A married layman who died in the Seoul prison in 1846 during the Byeongo persecution, the same wave that claimed Saint Andrew Kim Taegon.

Iosephus Im Ch’i-p’ek was a married lay Catholic of Korea who died in the Seoul prison on 20 September 1846 at forty-one years old, during the Byeongo persecution, the same wave of arrests that took the life of Korea’s first native priest, Saint Andrew Kim Taegon. He is one of the 103 Martyrs of Korea canonized in 1984.

Quick Facts

• Died: 20 September 1846, Seoul Prison, Korea (age 41)
• Feast Day: 20 September (with the 103 Martyrs of Korea)
• Beatified: 1925
• Canonized: 6 May 1984

Who Was Saint Iosephus Im Ch’i-p’ek?

Im Ch’i-p’ek’s death came seven years after the Gihae persecution had already tested the Korean Church severely, evidence that the underground community had rebuilt enough of a visible presence by 1846 to again draw the attention of the authorities.

Historical Setting

The Byeongo persecution of 1846 followed the arrest of Korea’s first native-born priest, Father Andrew Kim Taegon, and swept up members of the Catholic community connected to him and to the wider underground Church, again filling Seoul’s prisons with the arrested faithful.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Iosephus Im Ch’i-p’ek

The Church remembers Im Ch’i-p’ek as part of the same 1846 persecution that produced Korea’s most famous martyr, Andrew Kim Taegon, a reminder that behind every well-known martyr’s name stood many lesser-known believers who died in the same wave.

Canonization and Feast Day

He was beatified in 1925 by Pope Pius XI and canonized on 6 May 1984 by John Paul II in Seoul among the 103 Martyrs of Korea, sharing the group’s 20 September feast — the very date of his own death, exactly a century and thirty-eight years earlier.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Fame within the Church’s memory is not evenly distributed, and most martyrs are remembered only as one name among many. Im Ch’i-p’ek’s witness reminds Catholics to honor the lesser-known alongside the celebrated.

A Prayer to Saint Iosephus Im Ch’i-p’ek

Saint Iosephus Im Ch’i-p’ek, who died in the same persecution as Korea’s great martyr-priest, pray for us alongside all the lesser-known witnesses of the faith. Amen.

Sources

• Butler’s Lives of the Saints, revised edition, entry for the Martyrs of Korea
• Vatican.va, canonization homily of Pope John Paul II, 6 May 1984, Seoul
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, background on the Gihae and Byeongo persecutions