Thomas Aquino Man'yō Maeda

I have to admit, scrolling past pop idols and actors and then landing on a Catholic cardinal makes me sit up a little straighter. Thomas Aquino Man'yō Maeda comes out of Nagasaki, a place soaked in the history of hidden Christians who held their faith through centuries of persecution, and you can't help feeling that legacy in how he carries himself. Born in 1949, he rose to Archbishop of Osaka and was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2018, which is no small thing for a Japanese churchman. He's famously into haiku too, which somehow fits a guy whose middle name nods to the Man'yōshū. No flashy headlines here, just a quiet, deliberate kind of weight, and honestly I find that more compelling than most spotlight chasers.

Thomas Aquino Man'yō Maeda is a Japanese Catholic priest and bishop born on March 3, 1949, in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. Nagasaki carries deep significance in Japanese Catholic history as a region with a long tradition of hidden Christians, making it a notable place of origin for a senior clergyman. His full baptismal name reflects the Catholic custom of taking a saint's name, with Thomas Aquinas as his patron. Details of his personal life and career timeline are not publicly disclosed.

Name (English)

Thomas Aquino Man'yō Maeda

Name (Japanese)

前田万葉

Reading

まえだ まんよう

Born

March 3, 1949 (age 77)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Pisces / Ox (丑)

Origin

Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan

Occupation

Catholic priest / Bishop

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%89%8D%E7%94%B0%E4%B8%87%E8%91%89

Tags

• from Nagasaki Prefecture
• Catholic priest
• Bishop

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.