Blessed Ukon Takayama Canonisation Prayer Card

BORN in Haibara-cho, Nara, Japan, the Confessor of Christ, Justus Ukon Takayama (1552-1615), a Catholic layman of heroic virtue who was considered a pillar of the early Church of Japan, died in Intramuros, Manila on February 3, 1615 – only 44 days after he was exiled to Manila for refusing to abjure his Catholic faith. In 1630, a petition was presented to the Vatican by the Archdiocese of Manila for Takayama’s beatification. His Cause was revived at the Vatican in 1963 – with the Japanese Bishops in charge. The Takayama process was crowned with Beatification in Osaka on February 7, 2017.