were allowed to visit the Imperial Palace in Kyoto in May 1873, Fr. François Vigroux (1842-1909) and a young Japanese went to Kyoto with the statue and buried it at the hill “Higasiyama Shougunzuka” overlooking the city. Fr. Robin’s dream was finally realized.

On September 28, 1879, Fr. Aimé Villion (1843-1932) who had come to Kyoto as a French teacher went to the hill, dug up the statue, and brought it to a temporary chapel in a rented house at “Ni-jo Takakura” in the center of Kyoto-city.

At last, Xavier’s eager hope became real when a church was dedicated at “Kawaramachi” on May 1, 1890. At the dedication ceremony, the statue was placed at a side altar and Bishop Felix Midon (1840-1893) of the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Japan that included Kyoto ended his sermon by telling the story of the statue.

The Blessed Mother of the Capital statue in this small chapel is this very statue.

 

 

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“O Virgin Mary, you who, buried in the ground, prayed for Japan, also pray for us.”

         (Prayer of Fr. Villion in front of the statue he found)

 

September 29, 2004, Catholic Kyoto Diocese

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