A catechist of twenty-nine, killed at Jeongju in December 1866, ten days before his fellow catechist Iosephus Cho Yun-ho at the same site.

Iosephus Petrus Han Wŏn-sŏ was a lay catechist of Korea, executed at Supjeong-i, Jeongju, Chungcheong-do, on 13 December 1866 at twenty-nine years old, ten days before his fellow catechist Iosephus Cho Yun-ho was killed at the same site. He is one of the 103 Martyrs of Korea canonized in 1984.

Quick Facts

• Died: 13 December 1866, Supjeong-i, Jeongju, Chungcheong-do, Korea (age 29)
• Feast Day: 20 September (with the 103 Martyrs of Korea)
• Beatified: 1968
• Canonized: 6 May 1984

Who Was Saint Iosephus Petrus Han Wŏn-sŏ?

Han Wŏn-sŏ served as a catechist in the same district of Chungcheong-do that would, within days, also claim the teenage son of a martyred priest, part of a local Catholic community that lost several of its catechists to the Byeongin persecution within a single month.

Historical Setting

By the time the Byeongin persecution, begun in 1866 under Heungseon Daewongun, reached its worst years, it had already become the deadliest anti-Catholic campaign in Korean history, claiming thousands of believers, missionary bishops and laypeople together, nationwide.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Iosephus Petrus Han Wŏn-sŏ

The Church remembers Han Wŏn-sŏ alongside Cho Yun-ho as two catechists of the same small Jeongju community, executed at the same place within ten days of each other, a local Church that lost its lay leadership in rapid succession without ceasing to exist.

Canonization and Feast Day

Han Wŏn-sŏ’s cause reached beatification in 1968 and canonization on 6 May 1984, when Pope John Paul II, visiting Seoul, declared him a saint among the 103 Martyrs of Korea, whose shared feast, 20 September, is kept across Korea’s Catholic Church.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

A small community that loses several of its leaders within days still has to find a way to continue. Han Wŏn-sŏ’s witness, alongside Cho Yun-ho’s, is a reminder that the persecuted Korean Church absorbed devastating local losses and endured anyway.

A Prayer to Saint Iosephus Petrus Han Wŏn-sŏ

Saint Iosephus Petrus Han Wŏn-sŏ, catechist of Jeongju who gave your life alongside your companions, pray for small communities of faith that suffer loss without losing hope. 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