Most Catholics know St. Andrew Kim Taegon and the 103 Korean martyrs canonized by St. John Paul II in 1984. Fewer know that Pope Francis beatified a separate group of 124 Korean martyrs in 2014, led by Blessed Paul Yun Ji-chung. Aleteia’s recent feature highlights this overlooked chapter of Korean Catholic history, a reminder that the blood of martyrs continues to nourish the Church across centuries.
What happened
Paul Yun Ji-chung and his 123 companions were martyred in Korea during waves of persecution spanning the late 18th and 19th centuries. Unlike the canonized group (martyred primarily 1839-1867), this beatified group includes earlier martyrs from Korea’s first generation of Catholics, many killed before foreign missionaries arrived in the country.
Pope Francis beatified them during his 2014 apostolic visit to South Korea, the first beatification ceremony a Pope has celebrated in Asia. The group includes laypeople, catechists, and early converts who learned the faith through books smuggled from China and practiced in secret.
Paul Yun Ji-chung himself was executed in 1791 for refusing to perform Confucian ancestral rites, which the Church at the time judged incompatible with Catholic teaching. His martyrdom marked one of the first large-scale persecutions of Korean Catholics.
Why this matters
Korea’s Catholic community is unique in Church history. The faith took root not through missionaries but through Korean scholars who encountered Catholic texts in China, brought them home, and formed communities without priests. The first martyrs died defending a faith they had taught themselves from books.
The distinction between the canonized 103 and the beatified 124 is not widely known outside Korea, though both groups witness to the same persecution. The 2014 beatification recognized earlier martyrs whose stories had been eclipsed by the larger 1984 canonization. Together, the two groups number 227 named martyrs, with thousands more unnamed Korean Catholics killed for the faith.
For Catholic readers
If you pray the Liturgy of the Hours or follow the universal calendar, the canonized Korean martyrs appear on September 20. The beatified group does not yet have a universal feast, though Korean dioceses honor them locally. Consider adding Blessed Paul Yun Ji-chung to your litany of intercessors, especially if you face pressure to compromise your faith for social conformity. His refusal to burn incense at an ancestor shrine cost him his life but won Korea a Church that thrives today.
Sources:
1. Aleteia — original feature
