Takashi Nagai: A Doctor at Nagasaki
"Love everyone and trust His providence and you will find peace. I have tried it and I can assure you it is so." -- Takashi Nagai
Takashi Nagai was born on 03 Feb 1908. Complications endangered both his life and that of his mother but both came through it.
His father was trained in Western medicine and his paternal grandfather practiced traditional herbal medicine. Takashi followed in their footsteps and entered the medical field, eventually as a radiological researcher.
Nagai grew up in Mitoya, a rural area, and was educated in the teachings of Confucius and Shintoism. He attended a boarding school for his secondary studies. Here he fell under the influence of the dominant atheist culture and soon adopted them as his own. Nagai later described himself as a "prisoner of materialism." Despite that, he was also greatly influenced by Takeo Matsubara, one of the few Christian teachers at his school. It was here that Nagai heard about Jesus for the first time.
In April of 1928 Nagai began his studies at the Nagasaki Medical College. Why he selected this particular school is unknown but it was here that he embarked on a spiritual journey that led him to the Catholic Church.
In 1930 Nagai received a letter from his father informing him that his mother was seriously ill from a brain hemorrhage. Although she remained conscious, she could not speak. He went to visit her and she died shortly thereafter. Watching her die triggered some questions he needed to answer. One of his professors introduced him to the thought of philosopher-scientist Blaise Pascal. Nagai began reading Pensées. As he read it, he began to think about human life. His attitude began to change, becoming more sensitive. In his third year of medical school, he found himself shocked at the stiff attitude of the professors at their own parents' bedsides. He became more and more aware of the shortcomings of materialism.
As Nagai studied Christianity, he became more and more influenced by the behavior of Christians in the area. He was surprised to discover that the construction of the local cathedral had been financed by poor Christian farmers and fishermen.
He completed his studies and passed his examinations in 1932. He was supposed to speak at the graduation ceremony but took ill just days before, possibly menegitis. The illness caused partial deafness. No longer able to use a stethoscope, he could no longer practice medicine. He decided to go into radiological research. Since the dangers of radiology were not well understood, there was a high mortality rate among practitioners.
On 24 Dec 1932, Nagai received an invitation to attend midnight Mass from Sadakichi Moriyama. He was impressed by the praying people, the singing, the faith they exhibited and the sermon. He later said of the night, "I felt Somebody close to me whom I did not still know."
In January 1933, Takashi began his military service. He trained at Hiroshima where a package from Moriyama's daughter, Midori, containing gloves, socks and a Catholic catechism. He was sent to Manchuria where he took care of the wounded persons and maintained the sanitary service.
The brutality of the Japanese soldiers towards the Chinese civilians shook Nagai's faith in Japanese culture. After returning he continued studying the catechism, the Bible and the Pensées. He met a priest, Fr. Matsusaburo Moriyama, the son of Jinzaburo Moritya who was deported to Tsuwano for his faith with other Christian villagers in Urakami by the Meiji Government during the 1860s and 1870s. Midori, the friend who sent him the catechism, continued to pray for him. Nagai was stuck by Pascal's words: "There is enough light for those who wish only to see, and enough darkness for those who have an opposite mood."
On 09 Jun 1934, Nagai was baptized into the Catholic Church and took the name Paul as his baptismal name because of his admiration for the Japanese St. Paul Miki. He asked Midori to marry him and she accepted. They were married in August. Together they had four children: a son named Makoto (03 Apr 1935 - 04 Apr 2001) and three daughters, Ikuko (07 Jul 1937 - 1939), Sasano who died shortly after her birth and Kayano (18 Aug 1941- 02 Feb 2008).
Influenced by the writings of Frédéric Ozanam, Nagai joined the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVDP) which he had founded. He visited his patients and the poor, bringing them assistance, comfort and food. He met Fr. Maximilian Kolbe several times when he lived in a suburb of Nagasaki.
When war broke out between Japan and China, Nagai was mobilized as a surgeon in the 5th division. He suffered from the harsh Chinese winter but also from the sufferings of the victims of this war, both civilian and military, Chinese and Japanese.
In 1939, he received the news that his father and his daughter Ikuko had both passed away. He had no choice but to remain in China until 1940. When he returned, he visited the graves of his parents.
On 08 Dec 1941 Japan declared war on the United States and Nagai realized that his city of Nagasaki could be destroyed although he certainly could not foresee how it would come to pass. He received his doctorate in 1944 and went to work helping air raid victims who were overwhelming the hospital.
