The story of the Church in Korea is unique. I find in inspiring to see how God works through all kinds of people to accomplish the spread of the Gospel.
In every other place where the news of Jesus Christ has spread (at least to my knowledge), Christian Missionaries have taken the initiative to go into that territory to preach and teach. However, in Korea, the faith was brought in by scholars, not missionaries. Sometime in the mid-eighteenth century, Korean Ambassadors in China discovered some Christian books that Jesuit missionaries had brought to that country. Being well-educated, noble men, the ambassadors were eager to know about the word outside of Korea. They brought the books back to Korea to study. One of these men returned to Beijing in 1784, to study Catholicism and was converted, taking the name Peter Ri.
Peter returned home and began to teach the faith, making many converts. By 1791, those who followed this emerging religion were seen to be foreign traitors and persecution began and martyrdom followed for some of Peter's converts. The faith persevered, however. When the first missionary, Fr. James Tsiou, arrived in Korea, he found 4000 baptized Catholics. This great growth of the Church can only be attributed to the Holy Spirit working through the Koreans themselves.
Fr. James, a native of China, stayed in Korea ministering to this home-grown Church and providing for their sacramental life for the next ten years. In 1801, he was arrested and martyred. The persecution of the Church in Korea continued throughout the nineteenth century. 103 of the Korean Martyrs were canonized en masse by Pope St. John Paul II in 1984. Their feast day is September 20.
Incredible as it may seem, Korea has the fourth largest number of canonized saints of any country in the world. Almost all of them are Martyrs.
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