Christianity in Korea

[Kim Sung]

Like this, Confucian literati continued the research and started to accept it as a religion in the late 18th century before the advent of Christian missionaries. A literatus named Yi Byok (이벽, 李檗, 1754~1786) was baptized by Yi Sung-Hoon (이승훈, 李承薰), the first baptist in Korea in 1784. They built the first Catholic cathedral in their town and began to spread their belief to neighbors. Thus Yi Byok became the first Catholic priest in Korea and this period is called as 'The Period of Self-Appointed Priests' (가성직 시대, 假聖職時代).

From this period the Chosun dynasty began to crack down on this dangerous(?) religion. One of his fellow believers, Kim Bum-Woo (김범우, 金範禹) was arrested and sent in exile. Seeing this Yi Byok's father persuaded his son to abandon the dangerous religion. But he resisted his father's painstaking efforts and his father committed suicide. Shocked and frustrated, Yi Byok abondoned his religion and became anti-Christian. One year after he abandoned his belief, he died of pest.

According to a TV documentary broadcasted last year, Yi Byok (이벽, 李檗, 1754~1786) who founded the first Christian church in Korea before the arrival of European missionaries (the only case in the history of Christianity) didn't betray his religion. There is no substantial evidence that he betrayed his belief. Historical evidences show that pest didn't break out in Gwangjoo (광주, 廣州) area at that time. He didn't die of pest. Instead, he chose to be starved to death to keep his belief from his father's persuasion to abandon the western invention. The documentary points out that French missionaries who reported Yi Byok's life story made a mistake in their translation, which made a basis on the supposed misunderstanding.

Yi Byok's portrait




http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mod ... 0000083939


His grave in Gwangjoo




http://100.naver.com/100.nhn?docid=126210

[Kim Sung]

The Arrival of the First Christian Missionary to Korea

Another uniqueness of Christianity in Korea is that the first Christian missionary who arrived at Korea is not a European but a fellow Asian: a Chinese missionary. I find no other similar case in other Asian or non-western country.

A Portuguese-born bishop Alexandre de Gouvea (1751∼1808, 湯士選), the head of the Beijing diocese of the Jesuit Society made the first attempt to send the first Christian missionary to Korea in 1791. The first candidate was also a Chinese missionary named Johannedos Remedios Wu (吳) who was born in Macau. However, the Korean man who was supposed to guide him at the border didn't show up possibly because he feared persecution of the Korean government that began to crack down on 'dangerous' western invention. In 1792 bishop Gouvea reported to the Vatican that a strange phenomenon occured in Korea: The First Church already opened and gathered thousands of believers even though no missionary was sent.

Isolated from the outside world, Korean Catholic believers didn't know the fact that Catholicism prohibits worshipping ancestors until Alexander de Gouvea's message was sent to Korea through Yoon Yu-Il (윤유일, 尹有一) in 1790. Running counter to the main pillar of the Confucian beliefs, Gouvea's message shocked Korean believers and provoked the Korean government. They realized that Confucianism and Catholicism are incompatible.

At first, the Korean government had no intention to persecute Catholicism as long as it respects the main values of Confucianism like worshipping ancestors. However, the Jinsan Incident (진산사건, 珍山事件)in 1791 makde the Korean government realize that Catholicism can be a possible threat to the Confucian society. Confucian literati Yoon Ji-Chung (윤지충, 尹持忠) and Kwon Sang-Yon (권상연, 權尙然) changed their ancestor worshipping ceremony in the Catholic style, for which they were executed by the government. But, the government minimized suppression of Catholicism, just giving a symbolic warning.

Four years after the first attempt failed and 11 years after the first Christian church was founded in Korea, the Beijing diocese of the Jesuit Society made the second attempt to send the first Christian missionary to Korea in 1794.
Zhou Wen-Mo (周文謨), the first Christian missionary who came to Korea was born in the Jiangsu province in China in 1752. Being an orphan when he was a child, he entered the Catholic church and graduated from the Beijing Catholic School.

He crossed the Chinese-Korean border on December 23, 1794 and, guided by Korean Catholics like Ji Hwang (지황, 池璜) and Yoon Yu-Il (윤유일, 尹有一), successfully sneaked into Seoul in early June, 1795. There he performed his secret mission of propagating of Christianity among the Korean public.

In June that year, a guy named Han Young-Ik blew the gaff to the Korean police bureau and, as a result, Choi In-Gil (최인길, 崔仁吉), Ji Hwang and Yoon Yu-Il were arresed by the police and executed. Zhou Wen-Mo escaped to Kang Wan-Sook(강완숙, 姜完淑)'s house in which he hid for 6 years and met famous Korean intellectuals like Jung Yak-Jong (정약종, 丁若鍾) and Hwang Sa-Young (황사영, 黃嗣永).

He continued his activities, converting some members of the Royal family into Catholicism. He went to remote areas for progation of Catholicism. Thanks to his tremendous efforts, the number of Korean Catholics remarkably increased from 4,000 in 1795 to 10,000 in 1800.

But, the police dragnet closed in on him and many believers were arrested and executed. He escaped to the Korean-Chinese border in 1801 and was considering going back to China. However, he couldn't leave Korea while thousands of Korean believers were being arrested and executed. He made up his mind to share the fate of his Korean Catholic believers just a few kilometers away from the Yalu river. He chose an honorable death instead of cowardly survival. He delivered himself to the Korean police in March 1801 and was beheaded in Saenamteo (새남터) on May 31. During investigation by the Korean authorities, he informed investigators the names of people who helped him. All of them were arrested and executed. He could protect those fellow believers but didn't because he couldn't lie as a clergy.

He is now one of the most respected saints for Korean Catholics, canonized as the first foreign missionary who came to Korea.