Blessed Vicente de Santo António

Vicente de Santo António, born Vicente Simões de Carvalho (1590 in Albufeira, Portugal; died September 3, 1632, in Nagasaki, Japan), OESA, was a Portuguese missionary, martyr, and blessed of the Catholic Church. He is one of the many Portuguese missionaries who became martyrs in Japan. As a child, he moved with his family to Lisbon; at the age of 27, he was ordained a priest and joined the Order of Saint Augustine. In 1620, he first went to the Philippines as a missionary, served in Mexico from 1621 to 1622, and then moved to Japan in 1623. He worked primarily as a missionary in the streets of Nagasaki, adapting to the local culture by adopting a Japanese name and clothing. In 1629, he was arrested and imprisoned for three years. In 1632, he was tortured in an attempt to force him to renounce his faith in Christ, and he died after being subjected to five baths in boiling water. He was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1867. In 2001, the letters he wrote during his imprisonment were published. His hometown of Albufeira honors him on September 7 with a public festival and a procession.