September 20 -- Feast of the Korean Martyrs

It's also the feast of St. Eustace, but since some folks suggest that he never really existed, he may not be able to object to having to wait until next year.  Especially since the Martyrs of Korea most certainly did exist.  All 103, or really 104, if you want to include Kim Bom-u, and I definitely want to include him.  Or hundreds, probably thousands, if you want to include all those whose names were not even recorded. 

Called the Hermit Kingdom because of its isolationist policies, Korea had an official establishment of Confucianism as its creed; Christianity (and other faiths) were banned.  Buddhism, seen as compatible with Confucianism, was also popular.  But Korean intellectuals had seen their nation's culture stagnate, especially when compared with the multi-cultural mix they found in Beijing.  Jesuits began lending Korean diplomats books, and soon an underground fascination with all things Western began to develop.  Yi Sung-hun met Jesuit missionaries in China, was baptized (as was his father), and returned to Korea to spread the illegal faith. 

Here's where Kim Bom-u comes in, and where the Korean attitude then was even worse than the Chinese Communist attitude now.  Kim was a wealthy convert who opened his house to be in informal church.  Today, in China, it is legal to be a Christian, but it is illegal to proselytize.  One cannot seek to convert others, but practicing the faith privately is not unlawful.  It's certainly career-limiting, as the expression goes, but it won't land you in the clink.  That wasn't true of eighteenth century Korea, where he was arrested, tortured, and then exiled.  He died in exile, and since the circumstances of death are not known, he is not included among the 103.  But he was most certainly a martyr -- none braver or willing to risk more. 

Waves of persecution washed over the Korean peninsula in an attempt to keep the nation free of foreign ideas.  Queen Chong-sun oversaw three hundred executions in 1801 alone.  Unlike the ancient Christians of the Roman Empire, the Korean Christians did not rush to martyrdom; rather, they fled persecution in an attempt to continue working, praying, and preaching.  But the government was dogged and brutal.  Of the 103 martyrs officially celebrated today, only ten were foreigners (Chinese and French). 
The persecution did not end in 1867, the year of death for the last of these martyrs, of course. A treaty with France in 1886 officially ended the persecution, but a surge of nativism in 1901 resulted in 700 more dead Christians.  The Japanese were none too tolerant of the Christians when they incorporated Korea into their empire from 1910 to 1945.  And the Communist Koreans targeted priests, nuns, and active Christians during the active phase of the Korean War (1950-1953). 

Today, the Church is healthy and popular in South Korea, but suppressed and brutalized in the North.  But then again, except for Kim Jong-il's inner circle, is there anyone or anything that is not suffering under the Marxist government of North Korea?