A Church Established by Lay Initiative

The most distinctive features of the Korean Church—also a feature that is truly rare in the history of the universal Church—is that it is founded by the laity, and flourished through the many sacrifices of the martyrs.

A number of European religious orders began missionary activity in Asia since the 16th century. The early missionaries translated into Chinese not only catechetical texts but also books on science and culture.

In the 17th century, Korean diplomatic missions to the imperial court of China came across Jesuit missionary books and brought them back to Korea. These books and other materials were beginning to have an influence in Joseon as many scholars began to study the literature and some even became interested in Catholicism.

Some Korean literati got an idea of this new religion through reading and studying these books on Catholicism and tried to practice it by themselves. One of them, Yi Seung-hun, went to Beijing to be baptized and on his return to Korea he founded a Christian community. This was in October, 1784. With this historical event we can affirm that the Catholic Church in Korea was established, not by European missionaries, but by the spontaneous efforts of Korean people.

The Catholic Church in Korea was suppressed from its early days because the government considered Catholicism to be opposed to the Neo-Confucianism which was the guiding ideal of the government at that time. The principle of equality of all mankind which Catholics pursued was judged as a dangerous belief that contravenes the social hierarchical system. Furthermore the contact of the Catholics with foreigners without the permission of the government was regarded as a criminal act. About 10,000 of the faithful died martyrs in persecutions that lasted for more than one hundred years.