Domingo Ibáñez de Erquicia

Who was Domingo Ibáñez de Erquicia?

Fr. Domingo Ibáñez de Erquicia was born in Régil, Guipúzcoa, Spain. In 1605, he was professed in the Dominican Order and in 1611, he arrived in the Philippines where he worked as missionary to Pangasinan and later as Professor of Theology at the Colegio de Santo Tomas.

In 1623, he departed for Japan when the persecution was most violent. During ten years he worked among the Christians, comforting them, reconciling the apostates, administering the sacraments in painfully difficult circumstances. Constantly sought by the authorities, and desiring martyrdom, he was captured on July 1633 and interned in the prison of Nagoya. Taken to Nagasaki, and after refusing to renounce his faith, he was placed in the torment of gallows and the pit on August 13, 1633 and died the next day.

Ibáñez was aided in his missionary efforts by Francis Shoyemon, a Japanese layman who later was received into the Order of Preachers as a Dominican Cooperator Brother. Shoyemon served as a catechist and translator, and when Ibáñez was imprisoned, Shoyemon was with him. It was while they were in prison that Ibáñez received Shoyemon into the Dominican Order as a cooperator brother. The two coworkers in the faith were put to death on the same day.