In June 1945 he found out that he suffered from leukemia - most likely from his exposure to x-rays - and was given three years to live. Midori told him, “Whether you live or die, it is for God’s glory.”
When the Americans dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, Takashi and Midori decided to take their children to Matsuyama, a country town 6 kilometers away from Nagasaki where they would be cared for by Midori's mother.
At 11:02 am on 09 Aug 1945, the Americans dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Over 70,800 people died instantly. At the time of the atomic bombing, Dr. Nagai was at the radiology department of Nagasaki Medical College Hospital. Although he had severed his right temporal artery, he joined the rest of the surviving staff in treating the victims. Fire eventually reached the hospital destroying thirteen years of research. (He later wrote a 100-page report about his observations.) Six days later, on the Feast of the Assumption, Japan surrendered.
On 11 Aug he found his house destroyed and Midori's burnt bones, her rosary close to her. Nagai prayed, "My God, I thank You for having allowed her to die praying. Mary, Mother of sorrows, thank you for having accompanied her at the hour of her death… Jesus, You carried the heavy cross on the way to Your crucifixion. Now, You spread a light of peace on the mystery of the suffering and death, both Midori’s and mine… Strange destiny—I had believed that Midori would lead me to the grave… Now her poor remains rest in my arms… Her voice seems to murmur: forgive, forgive." He gave her a proper burial.
On 08 Sep 1945, Nagai discovered that the wound he received was worse than he thought. He was confined to bed for a month and his death seemed imminent. Bleeding from the injury would not stop regardless of the doctor's efforts. Nagai was given some water from the Lourdes grotto which Fr. Kolbe had built nearby. A voice told him to ask for his intercession which he did and the bleeding miraculously stopped. Nagai credited Fr. Kolbe's prayers for him for his six additional years of life.
Nagai returned to Urakami, ground zero, on 15 Oct 1945. He built a small hut from the pieces of his old house and lived with Makoto and Kayano, his two surviving children, his mother-in-law and two other relatives. In 1947 he built an even smaller structure for himself which he named "As-Yourself Hall" based on Jesus' words "Love your neighbor as yourself." He lived there as a hermitage spending his remaining years in prayer and contemplation.
Nagai mourned for Midori for six months, letting his beard and hair grow. On 23 Nov 1945, a mass was celebrated for the victims of the bomb in front of the ruins of the cathedral. Takashi spoke comparing the victims to a sacred offering to obtain peace.
After a while Nagai returned to teaching and wrote a number of books. The first, The Bells of Nagasaki, was completed by the first anniversary of the bombing. At first he was unable to find a publisher but it eventually became a best-seller was made into a popular Japanese movie in Japan. In July 1946, he collapsed on the station platform. Disabled, he was henceforth confined to bed.
In October 1948 he received a visit from Helen Keller. The next year he was also visited by Emperor Hirohito and by Cardinal Gilroy, emissary of the Pope.
On 01 May 1951, Nagai asked to be transported to the college hospital so that the medical students could observe the last moments of a man dying from leukemia. He prolonged the hospitalization by one day to wait for the statue of Our Lady, a gift from the Italian Catholic Medical Association, to arrive. About 9:40 pm, Nagai complained his dizziness and become unconscious. He received two injections of cardiotonics which caused him to regain consciousness and prayed “Jesus, Mary, Joseph, into your hands, I entrust my soul”. He took the cross his son Makoto had brought and shortly after shouted, “Please pray!” He passed away at 21:50 pm at the age of 43.
An autopsy revealed that his spleen had swelled to 3,410 g (normally 94 g) and his liver to 5,035 g (normally 1,400 g).
His funeral Mass was said by Bishop Paul Aijiro Yamaguchi in front of the cathedral. About 20,000 attended a ceremony in his honor eleven days later. The city of Nagasaki observed one minute of silence with the bells on all of the religious buildings ringing. His remains were interred in the Sakamoto international cemetery.
Sources
- Glynn, Fr. Paul. 1999. Healing Fire of Christ: Reflections on Modern Miracles. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. p. 19.
- Sr. Katherine Maria, MICM. Doctor Takashi Nagai http://www.saintbenedict.com/apostolates/from-housetops/88-takashi-nagai.html
- Weathers, Frank: Why I Am Catholic: The Conversion of Takashi Nagai, And His Vocation of Love http://www.patheos.com/blogs/yimcatholic/2013/04/the-conversion-of-takashi-nagai-and-his-vocation-of-love.html
- Wikipedia: Takashi Nagai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takashi_Nagai