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LIBRARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 the JAN £ 3 Z0C3 
 NEW SEMINARY 
 
 The Catholic Church. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN 
 
 3u % <#a%rs of % ITonbon #raforg, 
 
 AT THE REQUEST OF THE 
 
 CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER. 
 
 WITH A PREFACE 
 
 By his Eminence Cardinal Wiseman. 
 
 PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROBATION OF THE 
 
 Most Reverend, the Archbishop of Baltimore. 
 
 SIXTH EDITION. 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 Published by John Murphy & Ca 
 
 182 BALTIMORE STREET. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 At a time when the eyes of nations are fixed on Romo, 
 some in filial love, because of the dangers which are 
 closing round it, and others in eager hope of the down- 
 fall and dishonor of the Church of God ; when Italy and 
 the whole Catholic unity are afflicted by indignities 
 heaped upon the Vicar of Jesus Christ, by those, too, who 
 profess the Catholic name, the Holy Father, by com- 
 manding the publication of the following pages, points 
 us to his solace and strength in the farthest East, where 
 are now arising the New Glories of the Church of God. 
 
 And to what does he direct our eyes ? It is to no new 
 splendor of Christian empires, no new monuments of 
 Catholic civilization, but to the plains and cities of 
 Corea, Tong-King, and Cochin-China, steeped with 
 Catholic blood, shed not in the onslaught and victories 
 of war, but in the more glorious martyrdoms of bishops 
 and priests, of aged men, and feeble women, and children 
 of tender age. The volume in our hands is a new mar- 
 tyrology. And for supernatural endurance of pain and 
 grandeur of heroic constancy it is not to be surpassed by 
 the annals of the confessors and martyrs of antiquity. It 
 is a seasonable note of warning and encouragement, at a 
 time when princes and their ministers, diplomatists and 
 free companies in arms, are confidently looking for the 
 humiliation and subjection of the Church, and for the 
 
4 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 dethronement or the thraldom of the Sovereign Pontiff, 
 he, as if not deigning to unroll the volume of the Roman 
 Martyrology, and to point to the line of Pontiffs who, 
 from St. Peter to St. Alexander, vindicated their sove- 
 reignty with their blood, directs our gaze to the im- 
 perishable life and the invincible power of the Church, 
 revealed at this hour in the conflicts and crowns of these 
 new and almost unheard-of soldiers of the Faith, who 
 revive in the nineteenth century the warfare and the 
 conquests of the apostolic age. 
 
 For such is the history of the Church of God. It is 
 like its Divine Head : “ Yesterday, and to-day, and the 
 same forever.” Confessor, Martyr, and Sovereign upon 
 earth. It is invested always with the purple of his 
 passion and of his royalty. 
 
 No one can read these pages without being struck by 
 the wonderful unity and identity of the acts and suffer- 
 ings of the Church in all its ages. It is ever “filling 
 up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of 
 Christ.”* “ Et qui pro nobis mortem semel vicit, semper 
 vincit in nobis.”f And, as the martyr adds, “ Quod in 
 ilia crudelitate carnificum plus pro quo patitur Chris- 
 tus ipse patiatur.”^ The martyrdom of the Church is 
 the evolving of the Passion of its Lord, accomplishing 
 itself in his members. 
 
 In these most touching narratives, therefore, we could 
 believe ourselves to be reading from the “ Acta Sincera 
 Martyrum” of Ruinart. The same persons appear in the 
 conflict, — bishops, priests, deacons, catechists, acolytes, 
 
 ♦Col. i. 24. 
 
 t Cypr. Ep. VIII. 
 
 x De Laude Martyrii. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 5 
 
 virgins, old men, and mere children. There are almost 
 the same instruments of torture and death, — the rod, the 
 rack, the gibbet, and the sword. If there be any differ- 
 ence, it is that the refined and exquisite tortures of the 
 board, the rubbing-stick, and the sawing-rope were not 
 known to the ruder cruelty of the amphitheatre, where 
 the Africans made a speedy way to the crown of martyr- 
 dom. There are, moreover, the very same names so dear 
 to the Church, — Agatha and Agnes, Barbara and Per- 
 petua, Lucy and Julitta, Peter and Paul, Ignatius and 
 Stephen, Protasius and Sebastian. There are the same 
 interrogatories and the same answers, — the same holy 
 defiance and divinely-inspired contempt of pain, torture, 
 and death ; there is the same wonderful illumination of 
 the knowledge of God in the mouths of the simple and 
 of children ; the same intense detestation of paganism ; 
 the same burning and tender love for Jesus and Mary ; 
 the same consuming zeal for the glory of God and of his 
 Church. We could believe ourselves to be reading of 
 the martyrdoms of Spain, Bithynia, and Sicily. 
 
 There has been an affectation among historical critics, 
 especially of the controversial sort, to deny and even to 
 ridicule the accounts of those who suffered in persecu- 
 tion, the amazing number of the great army of martyrs, 
 the boldness of their defiance, their fearless challenge of 
 torture, their prompt and apt replies, the multiplicity and 
 terribleness of their sufferings. Much supercilious criti- 
 cism has been expended upon the representations of the 
 instruments of torture graven on the Catacombs, and 
 
 learned books have been written to reduce the whole 
 l* 
 
6 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 glorious history of their passion to a commonplaee ac- 
 count of a few who lost their lives for their opinion or 
 their rashness. 
 
 Now, in these contemporaneous records we have the 
 simple and literal reproduction of the past. 
 
 First, as to the wide and sweeping extent of persecu- 
 tion, we find whole families taken at once, whole flocks 
 carried away with their pastors, whole villages driven off 
 to prison or to torture. And yet nobody will maintain 
 that China at this day is as haughtily contemptuous of 
 human life as the empire of heathen Rome, in which 
 whole provinces were punished by sanguinary edicts, 
 whole legions decimated or destroyed. If such be at this 
 day the havoc in one province and in a few years, what 
 must have been the wholesale martyrdom throughout the 
 world-wide provinces of the Roman Empire, and in ten per- 
 secutions, running through nearly three hundred years ? 
 
 Next, we find the same beautiful histories of women 
 and children, weak and timid, shrinking with great dread 
 before the hour of their conflict, hardly able to endure the 
 eyes of their jailers and their judges, until, in the mo- 
 ment of trial, a new and supernatural courage entered 
 into them, and a mouth and wisdom was given to them 
 which their adversaries could neither gainsay nor resist. 
 To quote examples would be, not to write a preface, but 
 to transcribe the book. We cannot, however, refrain 
 from directing attention to a few examples. 
 
 Mary Ouen is described as an orphan at an early age. 
 Though young, she was of a mature prudence, “upright, 
 humble, sweet, and amiable.” Her character was femi- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 7 
 
 nine and shrinking. She had consecrated herself to Jesus 
 Christ. When seized by night and carried to her trial, 
 she was at first disturbed in mind ; but she soon became 
 calm, and went with a firm step to prison. Her hands 
 were bound behind her back, and she was led before the 
 tribunal. The judge said to her, “You are of the sect of 
 the Christians.” She answered, “You have said it,” — 
 words which recall a greater than she. After steadfastly 
 refusing to save her life by apostasy, she was tortured till 
 her legs were twisted and the ground was covered with her 
 blood. She received her crown at the age of twenty-one.* 
 
 Columba Kim was naturally of a timid disposition, 
 even more so than women ordinarily are. Every time 
 that she heard that a Christian had been apprehended, 
 she grew pale, and fell into a sort of swoon. Neverthe- 
 less, before the tribunal she displayed a courage which 
 made an impression upon her judges.f After a confes- 
 sion which, for boldness and constancy amidst prolonged 
 indignities and tortures, cannot be surpassed, she was 
 martyred at the age of twenty -six. 
 
 Another remarkable fact confirming the early records 
 is, that the sense of pain appears at times to have been 
 either mitigated or suspended. 
 
 Charles Tchao was three times tortured. He under- 
 went eleven interrogatories. During his tortures he 
 showed such firmness, without a single sigh or word of 
 complaint, and so surprising an insensibility, that the 
 judges and officers said, “ This man’s body is not of flesh, 
 but of wood and stone .” X 
 
 * Pages 79, 80. 
 
 t Page 108. 
 
 J Page 97. 
 
8 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Elizabeth Ting was tortured seven times, and endured 
 three hundred blows of the rod. Amidst her torments 
 her countenance was unmoved. She afterward said, 
 “ By a special grace, I did not expire beneath the blows ; 
 and I now understand a little what immense agony my 
 Savior must have suffered.”* 
 
 Barbara Ko before her torture was greatly afraid ; 
 but, once begun, she said, “ Truly I did not know that it 
 would be so sweet to suffer for Jesus Christ.”f 
 
 M. Chapdelain, after the most prolonged and terrible 
 sufferings, could not walk a step, but shortly after rose 
 and walked as if in perfect health. The officers who wit- 
 nessed this miracle came to him and asked how it had 
 been performed, and accused him of magic.J 
 
 One more instance is so identical with the early mar- 
 tyrdoms that we must briefly add it. 
 
 Peter Liou was tortured eight times. He received six 
 hundred blows of the rod. Fourteen times he was brutally 
 treated by the executioners. He received forty blows of the 
 board. During his torture he displayed so great a firm- 
 ness and so tranquil an air that the very executioners 
 stood in amazement. He took the shreds of his flesh and 
 skin and threw them before the judges. In the prison 
 there was an apostate, to whom he said, “You are a 
 catechist and a grown man. I am only a boy. It is you 
 who ought to be exhorting me to suffer courageously. 
 How comes it that we have changed places ? Return to 
 yourself, and die for Jesus Christ.” He was strangled 
 in prison at the age of thirteen, $ and ascended to join the 
 
 * Page 119. 
 
 f Page 120. 
 
 J Page 191. 
 
