Saint Francis Ch’oe Kyŏng-hwan

Saint Francis Ch’oe Kyŏng-hwan was a Korean lay catechist, husband and father, who gave his life for the faith during the persecution of 1839. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on September 12, the day of his death; together with the other Korean martyrs, the Church also honors him on September 20.

He was born in 1805 in the Hongju district, the youngest of six children of a wealthy family, one of the first in Korea to accept the Gospel. Because it was hard to live the faith in his native region, he persuaded his relatives to move to the capital. There they met with harassment from pagans and lost most of their property, but they refused to repay evil with evil. After further wanderings they settled on Mount Suri, in today’s city of Anyang, where together with other Catholic families they founded the Christian village of Surisan, which Francis led.

He and his wife, Maria Yi Sŏng-rye, had several children. Though he had little schooling, he read and meditated a great deal, and in his home he taught his neighbors the faith so simply and persuasively that people came from far away to hear him. In 1836 a French missionary, Saint Pierre Maubant, chose their eldest son as a candidate for the priesthood. The parents agreed that Thomas should go to study in Macau together with Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, now a saint and martyr.

At the beginning of 1839 Francis was appointed catechist. During the persecution he collected alms for imprisoned Christians and for the poor, buried the bodies of martyrs in Seoul, and prepared his family for martyrdom. On July 31, 1839, police officers from the capital arrived at Surisan. Francis welcomed them as guests and fed them. Then he, his family and his neighbors, about forty people in all, were led away to Seoul.

In prison he was tortured many times to make him renounce Christianity. He replied that if unfaithfulness toward a man is an offense, how much more so is unfaithfulness toward God. Many of those arrested, broken by the torment, denied the faith and were set free; only Francis, his wife and Emerentia Yi from their village held firm. Because he had sent his son abroad, he was tortured with particular cruelty, until he could no longer use his arms or legs. Even so, as the Martyrology records, he never stopped praying and teaching the catechism.

He died in prison of his wounds on September 12, 1839, and was buried on Mount Suri. Maria, whose youngest little son died of hunger behind bars, was beheaded near Seoul on January 31, 1840; Pope Francis beatified her in 2014. Their son Thomas Ch’oe Yang-ŏp, ordained in Shanghai in 1849, became the second priest in the history of Korea; in 2016 the Church recognized his heroic virtues.

Pope Pius XI beatified Francis on July 5, 1925, among 79 Korean martyrs. John Paul II canonized him in Seoul on May 6, 1984, together with 102 other martyrs of Korea.