Jerome de Angelis was an Italian Jesuit missionary to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. He was beatified in 1867.

Life

He entered the Society of Jesus in 1585, and in 1602 began his mission in Japan. He remained there after the publication of the edict expelling all Christian missionaries from the country.

The first European on Hokkaido

Hokkaido

, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

, he was the first missionary to reach Yezo and the Ainu people

Ainu people

The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...

. De Angelis, after making many converts to Christianity, seeing that his neophytes were cruelly persecuted because of his presence among them and his preaching, gave himself up to the authorities. Condemned to death, he underwent public execution by fire.