COSTANZO, CAMILLO, blessed. - Martyr in Japan, born at Motta Bovalina (diocese of Gerace) in Cala-
bria, in 1572; having taken part, in the troops of Ambrogio Spinola, in the siege of Ostend in Flanders, he entered the Society of Jesus at Naples on 8 Sept. 1591. He left in 1602 for the China mission and, having landed at Macao in 1605, being unable to penetrate the Chinese Empire, went on to Japan.
After seven years of apostolate, chiefly at Saccai, the edict of 1614 against missionaries compelled him to withdraw to Macao, where he wrote in Japanese a refutation of Buddhism and other apologetic works. Having returned to Japan in 1621, disguised as a soldier, he was arrested the following year and burned slowly at the stake at Firando on 15 Sept. 1622. He was beatified on 7 July 1867, and his feast is celebrated on 25 Sept.