Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Seoul (Fides Service) – The Catholic Church in Korea is rejoicing: the Holy See has approved the opening of the beatification process for Korea’s 124 martyrs, Paul Yun Ji-Chung and 123 companion martyrs, tortured and killed for the faith 1791, when Christianity had just reached Korea.
Fides was informed by the Korean Bishops’ Commission for beatifications and canonisations that the Holy See has given its nulla osta. Last year the Church in Korea sent all the relative documentation to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.
Having obtained approval, the Commission formed a committee of history experts to act as consultors for the Congregation, presided by Andrea Kim Jin-so director of Honam History Centre, who will report on details of the martyrdom.
In 1791 Paul Yun Ji-Chung, a noble who had become a Christian, decided not to bury his mother according to traditional Confucian customs widespread in Korea. The incident was reported to the local authorities and ferocious persecution of Christians began. Paul Yun Ji-Chung was the first of many noble Korean Christians to be exiled or killed for their faith in Jesus Christ. Christianity, introduced in Korea in 1784, was officially banned as an “evil cult which destroyed human relations and traditional moral order”.
Catholics in Korea went underground until 1895, when they obtained freedom of worship but in a century they experienced four major persecutions: Shinyu in 1801 (103 martyrs canonised by Pope John Paul II in 1984); Gyhae in 1839; Byung-o in 1846 and Byung-In in 1866. The local Church estimates that no less than 16.000 Korean Catholics were martyred during this period.
Prof. Domenico Youn Minku, of Suwon Catholic University who is e Postulator of the Beatification Cause told Fides: “Unique in the history of the Church, it was lay people who introduced the faith in Korea. Korean scholars discovered the faith by reading books in Chinese carried by European missionaries to China. After the first baptism in 1784, the young Church was soon afflicted by fierce persecution. The lively and courageous faith survived. Today the Korean Catholic is among the mots active in the world ” (PA) (Agenzia Fides 5/12/2003 lines 41 words 448)
