The Korean Martyrs: The Seed of the Church

Tertullian wrote in AD197, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Nowhere is this truer than in Korea.

Missions in Asia
When Franciscan and Dominican missionaries went to China in the 13th century, they found that some Chinese were already familiar with the Christian gospel as Nestorian Christians had come in the 7th century. Nestorius taught that there were two separate natures of Christ (human and divine) and Nestorianism was condemned as heresy at the First Council of Ephesus (AD431) and at the Council of Chalcedon in AD451. From then on Nestorius broke with the rest of the Christian Church.
Roman Catholic missionaries, including St. Francis Xavier, went to Japan in 1549 to take the Gospel to the Japanese people. And in Thailand priests who came with Portuguese traders began to teach the Christian religion in the 16th century. In Viet Nam and Cambodia Catholicism was brought by French colonists and priests accompanying them.
Christianity Comes to Korea
It is odd then that by the 16th century no missionaries had entered nearby Korea. At this time some educated Koreans began to study Christian books that had been brought from China. Through their search for truth many of these believed and became Christian. They gathered in house churches without the presence of any priests or other religious teachers. These house churches were led by educated lay people of the Korean aristocratic classes. We can see that the beginning of Christianity in Korea was unusual.
In the middle of the 18th century a Chinese Catholic priest entered Korea secretly and found 4,000 Catholics there! The Christians then sent a party to Beijing to ask the Bishop to send priests to them. Two Chinese priests were sent but were not able to stay long. Almost forty years after, in 1836, missionaries from the Paris Foreign Mission society sent priests to teach and give the sacraments.
Paul Yun Ji-chung (1759-1791)
In 1791 Paul Yun Ji-chung, a member of a noble family, converted to Christianity through the witness of his cousin. Other members of his family became Christians as well. When Paul’s mother died Paul followed her wishes that she be buried according to Catholic rites rather than the traditional Confucian rite. When investigated and arrested by authorities, Paul refused to deny his newfound faith. This brought about the first of persecutions of Christians in Korea. Paul Yun Ji-ching was the first member of an aristocratic class to be martyred for his Christian beliefs. Other members of the nobility were killed along with him. They were the first generation of Korean Christians.
Kim Taegon Andrea (1821-1846)
Saint Kim Taegon Andrea (1821-1846), known in English as St. Andrew Kim, was the first Korean-born Catholic priest. Kim’s parents were converts and Kim was baptized at age 15. Later he went to study at a seminary in Macau and also spent some time in the Philippines. After nine years of study he was ordained in Shanghai, China by the French Bishop there and returned to his homeland to evangelize.
The Josean Dynasty, which was Confucian, was in power and persecuted Christians. Many were martyred during this time. This new learning was said to undermine the teachings of Confucious especially the divisions of class and it was seen as subversive to the state. Official documents give details of trials, sentences and means of torture to the Christians. By 1866 there were only 20,000 Catholics in Korea as 10,000 Christians had been killed in persecutions spanning over one hundred years.
Andrew Kim was tortured and beheaded at the age of 25 in 1846. He was one of several thousand Christians who were executed at that time. Eleven members of his family, including his father, were also martyred. Seventy-nine of the martyrs were beatified (recognized as Blessed) in 1925. Twenty-four martyrs were beatified in 1968 by Pope John Paul II. And on May 6, 1984, Pope John Paul II canonized (recognized as Saints) Andrew Kim and 102 of his companion martyrs. These included men and women and children.
Kim’s last words were recorded as:
"This is my last hour of life, listen to me attentively: if I have held communication with foreigners, it has been for my religion and for my God. It is for Him that I die. My immortal life is on the point of beginning.”
Catholics were not allowed to practise their faith freely in Korea until 1895.
Protestant Missions
The first Protestant missionary to Korea was Robert J. Thomas, a Welshman who was with the London Missionary Society. He arrived from China in 1865. In 1866, when attempting to re-enter Korea on an American ship, he was killed along with the entire crew of the ship.
Korean Catholics Today
The total population of South Korea in 2014 is 50.2 million: 6.6% of the population are Catholics, 19.7% are Protestants (all Protestant denominations), 23% are Buddhist and 47% claim no religion. There are 328 Catholic Schools, 40 Catholic hospitals, 513 homes for the elderly and handicapped, 35 Bishops, 4,261 priests, 516 male religious (Brothers), 9,016 female religious (Sisters) and 14,195 lay catechists.

Visit of Pope Francis
On August 16, 2014 Pope Francis beatified (declared Blessed) Paul Yun Ji-Chung and 123 companions during Asian World Youth Day Celebrations in Seoul, Korea.

20th Century Martyrs
The beatification process has been begun for priests and monks who died between 1940 an 1950 while undertaking evangelization missions. As well, John Song Hae-bung, a lay missionary, was martyred during the Korean War and thrity-six memebers of the Order of St. Benedict died in labour and prison camps between 1949-1952.

Sources

BBC news website accessed August 17, 2014

Salt and Light broadcast of the Mass For Beatification of the 124 Korean Martyrs. August 16, 2014.

Vatican Insider website accessed August 17, 2014
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/corea-del-sud-corea-del-sur-south-korea-martiri-martires-martyrs-31931/

Wikipedia website. Paul Yun Ji-chung. accessed August 17, 2014.
Wikipedia website. Robert J. Thomas. accessed August 17, 2014.

