Domingos Chohachi Nakamura


Domingos Chōhachi Nakamura was a Catholic missionary and priest from the Diocese of Nagasaki. He worked tirelessly as a priest for 26 years in Japan and 17 years in Brazil where he died in 1940 with a reputation for holiness.

Life

Nakamura was born in Fukue-jima, the main island of the Goto Islands. He worked for 26 years as a diocesan priest in the island of Amami Oshima, before emigrating to Brazil in 1923 to work on behalf of the Japanese migrants living there, where he worked until his death for 17 years. Nakamura was the first Japanese missionary to work abroad. Nevertheless, his age, working from 58 to 76 years old in the evangelization of Japanese migrants in the Brazilian states of São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Paraná and south part of Minas Gerais. He passed away in reputation for holiness in 1940, while in Álvares Machado. His process of beatification started in 2002, in the Diocese of Bauru. The postulator is Rubens Miraglia Zani.
During his 17 years of pastoral work in Brazil, he namely baptized 1.750 people. He was the first priest to work on behalf of the Japanese community in Brazil; nowadays, the majority of these Japanese descendants are Catholic, thanks to the evangelization work done throughout the 20th century by both Japanese and Brazilian priests.

Honors and appointments