 I Page 136. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 9 
 
 glorious army of children of whom St. Vitus and St. 
 Celsus are the standard-bearers, and to walk side by side 
 with St. Christopher, who, '"at eight years of age, being 
 scourged, crowned with thorns, and crucified, said to the 
 executioner, who would lay open his right side, “ Si cor 
 quaeris, alterum latus mihi effodias et scruteris.” 
 
 Lastly, we may notice the supernatural tokens of the 
 Divine Presence which consoled, as in the early perse- 
 cutions, the sufferings of the martyrs. 
 
 In the case of Charles Tchao, it is recorded that, in 
 the beginning of 1839, he had a dream, in which he saw 
 Jesus Christ, with St. Peter and St. Paul beside him, 
 and he hehrd these words from his lips, “ In the course 
 of this year I will give thee the grace of shedding thy 
 blood for the glory of my Name.” Charles thanked 
 him, and made a profound inclination before him. The 
 year was not expired before he entered into the joy of 
 his Lord. 
 
 Again, before the breaking out of the persecution in 
 which M. Chapdelain suffered, in 1853, a cross of light, 
 surrounded by a brilliant crown, seemed to hang over 
 the village of Yoa-chan. It was seen by both pagans 
 and Christians alike. 
 
 We will add but one passage more. It is a letter, 
 written from his prison, by M. Bonnard, to his bishop 
 and the faithful : — 
 
 “ My Lord and most dear Friends : — 
 
 “ This is the last letter that I shall write to you. The 
 solemn hour has struck. Farewell. I make appoint- 
 ments with all of you who remember and love me to 
 
10 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 meet me in heaven. I hope in the mercy of Jesus, and 
 I have a firm confidence that he has pardoned my innu- 
 merable sins. I offer with all my heart my blood and 
 my life for the love of my dear Master, and for those be- 
 loved souls whom I would have served so willingly to 
 the best of my power.” 
 
 After other words, he adds : — 
 
 “ I beseech you to remember me before the Lord ; be 
 sure that, as I told you before, if he has mercy on my 
 soul, I will not forget you forever. 
 
 “ To-morrow, Saturday, the feast of St. Philip and St. 
 James, the 1st of May, is the anniversary of the entrance 
 of M. Schoeffler into heaven, and I believe it is the day 
 appointed for my own sacrifice. God’s will be done. 
 Blessed be God, I die happy. I bid farewell to all in 
 the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. In manus tuas, 
 Do-mine, commendo spiritum meum. In corde Jesu et 
 Marise osculor vos, amici mei. 
 
 “ Vinctus in Christo, the vigil of my death, April 30, 
 1852.” 
 
 If the dates and names were lost, we might have read 
 this as an epistle from Lyons or Vienne, from Carthage 
 or from the Mamertine prisons. 
 
 Coming from the sacred hands of the holy Father, this 
 most touching and stirring volume speaks to us with the 
 voice of an apostolic warning, summoning the faithful to 
 fidelity in the conflicts in these latter days, and to con- 
 stancy even unto death. It shows us that to this hour 
 the Church is the same, and the world is the same, — an- 
 tagonist and irreconcilable : for the world will not change, 
 and the Church cannot. There is the same conflict, the 
 same enmity, the same issue. The world martyrs the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 11 
 
 Church, and the Church subdues the world. The words 
 of our Divine Lord are always verified, “ I came not to 
 send peace upon earth, but a sword.” The age of mar- 
 tyrs, as of miracles, never ceases. Martyrdom is a per- 
 petual note upon the mystical body. It has the Stigmata 
 of Jesus ever fresh upon it. We speak, indeed, of the 
 ten persecutions of antiquity as if they were ten distinct 
 and isolated assaults of the world. They were but ten 
 more vehement bursts of a storm which was ever hovering 
 overhead, wheeling about the horizon, and descending 
 with a sudden stroke, first in one and then in another 
 region, but making perpetual havoc to and fro through- 
 out the whole Catholic unity. So in every successive age. 
 There have, indeed, been lulls and returns of the storm : 
 it has died down, but it has never died out. The world 
 — whether Jewish or heathen, heretical or schismatical, 
 secular or nominally Catholic, latitudinarian or infidel, 
 — has always persecuted the Church of God. Its instincts 
 tell it that either it or the Church must die. Three cen- 
 turies ago, and England was the field of martyrdom ; 
 then it fell upon the islands of the Indian seas ; then 
 upon Poland ; then France ; then, in our own day, upon 
 Rome ; and now, for half a century, it is upon the far 
 East. In sending out, therefore, this volume to the faith- 
 ful, and in inscribing upon it the title, “The New Glories 
 of the Catholic Church,” the Vicar of Jesus Christ has 
 sent, as was the custom of Israel among its tribes, the 
 warning and the invitation to arm for an impending 
 strife. And certainly the Pontiff who has upon his brow 
 the glory of defining the Immaculate Conception of the 
 
12 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 second Eve ought to be the special object of the enmity 
 of the seed of the serpent upon earth. He bids us, then, 
 to revive our consciousness of the great laws and pre- 
 rogatives, the sacred truths and instincts, of the Church 
 of God, of the glorious passion and splendid crowns of 
 our Fathers, of the immutable sameness of the warfare, 
 of the possible impending of the same conflicts, which we 
 not only read in Martyrologies, but see before us at this 
 day. The voice of the Father of the Faithful calls us to 
 a closer and more loving attachment to our pastors, the 
 leaders and cross-bearers in this great warfare, — to a 
 more docile and intimate union with the mind and will 
 of the holy Roman Church, to a fearless constancy for 
 even so much as a shadow of the Faith, and to a confi- 
 dence that the same almighty grace and loving presence 
 of the King of Martyrs can make even of us, weak and 
 unused to danger, shrinking and soft to pain, confessors aa 
 inflexible and martyrs as glorious as they who won their 
 crowns in the Flavian amphitheatre or in the sunless pri- 
 sons of Corea. He speaks to us with the voice of the great 
 martyr of Africa, — “ 0 beatam Ecclesiam nostram, quam 
 sic h'onor divinas dignationis illuminat, quam temporibus 
 nostris gloriosus martyrum sanguis illustrat. Erat ante 
 in operibus fratrum Candida. Nunc facta est in martyrum 
 cruore purpurea. Floribus ejus nec lilia nec rossedesunt. 
 In coelestibus castris et pax et acies habent flores suos ; 
 quibus miles Christi ob gloriam coronetur. Opto vos, 
 fortissimi et beatissimi fratres, semper in Domino bene 
 valere, et nostri meminisse.”* — Valete. 
 
 ♦ S. Cyp. Ep. VIII. ad Martyres et Cod fessorea. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 Chapter I. — C 0 R E A. 
 
 PAG* 
 
 Art. I. — Acts of several Corean Martyrs in the perse- 
 cution of 1839, collected by Charles Hien and 
 
 Thomas Y 17 
 
 The tortures 25 
 
 The prisons 29 
 
 Laurence Imbert, Bishop 30 
 
 Peter Maubant, Priest 37 
 
 James Chastan, Priest 39 
 
 Augustine Y, his wife Barbara, and their daughter 
 
 Agatha . 44 
 
 Damian Nam and Mary his wife 47 
 
 Peter Eouen 50 
 
 Agatha Y, widow 53 
 
 Magdalen Kim, widow 54 
 
 Barbara Hau, widow 65 
 
 Anne Pak 56 
 
 Agatha Kim, widow 59 
 
 Lucy Pak, maid of honor to the Queen 61 
 
 Mary Heing 64 
 
 John Baptist Y 66 
 
 Magdalen Y, her mother Magdalen, Teresa her aunt, 
 
 Barbara her sister, and Barbara her niece 67 
 
 Martha Kim 74 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
14 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 PAG* 
 
 Lucy Kim 74 
 
 Anne Kim, widow 77 
 
 Rose Kim, widow 78 
 
 Mary Ouen 79 
 
 John Pak 81 
 
 Paul Ting 82 
 
 Augustine Liou 87 
 
 Charles Tchao 93 
 
 Sebastian Nam * 97 
 
 Ignatius Kim 99 
 
 Julitta Kim 100 
 
 Agatha Tsen 102 
 
 Magdalen Pak 105 
 
 Perpetua Hong, widow 107 
 
 Columba Kim and her sister Agnes 107 
 
 Peter Tshoi 112 
 
 Barbara Tso, wife of Sebastian Nam 114 
 
 Magdalen Han, widow, her daughter Agatha, and 
 
 Agatha Y 116 
 
 Benedicta Hien, widow 116 
 
 Elizabeth, sister of Paul Ting..... 118 
 
 Barbara Ko 120 
 
 Magdalen Y and her sister Mary 121 
 
 Augustine Pak, catechist 123 
 
 Peter Hong and Paul his brother 124 
 
 Magdalen Son, wife of Peter Tshoi 124 
 
 JohnY 126 
 
 Barbara Tshoi 128 
 
 Paul He 130 
 
 Peter Y 131 
 
 Joseph Tsang 132 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 15 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Protasius Tseng 133 
 
 Peter Liou 135 
 
 Agatha Tsong...., 136 
 
 Barbara Kim 137 
 
 Lucy the Dwarf 137 
 
 Anna Han, and her sister-in-law, Barbara Kim, widow.. 138 
 
 Catherine Y, widow, and her daughter Magdalen Tso... 138 
 
 Francis Tshoi 139 
 
 Andrew Tseng 139 
 
 Teresa Kim 139 
 
 Stephen Min 140 
 
 Antony Kim 140 
 
 COREA. 
 
 Art. II. — Letter of Mgr. Ferr6ol, Yicar-Apostolic of 
 Corea, to Signor Bar. an, Superior of the Foreign 
 Missions at Paris, relative to the new Corean 
 Martyrs 142 
 
 Chapter 1 1. — C HINA. 
 
