ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Korean Martyrs Museum reopens in Seoul

Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - “It is a place of extraordinary importance for making the history of the Church in Korea and the faith of our predecessors known”: with these words, Cardinal Nicholas Choeng, Archbishop of Seoul, inaugurated the reopening of the Korean Martyrs Museum, in Jeoldusan, in the Archdiocese of Seoul, after two years of remodeling of the building, with multimedia additions that tell the story of Christianity in Korea and its martyrs.
The Museum-Shrine – the building is named in this way as it also contains rooms for liturgical celebrations and prayer – was built in 1967 on the site where many of the martyrs died from 1866 to 1873, when thousands of Catholics were killed in a time of fierce persecutions. There are numerous historical documents, visual reconstructions, photographs, and images, along with documentaries that visitors may now view on their tour of the museum, which Cardinal Choeng says “is meant to reawaken and renew the faith” of every person who visits.
The reopening of the structure took place this month (September), which Korea celebrates as the “Month of the Martyrs,” as September 20 is the universal feast of Saint Andrew Kim Taegon (1821-1846), the first Korean priest and martyr, Patron of the Korean clergy. For the occasion, all the Korean dioceses have organized commemorative events in honor of the martyrs, including a pilgrimage to the shrine dedicated to them.
The Gospel first reached Korea at the beginning of the 17th century, thanks to the apostolate of several lay people that form a strong and fervent community. This Christian community suffered harsh persecutions especially in the second half of the 1800s. Korea boasts of over 10,000 martyrs all together. 103 of them were canonized in 1984 in Seoul, by John Paul II, in the first canonization ceremony to take place outside the Vatican.
In addition, in 2004, Seoul opened the diocesan phase of the Cause for Beatification of Servant of God Paul Yun Ji-Chung and 123 companions who were tortured and killed “in odium fidei” in 1791, at the dawn of the arrival of Christianity in Korea. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 11/09/2009)