Jerzy Popieluszko: A 20th Century Martyr

What were you doing in 1984? Were you using your new Apple personal computer which had just been put on sale in the US? Or were you watching The Space Shuttle Discovery take off on its maiden voyage? Perhaps you watched the winter Olympics in Sarajevo or the summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

While we were doing these rather mundane tasks, Polish workers were standing up to the Communist government in their country in what was called ‘the Solidarity Movement’. Some were imprisoned and others were killed for doing so. We occasionally heard news about Lech Walesa, and even about the visit of the new Polish Pope, John Paul II, to his country. But have you ever heard of Father Jerzy Popieluszko? Probably not. Most of the world did not hear all the events that took place in Poland at that time.

First let’s go back in history a bit further in order to better understand the events of 1984 -1989 in Eastern Europe.

World War II And After
In September 1939 Hitler’s Germany and Russia both invaded Poland and divided Poland between them. Germany later broke the agreement and invaded the Soviet territory causing Russia to join the Allies against Hitler.

During this terrible war three million Polish Jews died in the Holocaust and three million Polish non-Jews died in battle, in concentration camps and by execution.
But Poland’s suffering did not end when World War II ended. Poland, and other countries, were handed over to the Soviet Union by the Allied leaders who met at Yalta (1945). During the next 44 years of Russian occupation the Catholic Church in Poland was persecuted by propaganda campaigns and constant spying by secret police. Poles, even those who were not particularly religious before, looked to the Church as the center of their struggle for justice. Because of the strength of the Polish Church, the Soviets had to allow a certain amount of freedom to it which they did not in the other European countries they occupied. When Karol Wojtyla, the young Bishop of Krakow, was elected Pope in 1978, Poles celebrated with joy as they realized God had not forgotten them. But Communist leaders were very worried about the outcome. They feared that the Polish Church could become a huge problem.

Popieluszko’s Early Life
On Sept 14, 1947 a farmer and his wife in the small village of Okopy, welcomed their fifth child whom they named Alfons. A few years earlier, his mother had prayed that one of her sons would become a priest.
From the time he was seven the boy served as an altar boy in his parish church and, although he was not a brilliant student, he worked hard at his studies. His hero was Maximillian Kolbe, the priest who had sacrificed his life for another prisoner while in the Auschwitz concentration camp. At seventeen Jerzy Popieluscko (who by this time had changed his first name) applied to a seminary in Warsaw. Popieluszko was ordained in 1972 and served as a parish priest in the Diocese of Warsaw. Because he had a number of health problems; hyperthyroidism, anaemia and Addison’s Disease, he was frequently hospitalized but he still managed to fulfil his duties as a parish priest.

The Solidarity Movement
In 1980 he was asked to say Mass for striking steelworkers in Warsaw and he became the first priest to enter the front gates at the steel plant. Father Jerzy later told of this experience, “I was quaking. How would the workers receive me? Would there be a place appropriate for saying Mass? ... And then as I approached the gate, I was astonished. The crowds were smiling and crying and clapping. At first I thought there was somebody important behind me. But they were clapping for me - the first priest in the history of this plant to enter through the main gate. But it seemed to me that this applause was for the Church, which has been knocking at the gates of industrial plants over the past thirty years.” (from Companion booklet produced by Focus Producers and Ignatius Press and distributed with the DVD, Popieluszko).
As the chaplain of the Solidarity movement he not only said Masses but heard confessions, arranged for a regular pilgrimage for workers, travelled to Gdansk, led the public praying of the Rosary and organized relief effort and financial assistance for families of imprisoned workers. More than that, he became their friend.

Persecution and Martyrdom
The Polish government began to take notice of this young priest and had spies follow him everywhere. His sermons were taped and photos were taken during the Masses. Father Jerzy named his little dog, Snitch, in mockery of the secret police who constantly watched his apartment. False stories about Fr. Jerzy, which suggested scandal, were printed in newspapers and his apartment was bombed. In 1983 anti-government pamphlets and other material were planted in his apartment and ‘found’ during a search. He was promptly arrested and put into prison but Church officials were able to get him freed.
After an attempt to kill him in a car accident failed, Father Jerzy was kidnapped on October 13, 1984. Ten days later his badly beaten body was found in the Vistula River. A vigil of prayers for him had been kept by the people for those ten days and Masses had been said for him every hour. The grief of the people was kept under control by the public praying of the words, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. The gatherings remained peaceful.

The Funeral
Father Jerzy’s funeral was the largest gathering of people in Poland since the Papal Masses during John Paul II’s visits. The leader of the Solidarity Movement, Lech Walesa, was permitted to speak in public to the 400,000 mourners. He said, “Solidarity is alive because you have given your life for it.”

The Struggle Ends
The non-violent struggle for freedom continued until 1989. Through the efforts of Pope John Paul II and other leaders in the free world, Communism in Eastern Europe finally ended. Poland was the first country to gain freedom.
Father Jerzy Popieluszko was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on June 6, 2010. His grave is near the parish church, St. Stanislaw Kostka, in Warsaw where he served as a priest.

Sources

Ignatius Press and Focus Producers DVD Popieluszko: Freedom is Within Us. Directed by Rafal Wieczynski and starring Adam Woronowicz as Jerzy Popieluszcko. and Collector’s Companion Booklet. 2013
Museum website http://www.popieluszko.net.pl/english/muzeum_eng/index_eng.htm
Personal Travel notes.
Photos by L. Shelstad ©2013.