 Letter of M. Guillemin, Prefect- Apostolic of the Mis- 
 sion of Quang-tong and Quang-si, to the Directors 
 of the Pious Work of the Propagation of the 
 Faith 171 
 
 Chapter III.— WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 Art. I. — Letter of Mgr. Retord, Bishop of Acanthus, 
 and Yicar-Apostolic of Western Tongking, about 
 the glorious martyrdom of M. Schoeffler 198 
 
16 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOl 
 
 Art. II. — Letter of the same Prelate about the glorious 
 
 martyrdom of M. Bonnard 228 
 
 Chapter IV.— COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 Sec. I. — An account of the martyrdom of Philip Minh, 
 
 a priest, written by the Bishop of Isauropolis 266 
 
 Sec. II. — An account of the martyrdom of other Con- 
 fessors, written by the same Bishop. — Peter Dinh.. 286 
 
 Matthew Gam .' 288 
 
 Louis Ngo, catechist 295 
 
 Sec. III. — Extract from a letter of the Pro-Vicar- Apos- 
 tolic of Cochin China, on the Martyrdom of F. 
 Egidius Delamotte 298 
 
 Chapter V. — 0 C E A N I C A. 
 
 Account of the Martyrdom of Fr. Louis Chanel, of the 
 Congregation of Marists, by Monsignor Bataillon, 
 
 Vicar- Apostolic of Central Oceanica 308 
 
 Decretum 323 
 
NEW GLORIES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 COREA. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 Acts of several Corean Martyrs in the persecution of 1839, 
 collected by Charles Hienf and Thomas Y. f 
 
 After the persecution of 1801, the church 
 of Corea remained for several years in a state 
 
 * Charles Ilien is the principal catechist in Corea. It 
 was to him that the bishop intrusted, before his death, the 
 superintendence of the Christian settlements. He was 
 captured in the persecution of 1846, and is still in prison. 
 He will doubtless follow to victory those whose acts he has 
 collected. (He was beheaded on the 19th of September of 
 the same year.) 
 
 f Thomas Y, or Ly, according to the Chinese pronuncia- 
 tion, is the nephew of the mandarin Ly who introduced 
 Christianity into Corea. The king has commanded an 
 active search to be made for him. 
 
 B 
 
 2 * 
 
 17 
 
18 
 
 COREA. 
 
 of great weakness. The one pastor whom 
 it possessed had disappeared, the principal 
 Christians had been put to death or sent into 
 exile, and all communication with the church 
 of Pekin was stopped. In the mean time 
 those among the faithful most distinguished 
 for their virtue ceased not to hasten, by thei:* 
 prayers, the time when they should again be- 
 hold priests among them, to guide them in 
 the way of salvation. God heard them, and 
 opened the way, which had until then been 
 closed. The government interpreter, Au- 
 gustine Liou, and Charles Tchao, who was 
 his subordinate in that employment, em- 
 braced the faith. As they accompanied the 
 embassy to Pekin every year, they found it 
 easy to negotiate our religious affairs, and to 
 renew our correspondence with the bishop, in 
 whose charge we then were. They asked 
 him for apostolic laborers, and the prelate 
 promised to send them some. This promise 
 revived our courage. In 1833 Father Paci- 
 fico Yu was the first to penetrate into this 
 kingdom, but he remained here only three 
 years. In 1835 M. Maubant succeeded, after 
 much travelling, in reaching the frontier, and 
 crossing it. The following year he was fol- 
 lowed by M. Chastan, and in 1837 we were 
 allowed to see among us our bishop, Mgr. 
 
COREA. 
 
 19 
 
 Imbert. A great light then spread from the 
 East over our land, and dispelled the dark- 
 ness : those of weak faith were strengthened, 
 the lukewarm became fervent, many pagans 
 heard the good tidings, and the waters of 
 baptism flowed over their heads. But, alas ! 
 the en^my of God prepared more misfor- 
 tunes for us. He implanted in the heart of 
 a false brother the avarice which was the 
 ruin of the traitor Judas. Kimiensan was 
 the name of this false brother. He went to 
 find the chief of the officers, received from 
 him the reward of his treachery, and then 
 betrayed the principal Christians to him. 
 This took place in December in the year 
 1838. From that time the persecution was 
 declared. For some years past a famine had 
 desolated the country. The officers, urged 
 on by thirst for plunder, rushed to the houses, 
 denounced to them, and pillaged their con- 
 tents; then, loading the inhabitants with 
 chains, they threw them into prison in 
 crowds. The chief judge of the criminal 
 tribunal informed the court of this affair 
 of the Christians. Those who apostatized 
 were set at liberty, and had their property 
 restored to them. The storm abated for a 
 moment; but shortly after, when fresh 
 charges were brought forward by one of the 
 
COREA. 
 
 20 
 
 first ministers, the horizon of our unfortunate 
 country became more gloomy than ever. 
 The apostates were again seized. The twelve 
 places of assembly which we had in the capi- 
 tal were suddenly attacked and laid in ruins. 
 The pastoral staff, the mitre, and the other 
 episcopal ornaments, fell into the hands of 
 our enemies. They amused themselves by 
 imitating our holy ceremonies. The capture 
 of these religious objects rendered the search 
 more severe and the tortures more frequent. 
 They wished to know whence they came. 
 The Christians under torture did not utter 
 a single word which could compromise the 
 bishop and his fellow-laborers. Then the 
 minister Y made the court aware of what 
 was passing; a terrible edict against the 
 Christians was drawn up, and despatched to 
 all parts ; the provincial governors, however, 
 did not insist upon its complete execution. 
 Shortly afterward the minister Y was de- 
 posed, and Tchao, our most unrelenting * 
 enemy, took his place. Consequently the 
 persecution became more violent. By his 
 orders, all the Christians who were then in 
 the prisons of the capital were strangled, 
 excepting three, whose fate he left unde* 
 cided. 
 
COREA. 
 
 21 
 
 Mgr. Imbert was in Seoul* at the time, and 
 left it to be near MM. Maubant and Chastan, 
 who were ministering to the Christians in 
 the southern provinces. Their presence in 
 the kingdom was still a secret. They passed 
 three days together, deliberating on the 
 course which they ought to pursue under 
 such unfavorable circumstances. As they 
 were unable to leave the kingdom, because 
 every exit was closed to them, they deter- 
 mined to separate and to take those mea- 
 sures of prudence which the times required, 
 while they awaited with resignation the 
 trials which Providence should prepare for 
 them. 
 
 In the mean time the traitor Kimiensan 
 was seeking an opportunity to deliver up the 
 bishop and his fellow-laborers whom he had 
 denounced. The simplicity of a Christian 
 soon afforded him one. Taking some offi- 
 cers with him, he went up to this person, 
 and said to him, “ Oh, what good news I 
 have to tell you ! Have you heard that the 
 king and his ministers are converted ? They 
 desire to be thoroughly instructed in the 
 Christian religion, and to receive baptism at 
 
 * Seoul, or Capital, the name of the city in Corea which 
 is the residence of the court. 
 
22 
 
 COREA. 
 
 the hands of the bishop, and they have sent 
 these people to bring him to court. You are 
 acquainted with his place of retirement : tell 
 me where it is, and we will go there toge- 
 ther.” The Christian fell into the trap, and, 
 in a transport of joy, set out in company 
 with this troop. He left the officers at a dis- 
 tance of three leagues, and the traitor but a 
 short way off : then, going in to the bishop, 
 he related all that he had heard. “ You are 
 simple, indeed, to believe such stories: you 
 have been deceived,” replied the bishop. 
 Thinking that flight was impossible, and 
 might even be prejudicial to his flock, 
 Mgr. Imbert celebrated nfass, took a mo- 
 dest repast, and delivered himself up to his 
 enemies. 
 
 The government, finding the chief of the 
 Christians in its power, determined to seize 
 the other two priests at any cost. Officers 
 were despatched in all directions. The prisons 
 were filled with Christians. As the two Eu- 
 ropeans could not long remain concealed with- 
 out being captured, the bishop wrote to them 
 these few words : — “ ‘ A good shepherd gives 
 his life for his sheep.’ In the extremity in 
 which we find ourselves, you will be pleased to 
 come to the capital immediately on receiving 
 this note. Do not allow any of your servants to 
 
COREA. 
 
 23 
 
 accompany you.” A mandarin of inferior 
 rank, with an escort of soldiers, was the 
 bearer of the letter. The two priests re- 
 ceived it with great joy, made without delay 
 the final arrangements necessary for the guid- 
 ance of the Christians after their death, and 
 cheerfully went to receive the palm which 
 awaited them. The bishop and his fellow- 
 laborers were confined in the prison ; and 
 the same day saw them ascend to heaven and 
 take possession of the crown of martyrdom. 
 
 About two hundred persons were captured 
 at Seoul, and nearly fifty of them were be- 
 headed. More than sixty persons were stran- 
 gled, or died under or immediately after the 
 torture, or of illness. Those of them who 
 had apostatized acknowledged their fault be- 
 fore their death, and retracted their denial of 
 the faith. When the guards of the prison 
 ■witnessed their expressions of sorrow, they 
 said, “ Their mouth alone renounced their 
 religion : their heart has always remained 
 unchanged.” “In truth,” added the other 
 apostates, as they left the prison, “there is 
 no fear for their salvation : nothing more can 
 be necessary to their contrition. Even the 
 children die with a cheerfulness which is sur- 
 prising.” The other prisoners were set at 
 liberty. 
 
24 
 
 COREA. 
 
 In the province of Tsella nine persons 
 were beheaded, five of whom had been in 
 prison for thirteen years. About twelve ex- 
 pired under the torture or died in prison. 
 
 In the province of Kiensang three persons 
 were beheaded. 
 
 In that of Kang-ouen one had his head cut 
 off, two died in prison, and two others were 
 exiled. 
 
