A pavillion in Satsuma, Japan

On the same day there was also executed a highly distinguished young lord named Paul Xiquibu, a great friend of Yemondono. The governor having notified him the previous evening to prepare himself, he sent his thanks to him. After midnight an emissary arrived, with orders to behead him when the sun should rise. Paul began to pray, and when morning came, set out for the place of execution. Magdalen, his wife, wished to follow him, but she was prevented from doing so: she was told that the prince, at the instance of her father, allowed her to live. This generous woman replied that it was an injustice to let a Christian wife live while they put to death her Christian husband. An officer seeing her burst into tears, to console her, said to her that he would try to procure for her the death that she desired; he added that the prince would not execute her publicly on account of the promise that he had given to her father; but he promised to come in the evening to behead her in her apartments. In the meantime, Paul, who had heard this whole conversation, seeing the ardent desire that his virtuous spouse showed to die for Jesus Christ, wept for joy; full of this sweet consolation, he walked cheerfully to the place of execution, where, after having prayed, he received the death blow, and the palm that nothing can tarnish.

Rev. Eugene Grimm, ed. Victories of the Martyrs, vol. 9, The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri (New York: Benzinger Brothers, 1888), 417.

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 749