CORFU
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CORFU
in crossing the northern frontier by way of Eui-tjyou,
and in January, 1836, entered the closed country.
The following year Father Chastan joined him there,
and, a little later, the new vicar Apostolic, Mgr.
Imbert. Under their ministration Christianity soon
flourished. All this went on with the greatest se-
crecy; the least indiscretion would have caused all
to be lost. The edicts proscribing Christianity re-
mained as rigorous as ever, and all, both pastors and
flock, lived as upon the eve of battle, preparing them-
selves for martjTdom.
The persecution broke out in 1839, many Christians were arrested, tortured, and put to death; the mis- sionaries were hunted without mercy. Mgr. Imbert was the first to be taken, and, thinking that the cap- ture of his two companions would cause the persecu- tion to cease, he directed them to deliver themselves up; they responded heroically to the call, and all three were beheailed, 21 September, 1839. It was not until 1845 that a new bishop, Mgr. Ferrcol, succeeded in entering Corea; he brought with him a young mis- sionary and also the first Coroan priest, Andre Kim, who had made liis studies at Macao, and who was taken and executed the following year. His cause, and those of the Venerable Mgrs. Imbert, Maubant, and Chastan, and of the principal Corean niartjTS, eighty-two in all, were introduced in the Roman Court by a decree of 24 S?ptember, 1857. The country re- mained more firmly closed than ever, the Christian religion more severely proscribed, and the entrance of apostolic workers more perilous and difficult. Ad- mission to Corea was most often accomphshed by way of the sea, a Chinese barque bringing the mis.sion- aries with great secrecy to the coast of Corea, where a Corean ship, under cover of the darkness, would go to meet them. Father Maistre spent ten years in vain attempts and useless expeditions before he was able to set foot in Corea. Notwithstanding these difficulties, and numerous local persecutions, during twenty years the mission prospered. In 1866 it counted upwards of 25,000 faithful, two bishops, and ten missionaries. A terrible persecution then broke out, the two bishops and seven missionaries were taken and executed: Mgr. Berneux, vicar Apostolic, with Fathers Beaulieu, Dorie, and de Bretenieres (8 March); Father Pourthie, pro-vicar, and Father Petitnicolas (10 March); and Mgr. Daveluy, the coad- jutor, with Fathers Aiunaitre and Huin (30 March). Numbers of tlu- laity also suffered martyrdom, while others perisheil of distress and himger in the mountains. The process, or formal declaration, of the mart jTdom of the two bishops, of the seven missionaries, and of twenty of the principal Christians, was sent in 1901 to the Sacred Congregation of Rites. The three sur- viving missionaries, unable to maintain themselves in the country, were obliged to return to China. Tliis persecution, which occurred during the second year of the reign of the emperor who abdicated in 1907, was not precisely his fault. During his minor- ity the power was exercised by his father, known under the name of Tai-ouen-koun, prince-regent. Of a suspicious and violent character, the regent believed that the extermination of the Catholics in Corea was the best policy to follow. Later he recognized his mistake ami repented of it.
A Frendi attempt, known as the Kang-hoa expe- dition, made to avenge the murder of the Frencli mis- sionaries, Wiis not prosecuted wilh .sudlrient vigour, and merely served to revive the persecution which lasted as long as tlu' regent remaineil in power. In 1876, afteran interval of ten years, the new \icar Apos- tolic, Mgr. Kidc'l, succe<'deil in sending two mission- aries to Corea; he himself entered the following year with two others. But after .somi^ months of sojourn in Seoul his retreat became known ami he was thrown into pri.son. ITpon ilw. demand of the French minister to Peking, the Corean Government consented
to send him back to China; in 1879, Father Deguette,
arrested in turn, was also sent back after several
months of captivity. The bloody era was closed;
nevertheless the missionaries were obliged to con-
tinue their life of seclusion. Liberty came to them
only with the treaty of commerce, concluded with the
different Powers towards the year 1884. Upon their
return in 1876 they found but 10,000 Christians;
since then this number has grown from vear to year.
The Catholic Coreans numbered in 1885, 14,039; 1890,
17,577; 1895, 25,998; 1900, 42,441: 1905, 58.593;
and in 1907, 63,340. From 1876 dates the spread
of the ordinary mission-labours which the persecu-
tion had not permitted to develop.
In 1888 the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres were called to take charge of the orphanages. In each district some chapels have been built, with residences for the missionaries. In 1892 a seminary was built at Ryong-saun near Seoul. The qviasi-cathedral church of Seoul was solenmly consecrated 29 May, 1898. The parish schools have been opened anew, or organized upon a better footing. It has even been possible to open in the great centres a few schools for girls, a thing which Corean usage would never before have permitted. In 1875 the missionaries published a dictionary and a grammar in French and Corean. The movable type then cast has served as a standard for all that is used to-day. The mission possesses a printing-house tor the publication of Corean Catholic books, and of a weekly Corean Catholic newspaper, founded in 1906, which counts more than 4000 sub- scribers. As a striking event of this period may be noted the conversion to Catholicism of the princess, the mother of the emperor and the true wife of the terrible regent. Christian in her heart even before the persecution of 1866, she was baptized and con- firmed 11 October, 1896, but in great secrecy and unknown even to those about her. The following year she received, under the same conditions, the Sacraments of Penance and of Holy Eucharist, and died piously 8 January, 1898. The Vicars Apostolic of Corea have been: Barth^lemy Bruguiere (1831-35); Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert (1837-39); Jean-Joseph Ferreol (1843-53); Simeon-Frangois Berneux (1854- 66); Maric-Antoine Nicolas Daveluy (1857-66); F^lix Clair Ridel (1870-84); Jean-Marie-Gustave Blanc (1884-90); Gustave-Charles-Marie Mutel (1890—).
The following statistics show the state of the missions in 1907: 1 bishop; 46 French missionaries; 10 Corean priests; 11 French sisters; 41 Corean sis- ters; 72 schools for boys, with 1,014 pupils; 5 schooli" for girls, with 191 pupils; 2 orphanages, with 28 boys and 261 girls; 379 orphans placed in families; 2 pharmacies; 1 seminary, with 22 preparatory stu- dents and 9 theological students; 48 churches or chapels; 48 districts; 931 Christian parishes; 63,340 baptized Christians; 5,503 catechumens under in- struction. (See map of China.)
Dallet, Hist, de I'Eglise de Corce (Paris, 1874): Pichon, I Vie de Mgr. Berneux (Le Mans, 1868); Salmon. Vie de Mgr. Daveluy (Paris, 1883); d'Hulst. Vie de JusI de Bretenihre» (Paris, 1895); Baudrv, Fie rfe Hmri Dorie (1867 >; Detdou, Bernard Louis Beaulieu (Bordeaux, 1894); Desire, Vie de M. A. Petitnicolas (1891): Rama yet, Vie de M. L. Huin (Langres, 1893); PlACENTlNl, Mgr. Ridel (Lyons, 1S90); Ridel, Ma cap- liviti: Annals of the Propagatinn of the Faith (annual); PlOLET, | Les missions catholiques francaises. 111.
G. MuTEL.
Corfu, Archdiocese of. — Corfu is one of the loniaal Islands, at the entrance of the Adriatic, opposite thel Albanian coast, from which it is separated by a nai^l row channel. Its modern name is an Italian corrup-j tion for Kop<pol (prono\mced Corfi), the Byzantine! Greek n:ime for the chief town of the island. Thell ancient name for both island and city was Cercyrau or Corcyrn. This has been identified with the Hom-r eric Scheria, where reigned Alcinous, king of the! PhiEacians, the host of Ulysses, and Nausicaa'af
