A seventeen-year-old catechist, son of martyr Saint Petrus Cho Hwa-sŏ, killed at Jeongju in December 1866 during the Byeongin persecution.

Iosephus Cho Yun-ho was a lay catechist of Korea and the son of the martyr Saint Petrus Cho Hwa-sŏ, executed at Supjeong-i, Jeongju, Chungcheong-do, on 23 December 1866 at just seventeen years old, during the Byeongin persecution. He is one of the 103 Martyrs of Korea canonized in 1984.

Quick Facts

• Died: 23 December 1866, Supjeong-i, Jeongju, Chungcheong-do, Korea (age 17)
• Feast Day: 20 September (with the 103 Martyrs of Korea)
• Beatified: 1968
• Canonized: 6 May 1984

Who Was Saint Iosephus Cho Yun-ho?

Cho Yun-ho grew up in a family that had already given the faith everything, following his father Petrus Cho Hwa-sŏ, also honored as a martyr, into a life of service as a catechist before the same persecution took his life as it had already taken his father’s.

Historical Setting

The Byeongin persecution that began in 1866 under Heungseon Daewongun eventually became Korean Catholic history’s deadliest campaign, and it did not spare families already marked by earlier martyrdom, striking some households more than once over its several years.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Iosephus Cho Yun-ho

The Church remembers Cho Yun-ho as part of a martyred family, a son who did not distance himself from his father’s fate but stepped into the same public role of catechist and met the same end, an inherited fidelity carried forward rather than abandoned out of fear.

Canonization and Feast Day

Cho Yun-ho, like his martyred father before him, was beatified in 1968 under Paul VI and canonized on 6 May 1984, when John Paul II declared him a saint in Seoul among the 103 Martyrs of Korea, sharing their 20 September feast.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

A martyr’s death can either frighten a family away from the faith or deepen its commitment. Cho Yun-ho’s witness, following his own father into martyrdom at only seventeen, shows a family whose faith only grew stronger under the same pressure that had already cost it so much.

A Prayer to Saint Iosephus Cho Yun-ho

Saint Iosephus Cho Yun-ho, who followed your father’s faith to the same martyrdom, pray for families who face the faith’s cost together, across generations. 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