[1] The establishment of Christianity by St Francis Xavier happened six years after the discovery of Japan by Portuguese Sailors in 1549.

[2] In its earliest stages, approximately 250 years after its foundation in 1549, Christianity and its members faced violent persecutions and torture due to the forbidding of Gospel preaching in the country.

In around 1580, the Christian convert population had surpassed 200,000 members, although facing much persecution paired with the rejection of foreign missionaries, priests and bishops as ordered by the ruling shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

[5] The kakure developed a system to maintain their liturgical calendar, preach to people outside the faith and conduct liturgies such as baptism and funerals.

In fact, some Christians did not even join the Catholic Church when the faith was finally permitted due to the traditions which had been passed on and developed.

The plight of Christians eventually caught media attention in many major western countries.

The Japanese government remained firm on the fact that the treatment of Christians should be dealt with internally without the interference of the western countries.

[7] However, the media coverage portrayed japan as an uncivilised country due to the treatment of Christians and led to slow reformation.

However, with the help of missionaries who had to leave China after the war, there was a significant expansion in the archdiocese, with 66 churches in total by 1963.

[10] In 1932, Bishop Kinold resigned from the position of Apostolic Vicariate of Sapporo, and was replaced by Msgr.

Tatewaki Toda as the Apostolic administrator until 1944 where he was moved to the Diocese of Yokohama and was replaced by Msgr.

[5] Regardless, the diocese still maintains its liturgy as part of the Roman rite and offers services in both Japanese and English.

[11] The church was lifted to its current status as the seat of the bishop of Sapporo by Pope Leo XIII.

[12] In 1898, an altar was built out of Sapporo pumice tuff, which is presently at the parish hall and the priest’s house.

Over the period of its establishment until the present day, there have been 15 parish priests, including many from the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris, and the order of Friars Minor.