Residents at court, who had placed in their hands copies of the Gospel. In 1791 the bishop of Peking sent to the Korean frontier a priest from Macao, Fr. Giovanni Dos Remédios, 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 exercising fruitful apostolate there, crowned by 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 vicar apostolic, Mons. Ferretto, near Shanghai. The intrepid levite, named Andrea Kim, combined with the regal crown of priesthood that of martyrdom, while attempting to return to his homeland as 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 nuns 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.