Remember Him

Awesome example for our times. Wish I had known to ask his intercession in 2020 when we were cut off from sacraments.

“The Martyrs of New Guinea were Christians including clergy, teachers, and medical staff serving in New Guinea who were executed during the Japanese invasion during World War II in 1942 and 1943. A total of 333 church workers including Papuans and visiting missionaries from a range of denominations were killed during the Japanese occupation of New Guinea.”
“Reported numbers of those killed varies, but the Anglican Board of Mission – Australia follows the University of Papua New Guinea research that there were:

• Roman Catholic – 197
• United Church – 77
• Salvation Army – 22
• Lutheran – 16
• Anglican – 12
• Methodist – 10
• Evangelical Church of Manus – 5
• Seventh Day Adventist – 4″
• Quick thinking:
• “On Rabaul, Australians and Europeans who were not evacuated found refuge at the Vunapope Catholic Mission, until the Japanese overwhelmed the island and took them prisoner in 1942. The local Bishop Leo Scharmach, a Pole, convinced the Japanese that he was German and to spare the internees. A group of indigenous Daughters of Mary Immaculate (FMI Sisters) then refused to give up their faith or abandon the Australians and are credited with keeping hundreds of internees alive for three and half years by growing food and delivering it to them over gruelling distances. Some of the Sisters were tortured by the Japanese and gave evidence during war crimes trials after the war.”