In the late 18th century, laymen brought
the Catholic Church to Korea.
Yi Sung-hun, a young scholar in Seoul,
pored over Catholic books imported from China.

In 1784, he visited a Catholic church in Peking and was baptized.
He recruited and baptized family and friends,organizing the first Catholic
community in his country.

Government persecution began in 1785 and
continued sporadically for a century.
Each time the growing Catholic community smuggled in a foreign priest,
the government arrested believers and tortured them in order to find him.
Lay leaders besieged Rome with requests for a bishop.
Finally in 1831, a Korean vicariate was established
and the Society of Foreign Missions at Paris was put in charge.

In 1837, Bishop Laurent Imbert finally slipped into Korea, setting off waves of persecution
that lasted from 1839 to 1866.Thousands from the infant Korean church were
brutally tortured
and beheaded during those years.

During the Korean church's centennial celebration in 1984, Pope John Paul II canonized 103 martyrs of that period.

Many women and men who gave their lives
were novice Catholics engaged in evangelization and catechesis.
The government arrested
and interrogated suspected Catholics.

When victims refuse to recant, they were bludgeoned,scourged, and twisted till their bones broke and protruded from their skin.
Those condemned to death were suspended
from a huge cross on an oxcart, and with their bodies hanging in midair, were carried outside the city. After the painful journey, the prisoners were taken down from the cross, stripped naked,and beheaded.

The martyrs who were canonized in 1984 included 93 Koreans and 10 French clergy, 47 women,54 men, and 2 children.
The Koreans came from all walks of life, both married and single. Many were lay leaders in the church.

Among the martyrs were:
Chong Ha-sang Paul. Tortured and beheaded in 1839.
Paul had worked for church renewal and had successfully
lobbied Rome for a Korean vicariate.

Father Kim Tae-gon Andrew. beheaded in 1846 at twenty six years old and ordained just one year.
"In this difficult time," he wrote from prison, "to be victorious, we must be steadfast, using all our strength
like brave soldiers fully armed in the battlefield.
You must love and help one another, and wait hopefully for the time when our Lord in his mercy will relieve our sufferings. Whatever happens, behave in such a way
that God will be glorified."

Nam Myong-hyok Damian, a catechist, and
Yi Yon-hui Mary, his wife.
Tortured and beheaded in 1839.
Guards tried to break Mary by molesting her and torturing her 12 year old son.
Damian encouraged Mary to be brave: "This world
is nothing but an inn we pass through.
Our real home is heaven. Follow me and become a martyr. I want us to meet again in the kingdom of eternal glory."

Yu Tae-chol Peter. 13 year old boy.
Strangled in 1839. Tortured 14 times, he bore 600 lashes
and 45 cudgel blows.
"I believe in God," he told his persecutors,
"I am not afraid of being hit."

Bishop Simeon Berneux who served the Korean church
for 12 years. He built a seminary and published Catholic books.
Tortured and beheaded in 1866, along with three newly ordained French missionaries.

In 1839, there were 9,000 Catholics in Korea.
In 1866, after the persecutions which took 8,000 lives,there were 23,000.
A century later in 1954, there were 160,000.
Now the Catholic Church in Korea, one of the fastest growing communities in the world, has 1.6 million members.
The blood of the Korean martyrs was not spilt in vain.