Origin from 1791
The lay-founded Catholic church established in Korea in 1784 and 1785 faced five separate persecution episodes under the Choson dynasty, beginning in 1791 and reaching their worst in 1801 and again in 1866, when thousands were killed in a single wave. Between eight and ten thousand Korean Christians were killed across the whole period, a toll unusual among the mission fields Catholicism reached in this era for having been driven overwhelmingly by Koreans themselves persecuting a church Koreans themselves had founded. Religious liberty was formally granted only in 1886.
Facts
Dates
Start YearSourced to the subject's own account1791 is the earliest of five named persecution episodes; the largest in scale came later, in 1801 and again in 1866, named here rather than letting the single start year imply the worst violence came first. End YearSourced to the subject's own account StatusSuppressed rather than Extinct: the church was persecuted for nearly a century but never ceased to exist, surviving underground throughout and continuing to grow after 1886, unlike a tradition genuinely extinguished. Learn More
How Persecution Suppressed Catholicism in Choson Korea
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Catholicism arrived in Korea through the work of Korean laypeople themselves, founding a church in 1784 and 1785 with no foreign missionary present at its start. That lay origin did not spare it: the Choson dynasty subjected the young church to five separate persecution episodes, beginning in 1791.
The worst came later. The 1801 and 1866 persecutions killed thousands of Korean Christians in single waves, part of a toll that reached between eight and ten thousand Korean Christians killed across the whole period. What set Choson Korea's persecution apart from other mission fields of the era was that it was driven overwhelmingly by Koreans persecuting a church Koreans themselves had founded, rather than by a colonial power suppressing a foreign import.
The persecution did not end quickly. Nearly a century passed between the church's 1784 founding and 1886, when religious liberty was formally granted and Catholicism could finally practice openly in Korea.
What that century of persecution changed for Catholicism's spread in Korea was the shape of its survival rather than its extinction. A church that lost thousands of its own members to five waves of violence never stopped existing, continuing underground through the worst of the killing and emerging into legal liberty in 1886 as a tradition its own persecution had failed to destroy.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Korean directly: "Between eight and ten thousand Korean Christians were killed across the whole period, a toll unusual among the mission fields Catholicism reached in this era for having been driven overwhelmingly by..."
Occurred In
Korea, Regions Anchored to the pre-1945 undivided Korea, matching the existing founding event's own anchor, since the persecution predates the twentieth century division.
Spread Event Of
The reversal the tradition's existing 1784 to 1785 founding event in Korea had none of, found on a reversal spot check of Christianity's existing arc and filled here.
Sources
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