Thomas Choe, the second Korean priest, toward beatification

The Pope approved a decree attesting to the heroic virtue. Together with St Andrew Kim Dae-gon, he entered the seminary in Macao in 1836. After his ordination he returned home and, despite the persecution of the Joseon kingdom, cared for about 4 thousand faithful spread throughout the peninsula. He translated catechism books from Chinese and put Catholic teaching to verse to foster learning. He died consumed by the mission in 1861.

 

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis today authorized the promulgation of the decree on the heroic virtues of Fr. Thomas Choe Yang-eop, the second Korean priest and son of two martyrs.

Born in 1820 to St. Francis Choe Gyeong-hwan and Lee Seong-rye - both martyrs, the first canonized by John Paul II in 1984 - in 1836 the young Thomas along with Andrew Kim Dae-gon (the first priest and first saint of Korea) and Choe Pang-jae set off for Macau, to enter the seminary (in the picture, a portrait of their trip). Choe died before their ordination, in 1849.

For the next 12 years Fr. Choe cared for more than 4 thousand faithful in more than one hundred Catholic communities throughout Korea. Fr. Choe also translated catechism books from Chinese to Korean, and set the doctrine of the Catholic faith to Korean poetry, in order to facilitate its understanding and memorizing for the laity.

He died in 1861 at age 41 and is buried in Baeron, a village located between two steep and deep valleys in central Korea. This place has a lot of importance for the Korean Church: here Alex Hwang Sa-yeong wrote his Baek-seo, "Silk Letter", while hiding from persecution. Moreover, it is also home to the St. Joseph Seminary, the first of the peninsula.

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