{
  "bookName": "HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS",
  "authorName": "BERNARD DE VAULX",
  "publisherName": "HAWTHORN BOOKS PUBLISHERS",
  "publicationYear": 2026,
  "chapterNumber": 13,
  "chapterName": "The Korean and Japanese Missions",
  "pageFrom": 162,
  "pageTo": 165,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 162,
      "ocrText": "CHAPTER XIII\nTHE KOREAN AND\nJAPANESE MISSIONS\nIt will be remembered that in 1827 Leo XII entrusted Korea\nto the Paris Foreign Missions, but so many gaps were made in\ntheir ranks by the Revolution and the Empire that the first\nparty could not set out until 1832 and it was composed of\nonly two priests, both volunteers, Frs Bruguière (with the title\nof vicar apostolic) and Maubant. The former died on the way,\nnear the Korean frontier. Maubant succeeded in crossing the\nlatter, disguised as a mourner. At the beginning of 1836 he\narrived in Seoul where an eminent convert gave him hiding.\nAnother volunteer, Fr Chastan, joined him and later in 1838,\nthe new vicar apostolic, Mgr Imbert. In the following year, a\nmaladroit convert fell into a trap and revealed the hiding-place\nof the bishop who gave himself up so as not to expose his hosts\nto legal proceedings. Frs Chastan and Maubant could not be\nfound in spite of the tortures inflicted on the Christians in order\nto persuade them to denounce them. Mgr Imbert then began\nto experience scruples. Believing that if his missionaries as\nwell as he himself were sacrificed, the persecution would cease,\nhe wrote to tell them to give themselves up as befitted \"the\ngood shepherd on behalf of his sheep\". He was immediately\nobeyed. His hopes were not realized. On September 21st, the\nfirst three missionaries to Korea were beheaded after suffer-\ning terrible tortures.\nOnce again, the Church of Korea was without priests. Three",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 163,
      "ocrText": "THE KOREAN AND JAPANESE MISSIONS\n163\ncame to its aid in 1845. Two were French, Mgr Ferréol and\nFr Daveluy, and one a Korean, Andrew Kim, who had acted\nas their guide in the midst of the gravest dangers. He was\nmartyred on September 16th, 1846. A slight easing of the\nsituation gradually followed and lasted for some ten years.\nThen the interventions of Europe in the Far East caused a\nserious reversal. The party opposed to all contact with the\nWest won the day and a violent persecution once again broke\nout. Two vicars apostolic and seven French priests were\nmartyred and eight thousand Christians perished. The three\nmissionaries who had escaped the massacres were obliged to\nmove into China.\nOne of these fugitives had been appointed vicar apostolic.\nHe did not wait for more peaceful times before exercising his\nministry (1876). Two other missionaries succeeded in joining\nhim, but, in 1878, he was imprisoned with one of his priests.\nThey would probably have suffered the same fate as their pre-\ndecessors had not the French Government intervened. It was\nonly in 1886 that a treaty, negotiated by the French represen-\ntative, obtained from Seoul freedom to profess their religion\nfor those under French jurisdiction.\nWhen the Korean vicariate was established in 1831, Propa-\nganda asked the Paris Foreign Missions to undertake the\nevangelization of Japan at the same time. It was the expression\nof a wish and not an order. Japan had not withdrawn the\nedict closing her gates against all foreign influence. While\nwaiting for them to reopen, the missionaries could do nothing\nexcept hold themselves in readiness, devote themselves to\nprayer and the study of the Japanese language. In 1848,\nFr Fourcade settled at Nara, the capital of the chief island of\nthe Riu-Kiu group situated between China and Japan. In 1850,\nPropaganda appointed him vicar apostolic, and a missionary\nfrom the Society came to join him. Two years later, they had\nbaptized two converts.\nYet, after 1851, Japan, like China, had signed treaties on",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 164,
