s the power of
trade. The other civilized nations could no longer be excluded. Japan
concluded a treaty with France by virtue of which the subjects of the
latter State were secured in the free exercise of their religion among the
Japanese. Mgr. Petitjean, who was, at the time, the vicar-apostolic,
availed himself of such favorable relations to erect a church at Yokohama,
and establish his residence at Nagasaki. All this was happily accomplished
under the encouraging auspices of Pius IX. One day, as the vicar-apostolic
had concluded the celebration of Mass, some inhabitants of a large village
named Ourakami, near the city, came to him with countenances, expressive,
at the same time, of joy and fear. Addressing him, they said: "Have you
and your priests renounced marriage, and do you honor in your prayers the
Mother of Christ?" The missionary replying in the affirmative, the
Japanese fell on their knees and exclaimed: "You are, indeed, the
disciples of Saint Francis Xavier, our first apostle. You are the true
brethren of our former Jesuit Fathers. At last, after a lapse of two
hundred years, we behold, once more, the priests of the true faith!" They
gave thanks to God, shedding abundance of tears, with which mingled those
of the good missionary; "religion," they added, "is free only to
strangers. The law has not ceased to punish us Japanese Catholics with
death. No matter; receive us, nevertheless, and instruct us. The lapse of
time and the want of books have, perhaps, disfigured in our memories the
teachings of truth. There will happen to us whatever it shall please God
to appoint."

Four thousand families, comprising fourteen thousand individuals, had
secretly persevered, clinging to the Catholic faith since the days of the
Apostolic Xavier. Notwithstanding all the prudence of the missionaries,
the secret of their relations with the natives became known to the local
police, and more than four thousand inhabitants of Ourakami were arrested,
bastinadoed, imprisoned or transported to the North. Their punishment
lasted four years. One-third of their number died of want, but few of them
gave way. The survivors of these persecuted people were finally restored
to their country, and through the representations of the European consuls,
religious liberty was granted, at least, provisionally, to natives as well
as strangers. Thus did Pius IX., at length, enjoy the consolation to
behold, established in peace, the church which St. Fr