diagnosis, telephoned the surgeon at the hospital and carried Midori there on his back through the snow. The operation was successful; Midori survived. Upon his return from Manchuria, he continued his reading of the Catholic catechism, the Bible, and the Pensées of Blaise Pascal. He met with a priest, Father Matsusaburo Moriyama, whose father had been deported to Tsuwano (Shimane Prefecture) for his faith, along with many other Christian villagers in Urakami by the Meiji Government from the 1860s to the 1870s (Urakami Yoban Kuzure). Eventually, Nagai's spiritual progress took a decisive turn when he thought about Pascal's words: "There is enough light for those who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition." Conversion to Catholicism On 9 June 1934, Nagai received baptism in the Catholic faith. He chose the Christian first name Paul and proposed to Midori. They married in August and had four children: a boy, Makoto (誠, born 3 April 1935 – 4 April 2001), and three daughters, Ikuko (郁子, born 7 July 1937 – 1939), Sasano who died shortly after her birth, and Kayano (佳也乃, born 18 August 1941 – 2 February 2008). Takashi received the sacrament of confirmation in December 1934. Midori was president of the association of the women of the Urakami district. Takashi became a member of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVDP), discovered its founder, Frédéric Ozanam, and his writings, and visited his patients and the poor, to whom he brought assistance, comfort and food. From 1931 to 1936, Father Maximilian Kolbe lived in a suburb of Nagasaki, where he started a monastery. Takashi met Kolbe through involvement with his parish St. Vincent de Paul Society in Nagasaki. Military service In January 1933, Takashi began his military service with the Eleventh Hiroshima Regiment. In Manchuria, Nagai cared for the wounded and served in the sanitary service as a medic. He was strongly shaken in his faith in Japanese culture when saw for himself the exactions of the Japanese soldiers and their brutality towards the Chinese civilian population. While serving in Manchuria, Nagai had received a Catholic Catechism as a gift from his to-be wife Midori. The book immediately raised concerns with his commanding sergeant, who had it examined for “subversive ideas.” Though his sergeant found the Catechism to make no sense to him, he determined that it was not “particularly socialist”, returning the