Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Società dei Beati Martiri Coreani
Seoul (Agenzia Fides) – The Catholic community of Seoul has announced that it has received the “Nihil obstat” (no objections) from the Holy See for the beatification process of Father Leo Bang Yu-ryong (1900–1986), unanimously considered today as an “ancestor of the faith” and founder of Korean monastic life, rooted in the spirit of the Korean martyrs.
Bishop Job Koo Yoo-bi, Auxiliary Bishop of Seoul and President of the Diocesan Commission for Beatification and Canonization, joyfully announced that the Archdiocese of Seoul is preparing to begin the diocesan phase of the process, gathering data and testimonies to demonstrate the heroic virtues and the reputation for holiness of Father Bang Yu-ryong, who will thus be declared a "Servant of God".
Father Bang Yu-ryong was born on March 6, 1900, into a Catholic family in what was then an undivided Korea. He grew up witnessing and enduring the persecution of Christians—first under the Joseon Dynasty, and later during Japanese imperial rule. In 1917, he entered the seminary with the intention of becoming a priest. During his time at the Minor Seminary in Yongsan, reading devotional books and visiting monasteries sparked in him a personal attraction and vision of the necessity of monastic life for the local Church.
He was ordained a priest in 1930 and began his ministry as a parochial vicar in Chuncheon Parish, Gangwon Province, later moving to Jangyeon Parish in Hwanghae Province. In 1933, he was appointed parish priest in the same province. There, he abolished the custom of separating boys and girls in church from the age of seven, installed the first organ, and established a youth choir—revitalizing youth ministry and parish life. He also showed deep love for monastic aspirants, guiding them spiritually with affection and wisdom.
Though he longed to become a religious in order to grow closer to God’s love, at the time there were only foreign religious orders in Korea. He realized the need for a religious congregation that would reflect the Korean spirit and mentality, believing that the most effective way to spread the Catholic faith in Korea was through the Korean language and worldview.
Motivated by this vision, on April 21, 1946, he founded the first Korean female religious congregation at the Catholic Church of Kaesong (now in North Korea). That date—April 21—was the first Sunday after Easter following Korea’s liberation (August 15, 1945), and also marked the centenary of the martyrdom of St. Andrew Kim Dae-geon. The co-foundresses, Sister Yun Byeong-Hyeon and Sister Hong Eun-Sun, began this religious journey wearing the simplest traditional Korean garments: a white jeogori and a black skirt.
Father Bang understood that the heart of Korean religious life lay in perpetuating the spirit of the Korean martyrs, the “ancestors in the faith.” He named the new congregation the “Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs”, with the charism: “to spread the Gospel of Christ in a spirit of fraternal love and martyrdom, for the glory of God and the sanctification of each member.” He designated the Korean martyrs as the congregation’s patron saints.
The Sisters soon established an elementary school and a women’s academy, and on March 8, 1950, moved to their current residence in Seoul. When the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, Father Bang was appointed parish priest of Jegi-dong Parish in Seoul on December 1 of that year. On December 12, 1951—while the war was still ongoing—he received official approval from the Holy See for the establishment of the Society of the Blessed Korean Martyrs.
On October 30, 1953, he founded the Male Congregation of the Blessed Korean Martyrs, the first indigenous male religious order in Korea—thus fulfilling his original vision to establish both male and female religious congregations dedicated to the spirituality of the Korean martyrs.
In March 1957, he established the Third Order of the Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs, a secular institute sharing the same charism within lay life. Then in October 1962, he allowed Sisters Yun and Hong to found the Society of the Sisters of the Palm of the Korean Martyrs, a community for married and widowed women, which today forms the fourth branch of the Society of the Blessed Korean Martyrs.
On May 6, 1957, Father Bang himself made his perpetual vows in the religious society he founded, fulfilling his spiritual dream of consecrated life. He transferred his ecclesiastical status from diocesan priest to religious priest and devoted the rest of his life to asceticism and spiritual guidance for both consecrated and lay members of the Society.
The spirituality of the Society, in all its branches, he said, consisted in dedicating one’s life to Christ through meditation, silence, and transcendence in daily activities, offering oneself without reserve to others.
Father Leo Bang Yu-ryong passed away on January 24, 1986.
In addition to his beatification process, the Archdiocese of Seoul is currently pursuing the beatification causes of two other major Catholic figures:
Bishop Barthélemy Bruguière (1792–1835) of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, the first Apostolic Vicar of Korea; and
Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (1922–2009), Archbishop of Seoul from 1968 to 1998 and the first native Korean Cardinal. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 26/9/2025)
