Blessed Alfons de Mena

Alfonso de Mena (born February 3, 1568, in Logroño; died September 10, 1622, in Nagasaki) was a Spanish priest and Dominican friar (OP), nephew of the Jesuit Blessed Peter Paul Navarro (died 1622), an evangelist and missionary in the Far East, a martyr, and a blessed of the Catholic Church. In 1594, he made his religious vows with the Dominicans in Salamanca. In 1598, he arrived in Manila with a group of young friars led by Francisco Morales (died 1622), where he remained until 1602. He then went on a mission to the Philippines and from there to Japan. There, he founded the Confraternity of the Rosary and strengthened the Christian faith despite fierce persecution of Christians. For his activities, he was arrested in 1619 and imprisoned in Ōmura (Nagasaki). He was burned alive on Nishizaka Hill (Nagasaki), known as Martyr's Hill, along with many other Christians who were also burned or beheaded. Alfonso de Mena was beatified as part of the group of 205 Japanese martyrs by Pope Pius IX on July 7, 1867 (the document is dated May 7, 1867). His liturgical memorial in the Catholic Church is celebrated on June 1, the day of Alfonso Navarrete's death, or together with his confreres on September 10. Formerly, the Dominican memorial day was November 6, celebrated alongside 107 companions from the East, Dominican tertiaries, and others known as the "Rosary Brothers."