 In the province of Thong-Tsheng seven 
 persons were captured and sent to Seoul. 
 Some of these were beheaded : the rest died 
 in prison. 
 
 In the province of Kiengkei and in the 
 country beyond the capital nine died in 
 prison. Two years after this great persecu- 
 tion, the Christians in Seoul were again pur- 
 sued. By the mercy of God, no more than 
 seven persons were taken and put to death. 
 
 The traitor Kimiensan thought that he had 
 gained great merit, and was in expectation 
 of being largely rewarded ; but he became 
 the object of universal hatred. In the fol- 
 lowing year, in company with another man 
 of equally bad character, he again attempted 
 to provoke a persecution of the Christians, 
 but he was arrested, severely beaten, and 
 exiled for life. 
 
 The minister Y fell into disgrace, was 
 
COREA. 25 
 
 banished, and died shortly after arriving at 
 his place of exile. 
 
 The minister Tchao* expired at table, in 
 the height of his prosperity. Such is the 
 success of those who would rebel against the 
 Most High. 
 
 THE TORTURES. 
 
 In order that we may not have to describe 
 repeatedly the tortures which the different 
 martyrs underwent, we will explain them here 
 once for all. There are nine kinds of them. 
 
 1. The “board” is made of the wood of 
 an extremely hard species of oak, of the 
 thickness of an inch and a half, nine inches 
 in breadth, and four feet in length, fashioned 
 at one end in the form of a handle. The 
 sufferer is laid at full length, with his face 
 turned toward the ground, while a strong 
 man strikes him violently with the instru- 
 ment described, on the tender part of the leg 
 above the knee. After a few blows the blood 
 rushes out, the flesh is detached, and pieces 
 of it fly off. At the tenth stroke the board 
 penetrates to the bone and gives out a hor- 
 
 * Tchao was the king’s maternal uncle. The king, fear- 
 ing his influence, commanded him to swallow a cup of 
 poison, and he died on the spot. This happened in the 
 month of December, 1843, ten days before I came to the 
 capital. 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 COREA. 
 
 rible sound. Some of the Christians received 
 more than sixty blows at a time. The suf- 
 ferer, the executioner, and the ground be- 
 come covered with blood and pieces of flesh. 
 
 2. The “triple rod” is formed of three 
 stout rods twisted together like a rope. The 
 sufferer is stripped, and beaten with this over 
 the whole of his body. 
 
 3. The “ long rods” are four in number. 
 They are about the height of a man and the 
 thickness of one’s arm. Four men stand 
 round the sufferer, and all strike him at once 
 with the ends of the rods about the hips and 
 thighs. 
 
 4. Bending the legs. The two great toes 
 are tied one against the other, and the two 
 legs together above the knees; two sticks 
 are placed between them, and slowly drawn 
 apart until the bones take the form of a 
 bow, when the} 7 are very gradually relaxed. 
 Or else, after the great toes are tied together, 
 a piece of wood is placed between the legs, 
 and two men, pulling cords fastened to the 
 knees, draw them gradually together, until 
 at last they touch one another. 
 
 5. The dislocation of the arms. The arms 
 are tightly tied together behind the back at 
 the elbows, and forcibly parted by means 
 of two sticks: afterward the shoulders are 
 
COREA. 
 
 27 
 
 drawn together by cords fastened to each 
 arm : lastly, all these being loosened, a man 
 takes hold of the hands of the sufferer, and, 
 resting his feet on his breast, draws his arms 
 toward him to bring the bones back to their 
 
 6. Rubbing the legs. This punishment 
 consists in rubbing the front of the legs 
 with a triangular stick: after a time the 
 skin is removed, and the wood scrapes the 
 bone. 
 
 7. The “ sawing-rope.” A rope is laid 
 round the leg, and two men take hold of 
 the ends and draw it to and fro, after the 
 manner of sawyers, until it reaches the bone: 
 it is then transferred to another part. 
 
 8. Hanging. The sufferer is stripped, his 
 hands are fastened behind his back, and he 
 is hung up by his arms: then four men beat 
 him in turn with sticks. In a short time 
 his tongue hangs out of his mouth, foam 
 issues from it, and his face assumes a purple 
 color: he is taken down before he expires, 
 that he may again undergo the same tor- 
 ture. 
 
 9. The “ ruler” is a piece of wood two 
 inches wide, three feet long, and very thin. 
 When the Christian has not denied the faith 
 at the first tribunal, he is transferred to the 
 
28 
 
 COREA. 
 
 second; there he undergoes three interroga- 
 tories, and each time he receives thirty blows 
 of the ruler on the front of the leg. The 
 piece of wood is made in sudh a manner 
 that it breaks at the first blow, so that thirty 
 are required for each interrogatory. If, 
 after the third, he still remains firm, sen- 
 tence is pronounced. The tenor of it is, 
 that he is condemned to death for following 
 after evil doctrine. The laws of the king- 
 dom require that the criminal, before under- 
 going his sentence, should sign it with his 
 ow 7 n hand. The martyrs all refused to do 
 this. “ Our religion is the true one, and the 
 only true one,” they answered: “we cannot 
 bear witness to what is false.” Their hands 
 were seized, and they were made by force to 
 sign it. 
 
 It is easy to perceive that, after under- 
 going such tortures, the sufferers no longer 
 retained the use of their limbs. After the 
 interrogatory, two of the executioners took 
 them up on two sticks, and carried them, 
 with their arms and legs hanging down, into 
 their dungeon. 
 
COREA. 
 
 29 
 
 THE PRISONS. 
 
 The prison is a large enclosure surrounded 
 by high walls; in the interior, the cells are 
 arranged in several floors ; they have no 
 windows, and but little daylight penetrates 
 into them. The cold is intolerable in win- 
 ter,* and the heat in summer. The floors 
 of the cells are covered with mats of coarse 
 straw. The Christians were crowded to- 
 gether in them to such a degree that they 
 could not stretch out their legs. 
 
 They all bore witness that the torments 
 just described could bear no comparison 
 with those which they had to suffer in this 
 fearful abode. In a short time their mats 
 grew rotten from the. blood and matter which 
 issued from their wounds, and filled the place 
 with an intolerable stench. 
 
 But it was hunger which was by far jtheir 
 most grievous suffering; some of them, who 
 had endured the rest, could not bear up 
 against this. Their food consisted of a cup 
 containing a handful of small millet, which 
 
 * In the course of last winter, the thermometer at Seoul 
 went down to 20 degrees of Reaumur, or 13 below zero of 
 Fahrenheit. 
 
 3 * 
 
30 
 
 COREA. 
 
 they received twice a day. They were re- 
 duced to eating even the putrefying straw on 
 which they lay. The prisons swarmed with 
 fleas, lice, and bugs, to such a degree that 
 they took them up by handfuls, and, horrible 
 to relate, did not shrink from making them 
 their food. A pestilential sickness appeared 
 among them, and carried off a great number. 
 In the midst of all these sufferings the 
 glorious soldiers of Jesus Christ had but 
 one fear; namely, that they should die 
 before they laid their heads under the axe 
 of the executioner: and they even took 
 medicines to prolong their existence. 
 
 In Corea great secrecy is observed in the 
 trial of criminals. Almost all the confessors 
 wrote letters: it is unfortunate that they 
 have been lost, as they might have afforded 
 many interesting particulars. We will give 
 here the little information which we have 
 been able to obtain, and of which we gua- 
 rantee the authenticity. 
 
 LAURENCE IMBERT, BISHOP. 
 
 Laurence Imbert was a Frenchman. God 
 bestowed upon him a happy inclination to 
 virtue and knowledge from the time of his 
 birth. He had a generous and compassion- 
 
COREA. 
 
 31 
 
 ate heart. When he was yet a hoy, hardly 
 seven years old, his father used to read to 
 him the “ Lettres Edifiantes,” and his heart 
 was deeply moved at learning that there 
 were so many pagan nations in the world 
 who were lost for want of priests to teach 
 them the truth. He said to his father, 
 “ Some day, I will go and preach the faith 
 in these distant countries, and save these 
 souls who are falling into hell.”’ This gene- 
 rous resolution grew stronger as he advanced 
 in age. He passed through his course of 
 studies with distinction, was ordained priest, 
 and set out for the missions. He arrived 
 safely in China, where he spent about fifteen 
 years. His progress in the study of the lan- 
 guage was very rapid. The bishop intrusted 
 to him the college where several young men 
 were preparing for the priesthood. His repu- 
 tation for virtue spread far and wide. He 
 was appointed Bishop of Capsa and Vicar- 
 Apostolic of Corea and Liou-Tsou, and set 
 out at once upon his journey to occupy the 
 post which had been assigned to him. He 
 made no account of the innumerable fatigues 
 and dangers which were in store for him. 
 His journey occupied several months. He 
 arrived at Seoul, the capital of Corea, on the 
 first day of the twelfth month of the year, 
 
32 
 
 COREA. 
 
 Ting-iou, (28th of December, 1837.) He ap- 
 plied himself with eagerness to the study of 
 the language: in a few months he was suffi- 
 cient master of it to hear confessions and ad- 
 minister the sacraments. He caused our books 
 of devotion to be translated into the Corean 
 language from the Chinese. From that time 
 all were able to understand them, both the 
 learned and the ignorant, the young and the 
 old.* His assiduity in prayer, his zeal in 
 preaching the word of God, and his dili- 
 gence in his episcopal labors, were worthy 
 of admiration. Every thing he did was 
 orderly, and even the most unimportant 
 actions were performed at their appointed 
 times. He fasted three times a week. His 
 zeal frequently made him forget to take 
 sleep and food. But, if he was harsh 
 toward himself, he treated others with the 
 greatest sweetness. All had the same 
 ready access to him that children have to 
 their father. 
 
