Social justice 23/12/07 Korean Catholics urged to emulate pioneering French bishop

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Korean Catholics urged to emulate pioneering French bishop

MEP Bishop Barthelemy Bruguiere (1792-1835) was the first apostolic vicar of Korea

Bishop Barthelemy Bruguiere (1792-1835), a French MEP missionary was the first apostolic vicar of Korea. (Photo: Archdiocese of Singapore)

By UCA News reporter

Published: December 08, 2023 10:27 AM GMT

Catholics in South Korea have been urged to draw inspiration from a pioneering French missionary bishop who is now on the path to sainthood.

Bishop Job Koo Yo-bi of Seoul made the remarks at a symposium titled "The Life of Bishop Bruguiere and the Background of the Mission to Korea," Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation (CPBC) reported on Dec. 7.

Job called for the training of future clergy in South Korea based on the life and example of Bishop Barthelemy Bruguiere (1792-1835), a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP) and the first apostolic vicar of Korea.

"We will have to develop the movement for the beatification of Bishop Bruguiere, and at the same time, we will have to train future workers in the Church,” Job said.

“We will have to develop [on] the missionary zeal of Bishop Bruguiere so that his missionary zeal will create a wind in the present day,” Job added.

The prelate emphasized that the church must “not just learn the example of the past, [and] make him a hero, and petrify him."

The Seoul Archdiocesan Committee for Beatification and Canonization, which Job chairs, organized the symposium which consisted of five presentations and a general discussion on topics about the life of Bruguiere.

Letters written by Bruguiere in 1826,1832 and 1829, were translated, and published at the symposium.

Bruguiere, an MEP missionary, was the first apostolic vicar of Korea, and the first coadjutor bishop of Siam (Thailand).

He died in China and was buried there. His mortal remains were later moved and reburied in a cemetery in Seoul in 1931.

After leaving Paris in 1825, Bruguiere reached Jakarta which was known as Batavia in 1826, a report published by the Siam Society read.

Bruguiere later traveled and reached Bangkok where he engaged in extensive missionary works among the people.

On Sept. 9, 1831, Pope Gregory XVI created the Apostolic Vicariate of Korea and named Bruguiere as its Apostolic Vicar.

On Sept. 12, 1832, Bruguiere and Joseph Wang, a Penang seminary student sailed from Singapore to China.

Bruguiere left Shanxi on Sept. 22, 1834, reached the Great Wall of China on Oct. 7, and arrived at Xiwanzi on Oct. 8.

He spent around three years in China preparing for his entry into Korea. On Oct. 7, 1835, Bruguiere, Wang, and fellow MEP missionary Pierre-Philibert Maubant left for Korea.

Within two weeks, Bruguiere became ill and died. He was buried on a nearby hillside, the Siam Society report read.

Along with Bruguiere, the Seoul archdiocese is promoting the cause of canonization of Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan and Father Leo Bang Yoo-ryong (1900-1986), founder of Korea’s first native religious order, the Clerical Congregation of the Blessed Korean Martyrs.