MEDITATION TIP —
Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 17, 2024

“Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)

　Koyama Fukusei Hospital is located in Gotemba City, Shizuoka Prefecture, at the foot of Mt. Fuji. Although it is now a general hospital, it was originally the oldest sanatorium for leprosy in Japan, founded in 1889 by Father Testvuide of the Paris Foreign Mission Society. Leprosy was a disease that afflicted mankind for thousands of years and was feared as an incurable illness, but in 1943 the United States developed a cure, including “Promin”, and today it is a completely curable disease.

　When I was a seminary student, all the seminary students of Tokyo Catholic Theological Seminary visited Koyama Fukusei Hospital every year and had an enjoyable time interacting with the former patients there who were undergoing treatment. There was a head nurse there named Yae Ibuka. Her father was a member of the House of Representatives and a distant relative of Dai Ibuka, one of the founders of Sony. She herself was a talented young woman who had graduated from Doshisha Girls’ School (now Doshisha University) and was teaching English in Nagasaki. When she was 22 years old, she was diagnosed with leprosy and hospitalized there. Like many patients at the time, she was cut off from her relatives and temporarily changed her name to Hori Seiko.

　Three years later, however, it turned out to be a misdiagnosis. She could have left, but she was so impressed by the devotion of Father Lézey, the director at the time, to his patients that she decided to stay. She later became a nurse and devoted her life to helping the leprosy patients at Koyama Fukusei Hospital, which was on the verge of financial ruin at the time, and to those who would later spend their lives receiving treatment. In recognition of her dedication, she received the Order of the Holy Cross from Pope John XXIII in 1959 and the Nightingale Medal from the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1961. She was also the model for Shusaku Endo’s novel “The Woman I Abandoned.”

　After I was ordained in 1989, I visited Koyama Fukusei Hospital for my first Mass with my classmates, and on May 16, we were scheduled to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Koyama Fukusei Hospital, where Yae Ibuka was to receive an award from Her Imperial Highness then Princess Takamatsu. However, she quietly passed away on May 15 at the age of 91, as if declining the commendation the night before. It was only after her death that I learned of Yae Ibuka’s greatness. Like many saints, I had thought of her as an ordinary nurse who worked quietly and smilingly during her lifetime.

　When she was young, she was misdiagnosed as having leprosy, and for a time she was cut off from her relatives and considered as if she had died as a grain of wheat. However, it was through this experience that she decided to walk with people affected by leprosy, giving them hope for life and bearing much fruit.

　Her grave is located in Koyama Fukusei Hospital, and it bears the inscription “Tomb of Katarina Yaeyuki Ibuka,” and “A Grain of Wheat” in her own handwriting.

 　　　　　(Contributed by Father Akabae)