 After he had remained a year in the capi- 
 tal, he left it for the provinces: he always 
 passed through the cities and villages on 
 
 * Hitherto the Christians of Corea had been accustomed 
 to recite their prayers in the Chinese language, which was 
 only understood by a small portion of those acquainted with 
 its characters. 
 
CORE A. 
 
 38 
 
 foot. This good example deeply moved the 
 Christians: sinners were covered with con- 
 fusion and returned to better sentiments. 
 His visits were short : and in a few months 
 he returned to Seoul. In a short time the 
 persecution broke out. The Christians were 
 put in chains, and perished under the sword: 
 those who remained in prison were in a de- 
 plorable condition. Like a good pastor, the 
 bishop caused the dead to be buried, and be- 
 stowed upon those who were in prison the 
 most touching attention : he sent them 
 
 money and rice, and even the clothes which 
 he was wearing. His stay in the capital was 
 not unattended with danger, and he retired 
 into the provinces to conceal himself. It 
 would be impossible to describe the misery 
 and privations which he had to suffer there. 
 His desire of martyrdom increased from day 
 to da} 7 . The prospect of it, which he had be- 
 fore him, consoled him in the midst of his 
 sufferings, and made them sweet and agree- 
 able to him. Alas! the heart of man con- 
 tains depths which it is impossible to fathom. 
 A pagan, called Kimiensan, was converted, 
 and received the name of John at his baptism. 
 He was driven out of his father’s house on 
 account of his religion, and was in a state of 
 great distress, when the bishop came to his 
 c 
 
u 
 
 COREA. 
 
 assistance, and overwhelmed him with bene- 
 fits. He only became more ungrateful. 
 When he was with Christians he showed ex- 
 ternal signs of piety, while he was secretly in 
 consultation with the officers as to the means 
 of seizing the missionaries. We have already 
 related how he succeeded in delivering up 
 Monsignor Imbert. When the bishop joined 
 the officers he found a large assemblage of 
 pagans, curious to see a European : he 
 preached the faith to them, and they listened 
 with respectful attention. The officers made 
 him sit upon a chair, carried by bearers, and 
 conveyed him thus to the capital. During the 
 journey they acted as his escort: on their 
 arrival at the gates of Seoul they passed the 
 red cord* round his arms, and lodged him in 
 the thieves’ prison, called Potseng. The • 
 judge confronted him with Paul Ting,t 
 Augustine Liou, and Charles Tchao. The 
 bishop said to them, “Since every one is 
 aware that there are three Europeans in the 
 kingdom, it is useless to make a mystery of it; 
 only let us not declare the place of conceal- 
 ment of the other two; let us put our confi- 
 dence in the assistance of God, and endure 
 
 * It is the custom here to secure criminals with a red 
 rope. 
 
 f A disciple of the bishop. 
 
COREA. 
 
 35 
 
 the tortures in silence.” The judge had him 
 brought before his tribunal, and said to him, 
 “Tell me, where are the other Europeans?” 
 The answer of the bishop is not known. 
 "While he was being tortured by the twisting 
 of his legs, the judge said, “Why did you 
 enter the kingdom?” “To rescue souls 
 from the power of the devil, and guide them 
 into the way of salvation.” “How many 
 persons have you instructed in your reli- 
 gion?” “Several hundred.” “Where are 
 they ?” “ They are innocent, and you desire 
 
 to put them to death. I cannot denounce 
 them.” “Will you renounce your God?” “I 
 renounce my God ? Ho, never.” The bishop 
 answered with emotion, in a loud and firm 
 voice. He w 7 as then taken back to prison. 
 During the next few days, the search after 
 the Christians was carried on wdth the 
 greatest severity, and many were put in 
 chains. The bishop, being of opinion that 
 the presence of the pastor was hurtful to the 
 flock, wrote to MM. Maubant and Chastan 
 to join him. A few days after, they shared 
 his imprisonment. The judge made great 
 preparations to intimidate the prisoners : he 
 made them all three appear before him. 
 “What is the name of the person with whom 
 you live?” The bishop answered, “He is 
 
36 
 
 COREA. 
 
 called Paul Ting, and is already in youi 
 hands.” “Whence do you obtain money to 
 serve for your maintenance?” “We have 
 brought it from our native country.” “You 
 had nothing to live upon at home ; you are 
 come here to gain a livelihood.” “You 
 would not say so if you were acquainted with 
 our country.” “ Who sent you to this king- 
 dom ?” “ The Pope, the head of our reli- 
 
 gion.” “Who invited you to come? by 
 whose assistance did you enter the king- 
 dom?” “Every thing has been reported to 
 you; you know all ; the Christians called us 
 to the aid of their souls ; Ting Liou and 
 Tchao accomplished the rest.” The judge 
 then said, in a tone of irony, “Keturn to 
 your country.” “In leaving our country we 
 made the sacrifice of our lives: before our 
 departure we knew the risk to which we 
 were exposing them ; but the salvation of 
 souls was more dear to us than our lives. 
 We shall die here, and our God will crown 
 us with eternal glory.” “ Tell me the places 
 where those of your sect live.” “We should 
 commit a crime in betraying them, because 
 we should expose them to death.” The con- 
 fessors underwent the torture of the “board:” 
 each received three blows. At the first 
 stroke M. Maubant raised himself up for a 
 
COREA. 
 
 37 
 
 moment, crying, “The Coreans are indeed 
 cruel.” They were then taken back to 
 prison. A number of mandarins assembled 
 in this court, and overwhelmed them with 
 questions for three days. It is not known 
 what were the questions or the answers given 
 to them. The prisoners were afterward 
 transferred to the royal tribunal,* called 
 Remgrou. In this prison a bell rings day 
 and night, so that the inmates are unable to 
 understand one another. When the judge 
 wishes to interrogate any of them, he 
 sends an attendant with a message ; the 
 latter delivers it in the ear of the criminal, 
 and receives his answer; they two alone can 
 hear what is said. The confessors were in- 
 terrogated before the court, and each re- 
 ceived seventy blows of the “ ruler” on the 
 leg. They are condemned to death. 
 
 PETER MAUBANT, PRIEST. 
 
 Peter Maubant was a Frenchman. He 
 was of an upright disposition, of a grave, 
 dignified, and imposing deportment, and at 
 the same time affable, humble, and modest. 
 
 * In this court criminals of note are interrogated by the 
 king in person, through the medium of the principal minis- 
 ters 
 
 4 
 
38 
 
 COREA. 
 
 He suffered much during his journey from 
 Europe to Asia, and his life was often in 
 danger. He went first to China, and there 
 made the acquaintance of Mgr. Brugniere, 
 the first Bishop of Corea, and arranged with 
 him to follow him to his vicariate. The 
 Dishop died on the journey, and the priest 
 found himself the inheritor of his powers. 
 He entered Corea on the seventh day of the 
 twelfth month of the year, elmi , (26th of De- 
 cember, 1835.) His first occupation there 
 was to set in order many things which had 
 gone wrong. He chose three pupils to send 
 to Macao for the future requirements of the 
 mission. He remained in the capital a few 
 months, in which time he learned a little of 
 the language. He then set out for the pro- 
 vinces, and, as he always travelled on foot, 
 he had to suffer many hardships,* especially 
 from hunger and thirst, so as often to faint 
 by the way. His only food was a little rice 
 
 * There are nothing but mountains and valleys in Corea; 
 no roads, for our way of making them is entirely unknown : 
 so that there are but rough and difficult paths, often thrown 
 across the sides of mountains which are almost perpendi- 
 cular, where a false step would precipitate one to the bottom 
 of the valley. Five hours of such travelling quite exhausts 
 the strength of a European. 
 
COREA. 39 
 
 and boiled herbs, and bis clothes were made 
 of coarse linen. 
 
 During the whole winter the country is 
 covered with ice and snow. From prudential 
 motives, he always travelled at night. His 
 shoes* were cut to pieces by the roads, and 
 his stockings were full of holes, but he went 
 on with bare feet, saying it was worth while 
 to suffer something for the sake of saving 
 souls. He showed great patience in in- 
 structing the ignorant and the stupid. But 
 the care of souls was not the only object of 
 his zeal. It would be difficult to count the 
 poor persons to whom he gave food and 
 clothing in those times of scarcity. When 
 he received the order of the bishop to return, 
 he at once notified it to M. Chastan. 
 
 JAMES CHASTAN, PRIEST. 
 
 James Chastan was a Frenchman who had 
 many virtues, and was especially distin- 
 guished for his compassion, so that he spread 
 abroad the good odor of Jesus Christ. He 
 conceived the idea of preaching the gospel 
 to heathen nations, disregarding the dangers 
 / 
 
 * Corean shoes are only sandals of rice-straw ; travellers 
 on foot need almost a pair a day. 
 
40 
 
 COREA. 
 
 he would incur. He came by sea to Siam 
 where he exercised hi3 zeal for some years, 
 and then went on to China to employ him- 
 self in the service of the Coreans. 
 
 He entered the capital on the ninth day 
 of the twelfth month of the year Ping-fin, 
 (17th of December, 1836.) He remained 
 there a few months, learned the language, 
 and began his ministry. He passed through 
 many countries, and crossed many high 
 mountains. It would be impossible to relate 
 all that he had to suffer. He was most dili- 
 gent in instructing people both day and 
 night; his kindness was extreme, and his 
 disposition so equable and tranquil, that no 
 one ever heard him say any thing which de- 
 noted the slightest impatience. No one 
 could come near him without being inflamed 
 with the love of God. The Christians found 
 united in him a father’s love and a mother’s 
 tenderness. When he saw any one in rags, he 
 took off his own clothes to cover him ; he gave 
 his last penny to the poor, and even after that 
 procured from others the means of assisting 
 them. His charity was extended to pagans as 
 well as Christians, and, as he never refused 
 alms to any one, he always returned to the 
 capital empty-handed. In the space of three 
 years he travelled three times over four or 
 
COREA. 
 
