Blessed João Baptista Machado

Blessed John Baptist Machado de Távora (Portuguese: João Baptista Machado de Távora), born around 1581 in Angra, in the Azores (Portugal), and died (executed) on May 22, 1617, in Kōri (Nagasaki), Japan, was a Portuguese Jesuit priest and missionary to Japan. As the first victim of the Great Persecution in Japan, he was beatified (with the group of Japanese martyrs) in 1867. He is liturgically commemorated on February 4.