Norwegian novelist (1882-1949)

Wrote about Scandinavian countries in the Middle Ages. [more] [wiki]

Became a Catholic in 1924.

Awarded Nobel Prize for literature in 1928. [more]
[autobio]

Her modernist novels vividly depict medieval life

Books

Kristin Lavransdatter

The Axe: The Master of Hestviken, vol 1

Gunnar’s Daughter

The Unknown Sigrid Undset: Jenny and Other Works

Articles and info

“Reading Sigrid Undset” by Cynthia Grenier, CERC (1999).

For further reference

Mark Braun’s Page

new film

Bettie Scouts of America (BSA), founded 1992 by Steve Brewster, “official original” Bettie Page fan club. [mailing list]

Protestant preacher, pro Iraq war, polemicist, engager in various online dialogues. [bio]

Of interest is his brief “Where were you in ‘62?“ page.

Sayers (1893-1957) was a British classicist and mystery author. [google]
[wikipedia]

The Dorothy L Sayers Society

“The Lost Tools of Learning”

Important 1947 speech given at Oxford. Currently a trad favorite, used in homeschooling. [transcript] [again] [archive]

For further reference

Their history has warranted an entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

And a Wikipedia entry.

Timetable

Short summary with image of vintage placard

At initial conversion there were 150,000.

The KK remained hidden, operating in secret rooms, until 1865 when a group of Christians announced their faith in public.

Perversions in doctrine

The KK remained faithful but as they became further removed, through generations, there were changes to their faith. It has been written that in time the meaning of the original prayers (in Latin) became forgotten so that they were just sound-recitations, incantations … and the central rite of the KK became a service involving cupping a a small, cuplike dish of rice. The was a question of clergy — there were priests among the first group. Did they have bishops among them to ordain future priests? What was their role in the hidden community?

Reunion in the Nineteenth Century

Catholic priests were admitted to Japan hundreds of years later, in the 1860s.

Some KK recognized it as the Church (after grilling the visiting priest on his doctrine!) and, thus satisfied, willingly joined their separated brethren, shedding all of the doctrinal errors that these years of isolation brought. On March 17, 1865, Father Bernard Petitjean was approached by the KK, who until then were unknown to the world.

Other KK did not recognize it and remained in secret. Some may exist today.

KK Today

Mr. Taniyama is the head of a KK household who has decided not to pass the faith down to his children; Mr. Fukumoto’s parents and family were KK but joined the public Church [story with photos (scroll down)]

News story, “Young Japanese on a pilgrimage to find the roots of the nation’s Catholicism“ (2006)

Subject of a paper, “Kirishitan and Today” [pdf] by Shusaku Endo. [more]

Fr. Peter Milward (b. 1925), Shakespearean expert, Jesuit scholar, has resided in Japan and written on the Kakure [more]

Relics

Some exist at the Ikitsuki museum, Island of Ikitsuki, Japan. [photos and tour]

• Collected water in ceramic jars for baptisms
• Tiny paper crosses placed on tongue for healing
• Elaborate mosaics built from the single wings of butterflies
• clay water pots for baptisms
• hibachi for burning in ceremonies and clandestine nighttime meetings [photo and explanations]
• Outdoor sacred markers
• Outdoor sacred spaces, hidden alcoves

Books

The Kakure Kirishitan of Japan: A Study of Their Development, Beliefs and Rituals to the Present Day by Stephen Turnbull (RoutledgeCurzon 1998) is the first major illlustrated work to document and describe the KK

Christal Whelan, The Beginning of Heaven and Earth: The Sacred Book of Japan’s Hidden Christians (University of Hawai’i Press, 1996)
[available on sale for cheap on amazon]

Modern documentaries

Several documentaries exist.

Brendan Eagan’s Web Photo-documentary

Photo-Documentary of Christian history in Japan with Concentration on Hidden Christians by Brendan Eagan (2006) contains an eight-minute preview video, hundreds of photograhps, and long transcriptions. Worth viewing

Otaiya

New documentary film on the KK by Christal Whelan: Otaiya: Japan’s Hidden Christians (34 min)

PATRICK DOWNES article

For further reference