Satoko kitahara biography definition
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Satoko Kitahara
Venerable | |
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| Born | (1929-08-22)22 August 1929 Tokyo, Japan |
| Died | 23 January 1958(1958-01-23) (aged 28) Tokyo, Japan |
Satoko Kitahara (北原 怜子, Kitahara Satoko, 22 August 1929 – 23 January 1958) – later known as Elisabeth Maria Kitahara – was a JapaneseRoman Catholic.[1][2][3] Kitahara was descended from aristocrats and samurai warriors;[4] she worked in an airplane warehouse during World War II and became disillusioned after she and others learnt of Japanese atrocities during the conflict.[3][5] She discovered Roman Catholicism and after a period of being exposed to churches decided to learn catechism so she could be baptized.[1][2]
Upon her baptism she selected the name "Elisabeth" and upon her Confirmation added the name "Maria". Kitahara made it her goal to tend to the impoverished and orphaned as well as the sick and poor who were suffering as a result of the damage inflicted during the war.[2][1][4] In 1950 she first met the Conventual Franciscan friar Zenon Żebrowski and the two worked together to care for destitute people and children in the riverside Ants Village. This work became the focus for Kitahar
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The Dorothy Day of Tokyo: the Japanese woman who gave up privilege to live among the ragpickers
Every so often one is reminded that being a Christian isn’t meant to be comfortable. The people who, by the witness of their own lives, constantly remind us of this unpalatable truth are the saints. Just when we have settled down and are feeling smug – like the rich young man in the Gospel who led a virtuous life and kept the law – the stark “Take it or leave it” message of Christ comes through loud and clear: the grain of wheat has to die before it will bear much fruit.
Someone who came to understand and embrace the real teaching of the Gospel, rather than the comfortable version we tell ourselves, and who is an improbable candidate for sanctity, was a young Japanese woman, Satoko Kitahara. Her amazing story is told in The Smile of a Ragpicker by Paul Glynn SM, published by Ignatius and available from Gracewing (US readers can buy the book here.)
What did I learn from reading about her life? First, that out of the horror of war and its aftermath good can come that can transform the misery to good. Second, that no one starts out with special advantages when it comes to learning the meaning of holiness. Kitahara (1927-1955) had to learn this lesson in her own short life. From a
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