      "ocrText": "164\nTHE KOREAN AND JAPANESE MISSIONS\nthe model of that of Whampou, with a series of countries, the\nUnited States, England, Holland and Russia. France also\nobtained permission for her nationals to enter the ports of\nYokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Hakodate and Niigata as well\nas the towns of Yedo and Osaka. The missionaries arrived\nin 1859. One of them, Fr Petitjean, built a church at Nagasaki\non the Oura hill and dedicated it to the twenty-six martyrs of\n1597. We may imagine his deep emotion when, on March 17th,\n1865, he found himself in the presence of a group of some\ntwelve Christians descended from the converts of the sixteenth\ncentury. They were the vanguard of the secret Church of\nJapan, which had been miraculously kept in being by the\nfervour of the catechists who, from generation to generation,\nhad handed on the essential prayers and the formula for bap-\ntism. It numbered about ten thousand Christians. When the\nGovernment heard of its existence, it once more put into opera-\ntion (1868) the edicts proscribing Christianity. Everything was\ntried, imprisonment, deportation, threats and promises, in\norder to transform these exemplary Christians into apostates.\nTwo thousand of them died. In 1875, the intervention of\nWestern diplomats brought about the withdrawal of the edicts.\nBy the end of this same year, the Christian body numbered\n15,000 converts, evangelized by twenty-nine missionaries. It\nhad therefore been increased by half during the persecutions.\nThe new spirit of toleration allowed the young Church to\nbe openly organized. In 1876, the Holy See established two\nvicariates, Tokyo and Nagasaki. Churches were built. Japan,\neager for scientific knowledge and material progress, and\nstrongly inclined also towards secularism, followed in the\nfootsteps of the West more boldly than did China, to the extent\nof promulgating a law in 1884 separating the Japanese State\nfrom the two traditional religions, Shintoism and Buddhism.\nHenceforward, Catholicism, hitherto only tolerated, was in\npossession of its freedom. The missionaries were able to\norganize an educational system. After 1887 Marianists made\navailable the wealth of Western culture in three establish-",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 165,
      "ocrText": "THE KOREAN AND JAPANESE MISSIONS\n165\nments: the \"Morning Star\" at Tokyo, the \"Star of the Sea\" at\nNagasaki, \"The Bright Star\" at Osaka. Institutes of religious\nwomen arrived: the Dames de Saint-Maur, the Sisters of\nChauffailles and Saint-Paul of Chartres. In 1919, the Jesuits\nestablished at Tokyo their \"High School of Wisdom\" with its\nthree departments-Letters, Philosophy, Advanced Com-\nmercial Studies. At the same time, the Dames de Saint-Maur\norganized secondary schools open to all young people.\nIn missionary work properly so called, the Paris Foreign\nMissions were helped by Spanish Dominicans, German and\nSpanish Jesuits, Franciscans, Fathers of the Divine Word and\nSalesians from Italy. Already before the 1914 War, this influx,\nso international in character, showed the Church under her\ntrue, universal aspect. This mark of universality became still\nmore evident after the arrival of American missionaries and\ncontemplative orders of both men and women.\nThe liberty granted in 1884 determined Leo XIII to write a\nletter in his own hand to the emperor in 1885. It was handed\nto the latter by Mgr Ozouf. The pope also decided to establish\nthe hierarchy (1891). Tokyo was raised to the status of an\narchbishopric with three suffragan sees at Nagasaki, Osaka and\nHakodate.\nIn spite of all this, the progress of Catholicism remained\nslow. In 1891, there were 45,000 Catholics and this figure had\nnot yet doubled by 1914. The fact is that the separation of the\nState from the traditional religions had not prevented the birth\nof a pragmatic form of Shintoism based on loyalty to the\nimperial family and an unconditional devotion to the mother-\nland. This creed was influential enough to make men believe\nthat its requirements and Catholicism were incompatible. Yet,\nthose persons who were able to override this specious objection\ngenerally became ardent converts. Japan is not the country for\nhalf-measures. Those of her people who have assimilated the\nwords of Christ are capable of scaling by leaps and bounds\nthe heights of spirituality.",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}