In 1865, the French priest Bernard Petitjean discovered that almost all the Urakami villagers were Christian. Even then Christianity was forbidden still for the locals, those rediscovered Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians) were persecuted by the then central governments respecitively. Between 1869 and 1873, over 3,600 villagers were banished to exile by the newly installed government. During their exile, 650 died. The persecuted came back to their home village after 7 years exile in 1873, and decided to construct their own church.
