When Our Lady struck Amaterasu - A Liberation day special

 

                   During the liberation of Catholic Philippines, Our Lady, (right) gave a terrible blow to the Japanese sun goddess or demon, Amaterasu (left) who victimized many Catholics during the WW2 and during the persecution of Catholics in Tokugawa Japan from the 1500s to the 1600s. 

''For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.''

Psalm 95:5

On March 26, 1945, 80 years ago, American forces liberated Cebu from Japanese tyranny. They landed on Cansujong Beach, Talisay on March 26, 1945, thus liberating Cebu from the Japanese. 5 months earlier, Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed in Leyte thus beginning the liberation of the Philippines, and weeks earlier, the Battle of Manila ended which destroyed many religious icons and churches dating back to the Spanish era. William H. Arnold was in charge of liberating Cebu and a monument similar to the Leyte memorial stands on the beach where the Americans landed in Talisay to liberate Cebu.

                                        Americans landing at Cansujong, Talisay, Mar. 26, 1945

So following the WW2 from a Catholic perspective, we can see that many of the victims of the Japanese during the occupation were Catholics who attended the Latin Mass of their forefathers. Not only were the victims laypeople, many of them were priests, who were foreign missionaries and Filipinos. But Japan was no strange to persecuting Catholics. It all started back in the 1500s, during the Shogun era in which Toyotomi Hideyoshi alongside the Emperor of Japan, an alleged descendant of the Japanese pagan sun goddess Amaterasu issued an edict banning Catholicism in Japan. Many Catholics were put to death by crucifixion, such as the Franciscans Felipe de Jesus of Mexico and Father Pedro Bautista of the Philippines, and that of the Jesuit Paul Miki. In 1637 under the Tokugawa Shogunate, another group of Catholic missionaries were sent to death, including our own Filipino, Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila. Then, the persecution suddenly stopped, as underground Christians, known as Kirishitan started practicing their faith underground.

                                                                The Martyrs of Japan

In the 1850s, Japan started to open to foreign trade. In 1868, Emperor Meiji deposed the Tokugawa Shogun and had his status as Emperor restored. This was the Meiji Restoration in which the Empire of Japan started.

                                                                     Emperor Meiji

Emperor Meiji started to westernize Japan, (that is why he is depicted in European clothing), modernized the army, and ditched the lunar calendar in favor of the Gregorian calendar. He also abolished the persecution of Christians, but like his grandson during the WW2, he was also a tyrant, having suppressed the Samurai, annexed parts of China and Russia, and also annexed Joseon Korea. He died in 1912. Even if Christians were allowed to worship freely in Japan, they were most likely still persecuted by the Shinto state. 

Fast forward to his grandson, Emperor Hirohito, or Showa. He was also in favor of annexing more Asian land due to the greed of the Japanese Empire. During the World War II, persecution of Christians started again.

                                                           Emperor Hirohito (Showa)

On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese, which led to the US entering WW2. On December 8, feast of the Immaculate Conception, Philippines, a commonwealth of the US at that time was attacked by Japan. In 1942, Japan started to occupy the entire Philippines, commencing with the Battles of Bataan and Corregidor which led to the Bataan Death March and other war crimes committed in the name of the pagan demon Amaterasu. Many Catholics also went underground to avoid persecution by the Imperial Japanese Army. There are many stories of Our Lady protecting the Filipinos during the War, sometimes appearing to Japanese soldiers. 

                                                    US Soldiers attending a mass, 1944

In October, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur landed at Leyte. On Feb. 3, 1945, the Battle of Manila began in which many churches and religious images were destroyed.

Douglas MacArthur lands at Leyte

During the liberation of Manila, many innocent civilians, including Catholic priests fell to the Japanese, many killed in the name of their pagan sun goddess. On March 26, 1945, Cebu was liberated from the Japanese. The original image of Santo Nino, which had been kept in the church of the Redemptorist fathers since 1944 when the image nearly fell after a bomb struck the Santo Nino church. The image returned to its church on April 20, 1945.

The Santo Nino after the war, Father Leandro Moran, OSA on the right was my grandma's confessor

After the liberation, Catholics returned to their normal way of life, especially in Cebu. They can freely attend the Traditional Mass in the old churches excluding the San Nicolas Church in Tabo-an, Cebu, the Santa Teresa de Avila church in Talisay,  and that of the Cebu Cathedral, destroyed during the war. The temporary cathedral of Cebu was the Santo Rosario Church in P. del Rosario street. 

A traditional Latin Mass celebrated in the Fort San Pedro, Cebu for US soldiers in May 1945. The screenshot is from a public domain reel. This is the only known footage of a Pre-Vatican II mass in Cebu.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, Japan paid the price when two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (where Christians were persecuted).

On August 28, 1945, feast of St. Augustine, in Ilihan, Cebu, the remaining Japanese soldiers surrendered to the Americans. On September 2, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies, ending World War II. Our Lady had really put Amaterasu under her feet.

                                      Japanese soldiers surrendering in Cebu, Aug. 28, 1945

I hear online about many traditional Catholics accused of being anti-Jews and being Nazis just because Judaism is a false sect. Worse, some traditionalists even turn to Neo Nazism and deny the Holocaust or even praise Imperial Japan and Hirohito. Both Hitler and Hirohito are the main baddies, especially that Nazism and Shintoism are based on occultism (see Tradition in Action's Nazism, a Gnostic-Manichean sect and Introibo ad Altare dei's Adolf Hitler and so called ''Traditionalists.''). Both Hitler and Hirohito were mass murderers and occultists and killed those who would not bow down to the swastika and the red sun. 

We can hope one day that Japan will proclaim ''Viva Cristo Rey!'' instead of their wicked cry, ''Tenno Heika Banzai!''

To conclude this article, I want to tell you a story about my grandma. When she was still alive, she used to tell stories of her war experience in Surigao del Sur. As she was telling her story of the Imperial Japanese on their horses committing atrocities to the Filipinos, I got my history book and flipped to the pages talking about WW2. The page talked about Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939 (Surigao was invaded 1942 by the Japanese). It showed a picture of a Nazi soldier on a horse entering Warsaw on October 1, 1939, one month after Hitler invaded Poland. 

                                                  The actual picture I showed to my grandma

When my grandma saw the picture, she said, it was very close to her memories of the Japanese occupation. I would only remember our veterans of the war after my grandma died, and the memory of me showing that picture to her only resurfaced recently.

Please pray for the eternal repose for my grandma and those who died in World War II.

May their souls rest in peace, Amen.

To conclude this post, here is a song called Payapang Daigdig (Peaceful World), a Filipino song composed during the war.

Sincerely,

Ryan