 41 
 
 five provinces. He was just going to Seoul 
 when the persecution was declared and 
 many Christians were arrested. They suf- 
 fered great privations in prison, at whicli he 
 was so much pained, that, as he had nothing to 
 give, he ordered collections to be made and 
 the proceeds to be transmitted to the prisoners. 
 
 As soon as he received the letter of M. 
 Maubant, he set out to join him with all 
 speed. On his way, he said to the Christians 
 who accompanied him, “I travel this road 
 as joyfully as if I was going to a delicious 
 banquet.” When he joined his colleague, 
 they wrote a letter together to give their 
 last admonitions to the faithful ; after which 
 they set out to find the officers. They were 
 immediately taken to the chief office, where 
 cangues were put upon their necks, and one 
 of their hands fastened to them ; a large veil 
 was thrown over their heads, and in that 
 guise they were put on horseback and con- 
 ducted to the capital. 
 
 As the three prisoners were foreigners, 
 the law did not determine the penalty to be 
 adopted in their case : they were therefore 
 treated as enemies of the state. The mode 
 of execution which was employed in their 
 case was different from the ordinary treat- 
 ment of criminals. On the fourteenth day 
 
 4 * 
 
42 
 
 C 0 K E A. 
 
 of the eighth moon, in the year Ki-hai, (21st 
 of December, 1839,) a military mandarin of 
 high rank went to the prison, attended by one 
 hundred and twenty-seven soldiers. Three lit- 
 ters had been roughly made up, consistingjof a 
 straw seat between two long poles. The mis- 
 sionaries were seated in these with their hands 
 tied behind their backs, and, surrounded by the 
 escort of soldiers and an immense crowd of 
 people, were conveyed to a spot on the bank of 
 the river situated at the distance of a league 
 from the city. The three Europeans had no 
 clothes but their shirts and trousers. Upon 
 a pole in the middle of the plain a flag was 
 flying, upon which was written the crime for 
 which they were condemned. The soldiers 
 were drawn up in a ring round them. After 
 the shirts of the prisoners had been taken 
 ofl*, water was thrown in their faces and 
 also some handfuls of lime. Then six men 
 carried them round the ring three times, 
 each sitting astride upon a pole. After this 
 cruel and grotesque mockery, they were 
 made to kneel down, two arrows were passed 
 through their ears, and a rope fastened to 
 their hair,* by which their heads were kept 
 
 * The Coreans allow their hair to grow long, and tie it 
 in a knot on the top of their head. 
 
COREA. 
 
 43 
 
 in an upright position. A dozen soldiers 
 armed with sabres manoeuvred round them 
 as though fighting, and struck the martyrs 
 on the neck as they passed by them. When 
 M. Chastan received the first blow on his 
 shoulder, he raised himself for an instant 
 and then fell on his knees again. A soldier 
 took the heads, as soon as they were cut oft* 
 and placed them on a board to present to 
 the mandarin, wffio returned to inform the 
 court of the execution. 
 
 According to the laws of the kingdom, 
 the bodies of criminals should remain on the 
 place of execution during three days : after 
 that period their kinsmen are permitted to 
 remove them. While the remains of the 
 three martyrs were thus lying exposed, some 
 Christians attempted to carry them away, 
 but were unable at first to do so, as officers 
 in disguise were keeping guard on all sides. 
 After three weeks had elapsed, eight of 
 them, disregarding the danger of death, 
 penetrated by night to the place of martyr- 
 dom. About half a foot of earth had been 
 thrown over their bodies. They disinterred 
 them and found nothing but bones, some 
 of which had been gnawed by wild beasts. 
 They collected them and buried them at a 
 short distance from Seoul. Every day a 
 
44 COREA. 
 
 crowd of persons of all ranks came to pray 
 over their tomb : but, as this devotion 
 might have been attended with evil conse- 
 quences, the catechists caused the remains 
 of the martyrs to be removed to the summit 
 of a lofty mountain apart from any dwell- 
 ing. 
 
 The bones are mixed : the head of the 
 bishop can alone be recognised : one of the 
 three heads has been lost. 
 
 AUGUSTINE Y, 
 
 HIS WIFE BARBARA, AND THEIR DAUGHTER AGATHA. 
 
 Y belonged to a family of distinction. 
 Before his conversion to Christianity he was 
 a man who was fond of society and pleasure. 
 At the age of thirty he heard the faith dis- 
 cussed and embraced it. From that time 
 forward his life became most exemplary. 
 After he lost his property in the persecu- 
 tions, he endured poverty with great pa- 
 tience. Teaching the ignorant, preaching to 
 sinners, instructing the pagans in the truths 
 of religion, were the occupations to which 
 he devoted himself, in company with his 
 wife, who was as pious as himself. 
 
 A great number of pagans might be men- 
 tioned as having been converted by his 
 
COREA. 
 
 45 
 
 preaching. He was seized with all his family 
 in the month of March, in the year 1839, and 
 conveyed to the prison of Potseng.* 
 
 When he was brought before the judge, 
 and commanded by him to renounce his 
 faith and betray the other Christians, he 
 showed great firmness and courage. He was 
 then severely beaten and transferred to the 
 prison of Kientsb. When the judge of that 
 court perceived among his family children 
 still young and delicate, he was moved to 
 pity, and employed both promises and me- 
 naces, in the hope of impairing his resolu- 
 tion ; but all was in vain. The judge then 
 became furious, caused him to be beaten 
 cruelly, sent back to the other prison those 
 of his children who were by law incapable 
 of being beheaded, and then said to Au- 
 gustine, “ Say but one word, and you will 
 free yourself, your wife, your brother, and 
 your children, and recover your property.” 
 “My faith,” answered Augustine, “ is dearer 
 to me than all I have in the world ; I would 
 lose every thing rather than renounce it.” 
 His legs were rubbed with the triangulai 
 stick, and the judge then said to him, 
 “ Come now, supposing that you set no 
 
 * The prison in which thieves are confined. 
 
46 
 
 COREA. 
 
 value on your own life, will you not have 
 pity on your wife and children ?” “ I love 
 
 my wife and my children, and for that very 
 reason I will not give them an example of 
 weakness.” “ Let him be beaten until he 
 dies,” said the judge in a passion. The 
 flesh fell off in lumps from the body of Au- 
 gustine ; his face and clothes, and the whole 
 of his body, were covered with blood. The 
 spectators turned aside in horror. His sen- 
 fence was delivered, and carried into execu- 
 tion on the 24th of May, 1839. He was be- 
 headed at the age of fifty-three. 
 
 It is easy to imagine what the mother’s 
 heart of Barbara underwent at the sight of 
 the torments of her children. She offered 
 her sufferings up as a sacrifice to God. She 
 remained in prison six months, and was un- 
 moved by the tortures inflicted upon her. 
 On the 3d of September, 1839, she was be- 
 headed, at the age of forty-six. 
 
 Their daughter Agatha was sent back to 
 the prison of Potseng. This, however, only 
 caused her to suffer more. In the space of 
 ten months, — during which her captivity in 
 this fearful prison lasted, — she had to endure 
 hunger, cold, sickness, and the horrors of her 
 dungeon. She received three hundred blows 
 with a stick and ninety with a board ; but 
 
COREA. 
 
 47 
 
 her constancy was unshaken. She was stran- 
 gled in prison on the 17th of January, 1840, 
 when she was fifteen years of age. 
 
 DAMIAN NAM, AND MARY HIS WIFE. 
 
 Nam reckoned many mandarins among his 
 ancestors. At the age of thirty he became 
 acquainted with the faith and embraced Chris- 
 tianity. His zeal for his own sanctification 
 and for that of others attracted the attention 
 of the bishop, and he was appointed a cate- 
 chist. His house was used by the faithful as 
 an oratory, and the missionaries frequently 
 lodged there. During the persecution he 
 gave shelter to many persons, and they used 
 laughingly to say to him, “ What will pos- 
 terity say of you ?” “ It is my one desire,” an- 
 swered he, “ that it should be said that Da- 
 mian Nam was a martyr of Jesus Christ.” 
 He was captured one night, with all his 
 family. The episcopal ornaments — which 
 he kept in his house — fell into the hands of 
 the officers. The captives were confined in 
 the Potseng. From the part of the prison 
 w T hich he occupied, Damian overheard his wife 
 upbraiding the jailers with their want of re- 
 spect toward her, and cried out to her, in a 
 loud voice, “We are prisoners for the sake 
 
18 
 
 COREA. 
 
 of Jesus Christ, and should therefore be like 
 lambs destined to death. Let us imitate him, 
 and not lose so good an opportunity of suf- 
 fering for the glory of his name.” Mary 
 heard him say this, and from that time for- 
 ward endured both pain and insult without 
 uttering a word of complaint. 
 
 When the day dawned, the judge ordered 
 Damian to be brought before his tribunal. 
 “ Tell me honestly, at once, to whom this 
 great cap [speaking of the mitre which he 
 had before him] and these vestments of sac- 
 rifice belong, and where they have come 
 from.” “ Our priest Tcheou* used them 
 formerly : it was he who brought them from 
 China.” “That is false: these marks of 
 sweat are recent, and prove that they have 
 been used at a later period. This cap, be- 
 sides, has the appearance of being new.” 
 Damian made no answer. “Abandon this 
 foreign religion, and save your own life and 
 the lives of your wife and children.” “My 
 religion, which you call foreign, is of all 
 times and of all places. I have known and 
 practised it for eight years, and I will never 
 renounce it.” “You are acquainted with 
 the Christians : tell me the houses where 
 
 * A Chinese priest martyred in 1801. 
 
COREA. 
 
