SEUL (SÖUL), APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of - Located in the southwestern region of Korea, it has an area of 71,820 sq. km. and a population of 5,800,000 inhabitants; the see is in the city of the same name, capital of the Korean State.
On Sept. 9, 1891, the apostolic vicariate of Korea was erected, by detachment from the diocese of Peking (now an archdiocese), comprising the Kingdom of Korea and entrusted to the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. On Apr. 8, 1911, the apostolic vicariate of Korea was divided into the two apostolic vicariates of S. and Taiku. On Aug. 5, 1920, by division of the apostolic vicariate of S., the vicariate of Wonsan was constituted (today the apostolic vicariate of Ham-Heung). On March 17, 1927, the territory of today's apostolic vicariate of Pyong-Yang was dismembered from the apostolic vicariate of S. On Jan. 8, 1942, the apostolic vicariate of S. passed to the Korean secular clergy.
The year 1784 marks the date of the introduction of Christianity into Korea. The King was required to send ambassadors every year to the court of Peking, charged with offering a tribute of vassalage to the supreme ruler of the celestial Empire. These envoys, during their stay in the Chinese capital, came into contact with the Jesuits.
resident at court, who placed texts of the Gospel in their hands. In 1791 the bishop of Peking sent to the Korean frontier a priest from Macao, Fr. Giovanni Dos Rémédios, to approach the first nucleus of Christians, but persecution prevented this father from entering the country. By 1794 there were already 4,000 Christians. A Chinese priest, Fr. Giacomo Tjou, succeeded in 1795 in entering S. and in carrying on there a fruitful apostolate which he crowned with martyrdom. 1839, 1846, 1866 are the dates of the edicts of persecution against the nascent Korean Church. One of the three young Koreans, who had been sent to study at Goa, received the priesthood on Aug. 17, 1871 at the hands of the third apostolic vicar, Msgr. Ferréol, at Shanghai. The intrepid levite, by the name of Andrea Kim, to the royal crown of the priesthood joined that purple crown of martyrdom, while he attempted to return to his homeland, an apostle of his people. The body of the first Korean priest martyr, declared blessed by the Church, rests in the chapel of the Seminary of S.
According to statistical data prior to the present war, the spiritual state was as follows: 78,218 Catholics with 2,030 catechumens; 73 native priests and 25 foreign; 295 native sisters and 25 foreign; 5 foreign brothers; 686 catechists, 180 teachers; 31 major and 56 minor seminaries; 12 elementary schools; 4 middle schools; 2 dispensaries; 4 hospitals; 5 orphanages; a home for the aged; 46 primary and 157 secondary stations; 39 churches and 100 chapels.
Bibliography6 works
Edoardo Pecorsio