The story of Saint Felipe de Jesús is linked to the death of Saint Pedro Bautista and the Holy Martyrs of Japan, whose memory is commemorated on 6 February.
Felipe was born in Mexico City in 1572, the son of Spanish immigrants Alfonso de las Casas and Antonia Ruiz Martínez. Biographies describe him as a restless and mischievous child, so much so that one day his nanny, ironically referring to his nature and looking at a dried-up fig tree, said: "Is Felipe a saint? Yes, when this fig tree sprouts new green leaves!". According to tradition, the fig tree turned green on the day of Felipe's death, which is why it is one of the elements that characterise his iconography.
At the age of 24, he entered the Franciscan novitiate in La Puebla de los Ángeles. His superiors compared him to a “pure silver chalice that only God knew and wanted to chisel". In fact, his life was a maze of crossroads: after leaving the novitiate, his father sent him to Manila, in the Philippines, to pursue a career in commerce. Here Felipe was dazzled by worldliness, but when he ran out of money and his friends abandoned him, he reconsidered his vocation and returned to the Franciscan friars, this time in Manila. According to his biographer, Huerta, he made his religious profession here in 1594 and was then sent to Mexico for ordination as a priest, along with other friars. However, that ship never reached its destination; it ran aground on the coast of Japan, and the friars decided to remain there to undertake missionary work, which was initially very successful.
As with Pedro Bautista, Felipe also had to contend with Emperor Hideyoshi's policies: local rulers opposed the spread of Christianity in the empire, so the emperor was forced to ban all Catholic missionaries.
He was in the friary at Kyoto when he was arrested along with his fellow friars. Felipe, who had not yet been ordained a priest, could have avoided torture and imprisonment, but he freely chose the same fate as the missionaries.
Felipe and the other 25 martyrs were exposed to public ridicule in the streets of Kyoto and Nagasaki. Their ears were cut off, and finally, on Nishizaka Hill, six Franciscans (belonging to the First and Third Orders), three Jesuits and 17 Japanese lay people were crucified. During his agony, he cried out "Jesús, Jesús, Jesús": seeing that he was suffocating because of the ring that held him prisoner around his neck, the soldiers struck him twice in the side with spears, one of which pierced his heart. He died a martyr on the 5th February 1597.
He was beatified together with his fellow martyrs on the 14th September 1627 by Pope Urban VIII and canonised on the 8th June 1862 by Pope Pius IX, thus becoming the first saint of Mexican origin.
During his very brief imprisonment, he had time to write his farewell letter:
Nagasaki, Japan, 4th February 1597
Dear Fathers and Friends,
The night passes quickly. Tomorrow I will die executed on the cross, but I am not afraid.
My thoughts fly to you and to my beloved homeland.
Now that I am about to receive the baptism of blood, I remember being baptised in the Cathedral of Mexico and the times I attended Mass in San Francisco de Plateros.
I regret the years I wasted pursuing my selfish and dissolute appetites. Blessed be God who came to my aid, and I realised that it was not worth living for this.
I wanted to be a missionary, but now God is rewarding me before the work begins, giving me the opportunity to give my life to prove my love.
I am sorry that I did not return to Mexico, even for a day, but I will return. I am sure I will return to tell everyone that the only life worth living is eternal life.
Peace and goodwill!
Br. Felipe de Jesús
Our most sincere wishes to our brothers in the Province of St Philip of Jesus in Mexico!
Sources: Frati Minori Santi e Beati (Holy and Blessed Friars Minor), edited by Br. Silvano Bracci, OFM and Sr. Antonietta Pozzebon, FMSC. Editrice Velar, 2009, pp. 259; Wikipedia