 49 
 
 they live.” “Among the commandments 
 of our God there is one which forbids us to 
 do injury to our neighbor: so I cannot de- 
 nounce them.” He was examined several 
 days consecutively, and at each interrogatory 
 he underwent cruel tortures. He was then 
 removed to Kientso, and the judge of that 
 court asked him the same questions. “ Tor- 
 ture me till I expire, if you will ; I have but 
 one thing to say : I am a Christian, and I 
 will remain one until my death. You will 
 get no other answer from me.” The judge 
 ordered that he should thrice receive thirty 
 blows of the “ruler,” on the leg, and con- 
 demned him to death. A few days before the 
 execution, Damian wrote to his wife, “ This 
 world is only a place of travel: our home is 
 in heaven. We are suffering for the Lord’s 
 sake : a few more hours of pain, and we shall 
 meet forever in the abode of glory.” He 
 went quite joyfully to the place of execution, 
 and never ceased praying up to the moment 
 when his head fell under the sword of the 
 executioner, on the 24th of May, 1839. He 
 was thirty-eight years of age. 
 
 His wife Mary possessed a more than ordi- 
 nary amount of intelligence and courage. 
 Full of piety and zeal, she used to prepare 
 persons of her own sex, in the house of her 
 
 D 5 
 
50 
 
 COREA. 
 
 husband, to receive the sacraments worthily. 
 To the tortures which she endured in her 
 own person were added those of her son, 
 then twelve years old. Almost daily, mes- 
 sages were sent to her that he had been 
 beaten with rods, or that he was dying with 
 hunger, or wasting away with the fevers of 
 the pestilent dungeons. Her heart was pierced 
 with sorrow, but she remained steadfast. 
 After frequently suffering torture, she was 
 beheaded, on the 3d of September, 1839, at 
 the age of thirty-six. 
 
 PETER KOUEN. 
 
 Peter was born of Christian parents. His 
 family was extremely poor, although it be- 
 longed to the second class of citizens.* He 
 gained his livelihood by carrying on a small 
 trade. As he was naturally of an amiable 
 disposition, the Christians of the provinces 
 used to have recourse to him when they came 
 to the capital to buy goods ; and he attended 
 to them with the utmost regularity. But, 
 what is still more to his praise, he was most 
 
 * There are four classes of citizens in Corea: the nobility, 
 who alone are entitled to hold high dignities ; the burghers, 
 who can aspire to lesser offices ; the lowest class, and the 
 slaves. 
 
COREA. 
 
 51 
 
 exact in fulfilling his religions duties. He 
 was captured in the month of December, 
 1838, and tortured cruelly ; but his constancy 
 never failed. The judge said to him, “ Why 
 do you practise the religion of the Lord of 
 Heaven ?” “ God created heaven and earth, 
 
 and he is the Father of all men. He heaps 
 so many benefits upon them that, whatever 
 they do, they cannot pay him back the ten- 
 thousandth part. In gratitude for each one 
 of his favors, I honor him, and will honor 
 him always, whether you will it or no.” The 
 judge, in a rage, ordered the executioners to 
 beat him, and afterward said to him, “ De- 
 nounce the people of your sect.” “My re- 
 ligion forbids me to do injury to my neigh- 
 bor : how then can I let a word escape my 
 lips which would pierce their hearts like a 
 sword ?” After some time he was transferred 
 to Kientso. The judge of that court had 
 some good qualities, and condemned Chris- 
 tians to death with the greatest reluctance. 
 He would use every kind of persuasion to 
 draw from them a single word of apostasy, 
 that he might dismiss them to their homes. 
 He used to say to them, “You Christians 
 are indeed strange people ; you might be 
 expected to beg me to spare your lives, as 
 other criminals do ; but, on the contrary, it 
 
I 
 
 52 COREA. 
 
 is I who beseech yon to preserve them your 
 selves. Speak but one word, and all is at an 
 end, and you may return home.” The kind- 
 ness of this judge, however, was no less cruel 
 to the faithful, since he prolonged their lives 
 in hopes of forcing them to apostatize, and 
 thus caused them double sufferings. He acted 
 in this manner in the case of Peter. He left 
 it to the discretion of the criminals in prison 
 to torture him, and the latter fully carried 
 out his intention.' They overwhelmed the 
 sufferer with blows, and twice left him for 
 dead. Peter underwent three interrogatories, 
 and at each of them suffered the punishment 
 of the “triangular stick.” His flesh was de- 
 tached from the hones and scattered over the 
 ground. His tranquillity remained unaltered, 
 and heavenly calmness and joy overspread 
 his countenance. The officers, as they were 
 conducting him back from the court to prison, 
 said to him, by order of the judge, “ You 
 have but to utter a single word, — it matters 
 not whether it be true or false, — only say that 
 you are not a Christian, and you are at once 
 dismissed. Afterward you can practise your 
 religion as much as you please.” “My re- 
 ligion,” replied Peter, “is dearer to me than 
 all else in the world : to abandon it would 
 be worse than death.” He was condemned 
 
COREA. 
 
 53 
 
 to be beheaded. His joy was redoubled as 
 he was going to the place of execution. A 
 smile was visible upon his countenance even 
 after his head was severed from his body. 
 He was martyred on the 24th of May, 1839, 
 in the thirty -fifth year of his age. 
 
 AGATHA Y, WIDOW. 
 
 Agatha lost her father at an early age. 
 Her mother greatly neglected her religious 
 instruction, and married her to a pagan,* 
 who at the end of three years left her a 
 widow, and childless. She returned to her 
 father’s house, received instruction in the 
 Christian religion, and practised it in the 
 most exemplary manner. After the death 
 of her father the property of the family 
 gradually diminished, and was at length ex- 
 hausted. She had to suffer much on account 
 of her poverty, and endured all without 
 complaint. She was seized in the early part 
 of the year 1835, but remained firm when 
 tempted to apostatize and to betray the 
 Christians. The judge handed her over to 
 the executioners, who, after stripping her of 
 
 * Before the arrival of the missionaries, the Coreans, 
 both children and adults, received baptism only in articulo 
 mortis. 
 
 5 * 
 
54 
 
 COREA. 
 
 her clothes, suspended her by the arms, and 
 beat her with rods until her body was 
 bruised all over. As she remained in- 
 flexible, she was condemned to death. 
 Agatha endured the sufferings and priva- 
 tions of her prison for four years, without 
 showing the least weakness. At length her 
 sufferings came to an end ; she was be- 
 headed on the 24th of May, 1839, at the age 
 of fifty-six. 
 
 MAGDALEN KIM, WIDOW. 
 
 The parents of Magdalen were poor. Her 
 father departed from this world soon after 
 her birth. She lived under the guardian- 
 ship of her mother, a bad and ill-tempered 
 woman. Notwithstanding the evil example 
 which she had before her, she continued the 
 practice of virtue from her infancy. She 
 desired to preserve her virginity, but her 
 mother compelled her to marry. After a 
 few years she lost her husband and children, 
 and returned to her mother’s house. It 
 -would be impossible to relate all she had to 
 suffer from the bad disposition of the latter; 
 but nevertheless she was alwa3 T s submissive 
 to her, and never allowed herself to be want- 
 ing in the discharge of her filial duties. She 
 
COREA. 
 
 55 
 
 suffered afi patiently and sweetly, and with- 
 out complaint. In order to try her, and 
 render her more perfect, God permitted that 
 her mother should live to a great age. 
 She was well acquainted with her religion, 
 and used to preach it to the pagans, of whom 
 she converted several. The baptism of 
 dying children was also one of the special 
 objects of her zeal. She had an ardent 
 desire of shedding her blood for the glory 
 of Jesus Christ. When she was seized and 
 brought before the judge, in the year 1836, 
 she boldly explained to him the mysteries of 
 our faith. Her courage made her triumph 
 over her executioners and their tortures. 
 After she was condemned to be beheaded, 
 she remained for three years in prison, where 
 she had to endure a longer and more glori- 
 ous martyrdom. At length she consummated 
 it on the 24th of May, 1839, at the age of 
 sixty-six. 
 
 BARBARA HAU, WIDOW. 
 
 The parents of Barbara were Christians, 
 and brought her up in the faith from her in- 
 fancy ; but she profited little by their instruc- 
 tions. After passing her youth in careless- 
 ness and dissipation, she married a pagan. 
 
56 
 
 COREA. 
 
 One day her mother, as she was going to 
 visit her, met at the door Magdalen Kim, of 
 whom we have spoken above. They both 
 went in, and earnestly entreated her to 
 change her life : it was a moment of grace 
 for Barbara; she was converted, and from 
 that time forward was an example of all 
 Christian virtues. God willed to try her, 
 and took away her husband and children 
 one after the other. When she was not 
 more than thirty years of age, she returned 
 to her mother’s house, and lived with her in 
 the practice of virtue. She fasted very fre- 
 quently : and being animated with zeal for 
 the glory of God and the salvation of souls, 
 she preached to the pagans and baptized 
 their dying children, and exhorted sinners 
 to penance. She was captured with Mag- 
 dalen Kim, and, after suffering in her com- 
 pany both the tortures of the executioners 
 and the pains of the prison, was beheaded 
 on the same day, at the age of forty-eight. 
 
 ANNE PAK. 
 
 Anne was born in a small village situated 
 on the banks of the river which flows by the 
 capital. Her parents were Christians. As 
 she was naturally slow and backward, she 
 
COREA. 
 
