Why a Japanese Shogun Brutally Executed 55 Catholics on This Day in 1622, Driving the Country's Christians Underground

A 17th-century painting of the September 10, 1622, Great Genna Martyrdom, in which 55 Christians were beheaded or burned alive Public domain via Wikimedia Commons On an early September day in 1622, a large group of Christians gathered on a hill in Nagasaki, Japan, to bear witness. Dozens of their fellow believers had been rounded up and sentenced to be tortured for their illicit faith. Christianity had taken root…