Three prominent Catholic clerics, including a French missionary bishop and the first Korean cardinal, were canonized by the Diocese of Seoul in South Korea on March 31, UCA News reported.
The Archiepiscopal Committee for Beatification and Canonization made the final decision on the canonization of Bishop Bartalameo Bruguière, Cardinal Stefan Kim Soo-hwan and Father Leo Ban Yu-ryong, according to the archdiocese’s website.
Bruguière (1792–1835) of the Paris Foreign Missions Society was the first Korean Vicar Apostolic, Kim (1922–2009) was Archbishop of Seoul from 1968–1998, and Bang (1900–1986) was the founder of the first order. Korean local religious. , the Spiritual Congregation of the Blessed Korean Martyrs.
On March 23, during a meeting chaired by Archbishop Peter Chung Sun-taek, Auxiliary Bishop of Seoul Job Ku Yo Bi was named chairman of the canonization committee.
Fr Kim is widely known as a devout Catholic and a social hero who led the Church in South Korea during one of its most difficult times.
Steven Kim Soo-hwan was born in 1922 and was ordained a priest in 1951. He studied philosophy at Jochi Daigaku Catholic University in Tokyo and sociology at the University of Münster in Germany.
He became bishop of the Diocese of Masan in 1966 and Archbishop of Seoul in 1968. Pope Paul VI elevated him to cardinals in 1969.
He is credited with invigorating evangelization efforts in Seoul and has sincerely worked to embody the spirit of Vatican II with the laity.
He prioritized interfaith dialogue and coordinated joint humanitarian and philanthropic efforts during his tenure as Archbishop of Seoul.
He was president of the Korean Bishops’ Conference from 1973 to 1977 and president of the Asian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (FABC) from 1974 to 1977.
Kim led and strengthened the Korean Church through various trials and tribulations, including political turmoil under military regimes.
He reportedly rebuked President Chun Doo-hwan, who seized power in a military coup in 1979, comparing his illegal seizure of power to “an illegal shooting in a western.”
His courageous stand in defense of democracy and human rights during his country’s bloody transition from military rule to democracy made him a highly respected cleric among the rank and file before his death on February 16, 2009.
Father Bruguière was the first Vicar Apostolic of Korea and the first Coadjutor Bishop of Siam (present-day Thailand). He died in China and was buried there. His remains were moved and reburied in a Seoul cemetery in 1931.
O. Bang dedicated himself to promoting “inculturated Christianity” in Korea and a new way of Korean religious life during a period when the country was under the rule of Japanese imperialism and the church was dominated by foreign missionaries.
The priest realized that the most effective way to spread the faith in Korea was through the Korean way of thinking and language. With this vision he founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs on April 21, 1946 in the Catholic Church of Ke Son (North Korean territory).
He then founded the Korean Blessed Martyrs Spiritual Congregation on October 30, 1953, which became the first local male religious order.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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