SEOUL (SÖUL), APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of — Located in the south-western 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 9 Sept. 1891 the Apostolic Vicariate of Korea was erected, detached from the diocese of Peking (now an archdiocese), comprising the Kingdom of Korea and entrusted to the Paris Foreign Missions Society. On 8 Apr. 1911 the Apostolic Vicariate of Korea was divided into the two Apostolic Vicariates of Seoul and Taiku. On 5 Aug. 1920, by division of the Apostolic Vicariate of Seoul, the Vicariate of Wonsan was constituted (now the Apostolic Vicariate of Ham-Heung). On 17 Mar. 1927 the territory of the present Apostolic Vicariate of Pyong-Yang was dismembered from the Apostolic Vicariate of Seoul. On 8 Jan. 1942 the Apostolic Vicariate of Seoul passed to the Korean secular clergy.
The year 1784 marks the date of the introduction of Christianity into Korea. The King was bound to send every year to the court of Peking ambassadors 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.
residing at court, who placed in their hands Gospel texts. 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 Seoul and exercising a fruitful apostolate which he crowned with martyrdom. The years 1839, 1846, and 1866 are the dates of edicts of persecution against the nascent Korean Church. One of the three young Koreans who had been sent to study in Goa received on 17 Aug. 1871 priestly ordination at the hands of the third Apostolic Vicar, Msgr. Ferréol, near Shanghai. The intrepid levite, named Andrew Kim, combined the regal crown of priesthood with the purple crown of martyrdom as he attempted to return to his homeland, 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 Seoul.
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 elderly; 46 primary and 157 secondary stations; 39 churches and 100 chapels.