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Francis Fernández (or Ferdinand) de Capillas, O.P. (August 15, 1607 – January 15, 1648) was a Spanish Dominican friar who went as a missionary to Asia. He died in China as a martyr.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Saint Francis Ferdinand de Capillas )〕 He was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000, as one of the ''120 Martyrs of China''. Capillas is honored by the Holy See as the protomartyr among the missionaries in China, and is considered the glory and pride of the Dominican Order. ==Biography== De Capillas was born in Baquerín de Campos, Palencia, Spain, on August 14, 1607. At the age of 17 he entered the Order of Preachers, receiving the religious habit in the Dominican Priory of St. Paul in Valladolid. While still a deacon he was sent by his Order to do missionary work in the Philippines, landing in Manila during February 1631. Shortly after his arrival he was ordained as a priest.〔(Dominicans of Singapore "St. Francis de Capillas" )〕 De Capillas remained there for the next decade, working hard alongside his fellow friars. His own field of labor was the district of Tuao, Cagayan Valley, on the island of Luzon, where he was able to inspire a great flourishing of conversions. An apostolic soul and at the same very ascetic, he was able to join zeal to an extraordinary spirit of penance. He would take his short rest stretched out over a wooden cross and willingly not defending himself from the bites of the many insects infesting the region. De Capillas considered that time spent in the Philippines as a period of preparation for a mission to China. At the Provincial Chapter held by the friars of the Order in Manila in 1641, he was given permission to transfer to the Order's mission there, soon transferring to that island, along with a friend, Friar Francisco Díez, O.P. He was one of the last Spanish missionaries in Taiwan before they were ousted from the island by the Dutch later that same year.〔(Saint Francisco Fernandez de Capillas, Protomartyr of China, January 15 )〕 The two friars arrived in the Province of Fujian, on mainland China, in March 1642, where they joined a fellow Dominican who had survived an earlier period of persecution.〔Dominicans of Singpore〕 They then embarked upon a fruitful period of evangelization among the Chinese people of the region, especially in the cities of Fu'an, Fogan and Ting-Moyang Ten. They were so successful that they were able to establish a community of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. On November 4, 1644, there was a huge change of fortune for the mission. That day, Díez died of natural causes. Later that same day, the Qing conquest of the Ming reached the city of Fu'an, where the missionaries were based. The new dynasty was hostile to Christianity and immediately began to persecute the Christians.〔(Vatican News Service )〕 On November 13, 1647, De Capillas was captured while returning from Fogan, where he had gone to administer the sacraments to a sick person. Enduring many insults, he was taken to the worst local prison, where he suffered the torture of having his ankles crushed while being dragged. He was scourged, repeatedly bloodied, but he endured the tortures without cries of pain, so that judges and torturers were surprised at the end. He was moved, almost dying, to a prison where they locked up those criminals condemned to death.〔Dominicans of Singpore〕 His conduct was uplifting, and aroused the admiration of others sentenced to death and even the prison guards themselves, who allowed food to be brought to him, that he not die of hunger. While in prison, he wrote On January 15, 1648 De Capillas was sentenced to death on charges of disseminating false doctrines and inciting the people against new Emperor. His death sentence, by decapitation, was carried out at Fogan the same day. He thus became the first martyr within the vast Chinese empire. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Francis Ferdinand de Capillas」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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