Joaquim Magalhães de Castro
The execution method chosen for Father Diogo de Carvalho was, instead of the usual bonfire, ice water tanks, as it was the middle of winter.
The phased procedure would take four days – they wanted to force the faithful to abandon their faith, but without success. The Christians died one by one and Father Diogo always encouraged them with words of faith.
On February 22, 1624, he himself suffered ten hours of martyrdom in the icy waters, having also given his soul to the Creator. His body was dismembered and thrown into the river, and the head of this martyr is still preserved today as a relic.
Here is a brief contemporary account of the missionary’s last hours: “After three hours of this cruel torment [the “ice”], they took them out of the lake with great work because they were frozen. The others stretched out on the sand to take some relief; but the priest sat down with his feet crossed, placed his front hands on his chest and began to pray.
“While the priest was in that beautiful peace of mind, a young man of the Governor approached him and said: ‘These torments the Governor gave you because you were a Christian; but if you want to stop being one, he offers you life.’ ‘I neither want nor can,’ replied the Father, ‘to deny whom I recognize as Lord of all, or to leave his law in which there is only salvation.’ And he added: ‘As long as I live such a thing I will not do; but I will always persuade them to give their lives for Christ.’
“‘You have committed a great sin in this,’ replied the barbarian, ‘by refusing to obey the Shogun, and for that guilt he will grind you all.’
“‘Sin,’ said the Father, ‘I would commit, if I advised them otherwise, because it is a holy thing not to obey men when they send something against God.’
“‘And if they torment you again,’ said the Gentile, ‘and if they burn you alive, will you not change that stubbornness?’
“‘If they burn me alive,’ replied the Father, ‘by not leaving the faith that I teach, I will have the great benefit of God.’
They were then taken to court, where they all confessed their faith in Christ and affirmed that they could not deny their faith, as they respected God more than men. Threatened with the bonfire, everyone said it was a great benefit to them from God.
When the twenty-two days [of February] arrived, after midday, they were taken out of prison, having for themselves that they would be burned alive; but the Gentiles put them back in the same lake, tied to the sticks as before.”
From the accounts of these two Jesuit martyrs, we can conclude that the Ainu of Hokkaido in the early 17th century were involved in a fertile commercial activity, either with the Ainu of Sakhalin, an island to the north, or with the Ainu of the Kurils, a string of islands that extends to the east. And it is to these islands that we continue our journey, taking a ride on the ships commanded by Dom João da Gama.
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