TOK-WON. - Nullius abbey, located in the northeastern region of Korea; it covers an area of 3,625 sq km, with a population of approximately 340,000 inhabitants. It is entrusted to the Congregation of the Benedictines of St. Ottilien for the Foreign Missions.
In 1909 Msgr. Mutel, apostolic vicar of Korea, turned to the Benedictines of St. Ottilien of Bavaria, who soon founded a monastery in Seoul, at first a priory, then an abbey in 1913. Father Prior Boniface Sauer was its first abbot. The purpose of the Benedictines was to train Christian teachers for the small provincial schools. In addition to this principal work, the Fathers opened a carpentry and painting workshop and a mechanical workshop, the embryo of a future industrial school. But special difficulties, arising from Japanese legislation, forced the Benedictines to interrupt the courses of the normal school, while the industrial school still prospered, until the war of 1914 halted all progress. On Aug. 5, 1920, the apostolic vicariate of Wonsan or Kanto (today Ham-Heung) was erected, also entrusted to the Benedictines. On Aug. 31, 1927, the seat of the abbey was transferred from Seoul to T.-W. On Jan. 12, 1940, it was erected as a nullius abbey, with the assignment of a small part of the territory of the aforementioned vicariate, including the city of Wonsan. It also had, in addition to the workshops, a large estate (200 hectares), which, cultivated by the lay brothers with the most modern methods, was pointed to by the civil authorities, before the communist domination above the 38th parallel, as a model and was visited almost every day by visitors.
Even before the present conflict, the communist government of the North had taken away all the mission's personnel, imprisoning them. Abbot Msgr. Boniface Sauer is reported to have died in prison in Jan. 1950. There were 4,997 Catholics; 22 priests; 7 native brothers and 9 foreign; 295 native sisters and 13 foreign; 696 catechists; 180 teachers; 31 major and 36 minor seminarians; 12 elementary schools; 4 secondary schools.
Bibliography6 works
Edoardo Pecoraio