Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

Mary, Mother of the Martyrs of Korea

Seoul (Korean)

The Church in Korea has a unique and moving birth. At the end of the 18th century, Korean laity studied Christian books from China on their own; some went to be baptized to Beijing and, on their return, founded a Catholic community. before that the missionaries would arrive in a stable way. It is one of the few Churches of the world initiated by God's educated and desired secular.

That community suffered severe persecution throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, with thousands of martyrs. Among them, the 103 Korean martyrs canonized by John Paul II in Seoul in 1984: data of the universal, fully true magisterium. The catecisms and books of piety they used included the Marian doctrine and prayers inherited from the Catholic tradition, and many martyrs, laity and priests, testified in the processes their confidence in the intercession of the Virgin in the midst of torment.

It is appropriate to be honest with the titles: no consta una advocación universalmente instituida como «Nuestra Señora de los Mártires de Corea» ligada a un solo santuario, al modo de Lourdes o Fátima. «Nuestra Señora de Corea» es más bien una expresión devocional amplia, muy usada en la catequesis y la pastoral, para presentar a María como patrona espiritual del pueblo coreano. El elemento mariano se vive sobre todo en los santuarios de los mártires, como Jeoldusan en Seúl o Haemi.

Today, South Korea is one of the most vibrant Catholic countries in Asia, and Marian devotion, including the Rosary, is widespread in families, pilgrimages, and movements. In the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Myeong-dong and other major churches, the public recitation of the Rosary is commonplace. In celebrations of martyrs, Mary appears as the Mother who stood by her children when they gave their lives for the faith.