Cerqueira - Cerqueira, Luis de

Japanese: セルケイラ - Ｃｅｒｑｕｅｉｒａ，Ｌｕｉｓｄｅ

Year of death: January 8, 1614 (February 16, 1614)
Born around 1552. Portuguese Jesuit, Bishop of Japan. Born in Alvito, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1566. In 1593, while he was a professor of theology, he was appointed auxiliary bishop with the right to succeed Bishop Martins of Funai (Oita), and was ordained bishop. The following year, he left Lisbon and waited in Macau, where Bishop Martins died. In 1598 (Keicho 3), he traveled to Nagasaki with Valignano and others as Bishop of Japan. As Funai was under the ban on Christianity, he settled in Nagasaki, and tried to wisely lead the Japanese Church in a time of political instability. First, he established a seminary and worked to train Japanese priests, ordaining seven parish priests and eight Jesuit priests, and entrusting four churches in Nagasaki to the parish priests, creating small parishes. During this time, while he himself taught theology, he also published religious books for priests, seminarians, and laity, and in the same year he breathed new life into the church by publishing the "Sacaramenta Compendium," a liturgical text containing canon law based on the provisions of the Council of Trent, printed in two colors, red and black, for the first time in Japan, for the benefit of future Japanese priests. The book contains Gregorian chants and is said to be the oldest surviving Western music score in Japan. He also showed consideration for the application of regulations in accordance with the growth of the local church. He also made notable social contributions, such as prohibiting human trafficking by Portuguese people with the severe penalty of excommunication, and visiting Tokugawa Ieyasu. He died in Nagasaki just before the nationwide ban on Christianity was imposed.

(Rumiko Kataoka)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：慶長19.1.8(1614.2.16)
生年：1552頃
ポルトガル人イエズス会士,日本司教。アルヴィトに生まれ,1566年イエズス会入会。神学博士の学位を得て神学教授であった1593年,マルティンス府内(大分)司教の後継権を持つ補佐司教に任命され,司教に叙階された。翌年リスボンを出発しマカオに待機中,マルティンス司教が死去し,慶長3(1598)年日本司教としてヴァリニァーノらと長崎に渡来。府内が禁教策の中にあったため長崎に居を定め,政情不安な時代の日本の教会を賢明に導こうとした。まずセミナリオ(神学校)を設立して日本人司祭の養成に努め,教区司祭7人の他イエズス会司祭8人を叙階し,長崎の4教会を教区司祭に委ねて小教区を誕生させた。その間,自ら神学を講じる一方,司祭,神学生,信徒のために宗教書を発行,同10年には将来の日本人司祭のためにトレント公会議の規定に基づく教会法を含む典礼定式書『サカラメンタ提要』を,赤,黒という日本最初の2色刷り印刷で刊行するなど新しい息吹を注ぎ込んだ。同書にはグレゴリオ聖歌が収められ,現存する日本最古の洋楽譜とされてもいる。さらに,地域の教会の成長の度合いにあわせた規定の適用を求める配慮を示した。ポルトガル人による人身売買を破門の厳罰をもって禁止したり,徳川家康を訪問するなどの社会的貢献も特筆される。全国的禁教令の直前に長崎で没した。

(片岡瑠美子)

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