SEOUL (UCAN/SE): South Korea’s millions-strong Catholic have been commemorating the numerous unknown martyrs who gave their lives for the faith as they marked the 180th anniversary of the Kihae Persecution in 1839, one of the harshest persecutions of the Joseon Dynasty.
To celebrate Martyr’s Month—marked each September—the Archdiocese of Seoul hosted Accompany with love in September which included events such as exhibitions, performances, pilgrimages, and Masses, as well as a play, Chung, Ha-sang.
Pope St. John Paul II canonised 103 of the martyrs who helped spread the faith during a ceremony during a visit to Korea in 1984.
It was the single largest number of saints created on one occasion. Another 134 Koreans were beatified by Pope Francis in 2014.
The play was staged in honour of St. Paul Chung Ha-sang who was tortured and killed in 1839. He wrote numerous letters to the Vatican urging it to send a priest and set up a diocese.
As Seoul’s Catholic Pilgrimage Routes were recognised as international pilgrimage sites by Vatican last year, Catholic leaders from nine Asian countries including Taiwan, Myanmar, and Vietnam along with 70 young people from around Asia, were invited to make a pilgrimage along the routes where the spirits of Korean martyrs are still alive.
They also celebrated a Mass of the memorial of Ss. Andrew Kim, Tae-gon, priest; Paul Chung Ha-sang, and their companions, on September 22 together with the bishops and priests of Seoul.
Andrew Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung, the archbishop of Seoul, told the people they should be proud of the unique history of Catholicism in Korea.
“The fact that Korean Catholics spontaneously accepted Catholicism first and witnessed to their faith throughout the persecutions and martyrdom for more than 100 years is without example in history,” he said.
“So, we have to realise and be proud that our faith is firmly rooted in this history.”
Korea is the only nation to which Catholicism came without priests or missionaries. The occasion of a baptised man returning from China bringing books on Catholicism is regarded as the coming of the Church to Korea. Priests arrived years later.
Today’s Korean Church has almost six million faithful, 12,000 religious and 6,000 priests.
