Many Catholics are familiar with St. Andrew Kim Taegon and his companions, who are celebrated each year on September 20 in the calendar of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.
However, fewer are familiar with Blessed Paul Yun Ji-chung and his 123 companions, who were beatified by Pope Francis in 2014 and are honored on May 29 in South Korea.
Bl. Paul and his companions, while certainly a large group, are still only a small portion of the 10,000 martyrs who were killed in Korea during the span of a century.
Meet Bl. Paul Yun Ji-chung and his companions
Relatively little is known about Bl. Paul Yun Ji-chung, except that he was among the first Catholic martyrs in Korea. According to UcaNews, his remains were recently discovered and identified, along with a few of the other early martyrs:
Following historical research and DNA tests, it has been confirmed that the remains are of Paul Yun Ji-chung and James Kwon Sang-yeon, both beheaded in 1791, and Yun’s brother Francis Yun Ji-heon, who was martyred in 1801.
Pope Francis praised his example during the beatification ceremony and how Christianity was spread in Korea primarily through their desire for the truth:
In God’s mysterious providence, the Christian faith was not brought to the shores of Korea through missionaries; rather, it entered through the hearts and minds of the Korean people themselves. It was prompted by intellectual curiosity, the search for religious truth. Through an initial encounter with the Gospel, the first Korean Christians opened their minds to Jesus. They wanted to know more about this Christ who suffered, died, and rose from the dead. Learning about Jesus soon led to an encounter with the Lord, the first baptisms, the yearning for a full sacramental and ecclesial life, and the beginnings of missionary outreach.
The beatification of Bl. Paul and his companions was a great day of celebration for Koreans, as it further cemented the heroic sacrifice of these early martyrs, as Pope Francis explains:
The heritage of Blessed Paul Yun Ji-chung and his companions – their integrity in the search for truth, their fidelity to the highest principles of the religion which they chose to embrace, and their testimony of charity and solidarity with all – these are part of the rich history of the Korean people.
It's expected that this is not the last group of Korean martyrs to be officially recognized by the Church, as there are many other Catholics who were killed for their faith during one of the most severe Christian persecutions on record.