 57 
 
 had great difficulty in learning the truths of 
 religion. She consoled herself by saying, 
 “ Since I cannot know my God as I should 
 desire to do, I will at least endeavor to love 
 him with all my heart.” At the age of 
 eighteen she was married to a Christian, 
 and brought up her children in sentiments 
 of religion. She felt particular devotion in 
 meditating on the Passion of our Lord : the 
 sight of his five wounds was sufficient to 
 draw abundant tears from her eyes. When 
 she heard persecution mentioned, her coun- 
 tenance, far from growing pale, became, on 
 the contrary, more animated. She was 
 arrested with her husband and eldest son. 
 The latter had numerous friends at court, 
 who did all in their power to make them 
 apostatize, and at length effected their pur- 
 pose: they were then set at liberty. Anne, 
 however, remained firm. A hundred times 
 the judge tried to shake her determination 
 by severity or by kindness, but his endea- 
 vors were vain. Very frequently she suffered 
 torture till pieces of her flesh fell on the 
 ground, and her bones were laid bare. Her 
 husband and son came to see her daily, and 
 entreated her to say but one word, and leave 
 the prison. They represented to her the 
 desolation of her family, her old mother at 
 
58 
 
 COREA. 
 
 the point of death, her children crying out 
 for her, but her resolution, stronger than the 
 ties of flesh and blood, succeeded in over- 
 coming this temptation, more dreadful than 
 any torture. She reproached them with 
 their baseness. “What,” she said, “for a 
 few days of life will you expose yourselves 
 to everlasting death? Instead of soliciting 
 me to transgress, you should exhort me to 
 remain steadfast. Return, return rather to 
 God, and envy me my happiness.” The 
 judge said to her, “ Your husband and son 
 have left the prison and returned to their 
 family; with one word you may do the 
 same; they conjure you to speak, and you 
 remain unmoved ; your heart is of bronze, 
 you have no feelings. Do you think life an 
 evil?” Anne answered, “If my husband 
 and son have apostatized it is their own affair. 
 For my part, I am resolved to preserve my 
 faith and to die for it.” The judge ordered 
 her to be beaten with the ruler, and then 
 condemned her to death. Anne remained 
 in prison for three months, and received the 
 crown of martyrdom on the 24th of May, 
 \ 1839, at the age of fifty-seven. 
 
COREA. 
 
 59 
 
 AGATHA KIM, WIDOW. 
 
 It is the ordinary way of God, in dealing 
 with the world, to make use of the weakest 
 and lowliest as instruments in confounding 
 all that is strong and powerful. This is well 
 shown in the following account. 
 
 Agatha Kim was born of pagan parents, 
 living in extreme poverty: she was of ex- 
 cessively limited powers of mind. One of 
 her sisters, a Christian, was desirous of draw- 
 ing her to Christianity, and used every 
 endeavor to teach her the essential truths 
 of the faith, but was unable to succeed. Of 
 all her daily instructions Agatha only re- 
 membered the names of Jesus and Mary. 
 Her husband was a zealous pagan, addicted 
 to innumerable superstitions. As Agatha 
 was only superficially acquainted with the 
 faith, she used to follow his example. One 
 day her sister came to see her, and con- 
 vinced her of the vanity of idols and the 
 folly of those tvho place their trust in them. 
 Agatha immediately threw them into the 
 fire, without troubling herself as to what her 
 husband might say to her. Since she was 
 unable to acquire the necessary knowledge 
 and prayers, she could not receive baptism. 
 
60 
 
 COREA. 
 
 She was arrested in 1836, and brought 
 before the court of the Potseng. The judge 
 said to her, “ You are weak enough to be- 
 lieve that the teaching of the Christians is 
 true,” Agatha answered, “I am a poor 
 wretched creature, and I only know Jesus 
 and Mary: I have learned nothing more.” 
 “Your bones shall be broken, and you shall 
 be beaten until you expire, if you will not 
 renounce Jesus and Mary.” “Were it 
 necessary to die, I will never renounce Jesus 
 and Mary.” During the interrogatories and 
 tortures which she underwent, the only 
 words which she uttered were the names of 
 our Savior and his holy Mother. Her faith, 
 although but little enlightened, remained 
 unshaken, and her courage excited universal 
 admiration. The judge was unable to over- 
 come her determination, and sent her to the 
 Kientso. When she entered the prison the 
 Christians said laughingly to her, “Ah, here 
 is Agatha, who knows Jesus and Mary, and 
 nothing else.” They praised her intrepidity, 
 instructed her iu the necessary truths, and 
 baptized her. After she had gained new 
 strength in the sacrament of regeneration, 
 she underwent the three interrogatories in 
 the court of Kientso with equal fortitude, 
 making the same answers as have been 
 
COREA. 
 
 61 
 
 given above. The judge condemned her to 
 be beheaded ; but this sentence was not car- 
 ried out until the twenty-fourth of May, 
 1839. She went to execution in company 
 with eight other martyrs, with the same firm- 
 ness that she had displayed before her judges. 
 She was fifty-four years of age. 
 
 LUCY PAK, 
 
 MAID OF HONOR TO THE QUEEN. 
 
 Lucy belonged to a rich family. Distin- 
 guished for beauty and talent, she was intro- 
 duced at the court, and placed among the 
 queen’s maids of honor. Her ability, pru- 
 dence, and sweetness of manner raised her 
 above her companions and obtained for her 
 the first place among them. She succeeded, 
 although a pagan, in preserving herself pure 
 and chaste in the midst of license. At the 
 age of thirty she heard Christianity spoken 
 of, and conceived a great desire of practising 
 it. This was impossible at court. She, 
 therefore, returned to her family under the 
 pretext of sickness. As her mother was no 
 more, and her father refused to hear the 
 faith spoken of, she left her family and re- 
 tired to the house of one of her relations. 
 
 In the course of a few months the whole 
 6 
 
62 
 
 COREA. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 family became Christian. Lucy, rejoicing in 
 the treasure which she had discovered in the 
 faith, never ceased thanking God for his 
 gift. She renounced the vain pomps of the 
 world, and devoted herself to the exercise 
 of Christian humility. She felt especial 
 sweetuess in meditating at the foot of a 
 crucifix. The sight of the Five Wounds of 
 Jesus made her tears flow. Her words and 
 actions were a sacrifice of praise which she 
 daity offered to God, and in mortification 
 and fervor she was the model of the rest. 
 When the persecution broke out, she re- 
 tired to the house of one of her friends, 
 named Agatha Tsen, and the two families 
 were united. One day they were discussing 
 the course which they should take to avoid 
 being arrested, when the officers suddenly 
 appeared before them. “ It is the will of 
 God,” said they: “we must suffer for his 
 sake.” Far from being troubled, Lucy went 
 to meet them, brought them into the house, 
 and ordered meat and drink to be prepared 
 for them. When she was brought before 
 the tribunal, the judge said to her, “You 
 are not one of the common people: how is it 
 that you follow so contemptible a religion ?” 
 “ Our religion has nothing contemptible in 
 it,” answered Lucy: “God has created hea- 
 
COREA. 
 
 63 
 
 ven and earth, and all that they contain; all 
 men owe their being to him, and in conse- 
 quence their praise and adoration.” “ Re- 
 nounce your religion and denounce your 
 accomplices.” “ God is my Creator and my 
 Father, I cannot deny him; he forbids me 
 to injure my brethren, I cannot betray 
 them.” The judge ordered her to be taken 
 to the Kientso, with her hands tied behind 
 her back. Before the latter tribunal Lucy 
 was cruelly beaten ; her legs were tortured 
 until little more than the bones remained. 
 In the midst of the blows a supernatural 
 calmness was visible in her countenance. 
 “Now,” she said, “I begin to understand a 
 little the sufferings of Jesus Christ and of 
 his holy Mother; until now I had never 
 formed a just idea of them.” In the course 
 of two or three days her legs became per- 
 fectly well, and appeared even stronger than 
 before. This extraordinary cure surprised 
 every one; but the judge, in his blindness, 
 attributed it to the use of magic. During 
 the interrogatory she explained the faith so 
 clearly that the mandarin was unable to 
 reply, and kept silence. He condemned her 
 to death; but she remained two months in 
 prison, and supported with constancy all its 
 privations. She wrote a letter to the Chris- 
 
64 
 
 COREA. 
 
 tians, in which she exhorted them to be 
 patient in their tribulation, and to remain 
 firm in the faith ; she also spoke so affect- 
 ingly of the blessings of God that the 
 readers shed tears. It is to be lamented 
 that this letter has been lost. During the 
 time of her captivity she exercised the func- 
 tions of an apostle ; encouraging the Chris- 
 tians by her words and example, consoling 
 the afflicted, and sustaining the weak. She 
 approached the place of execution praying, 
 and was beheaded at the age of thirty-nine, 
 on the 24th of May, 1839. 
 
 MARY HEING. 
 
 Mary possessed an upright spirit and a 
 compassionate heart. She lived in perfect 
 peace with her sister, and practised all the 
 duties of a Christian. Her love toward God 
 and her charity toward her neighbor made her, 
 even in her own poverty, find means to assist 
 the poor. She was seized, with her sister, 
 and endured with firmness the torments of 
 the prison to which she was consigned. After 
 five months of captivity and suffering, she 
 was beheaded on the 24th of May, 1839, in 
 the thirty-fourth year of her age. 
 
 The execution of the Christians is con 
 
COREA. 
 
 65 
 
 ducted in the following manner, and is iden- 
 tical with that of criminals condemned to 
 suffer capital punishment. On the appointed 
 day a cart is brought to the gate of the prison, 
 and in the middle of it is raised a cross, higher 
 than the ordinary stature of a man. When 
 all is ready, the executioner takes the con- 
 demned person on his shoulders, and binds 
 him to the cross by the arms and by the hair, 
 placing a piece of wood under his feet to 
 sustain him. He then gives the signal for 
 departure. As soon as the procession arrives 
 at the western gate of the city, which is situ- 
 ated at the top of a steep bank, the execu- 
 tioner removes the board from beneath the 
 feet of the sufferer, and the driver drives the 
 oxen rapidly down the hill. As the road is 
 rough and covered with stones, the cart jolts 
 dreadfully, and the body of the martyr, now 
 only sustained by the arms and the head, is 
 thrown violently to the right and to the left, 
 so as to cause horrible suffering. At the foot 
 of the hill is the place of execution. The 
 executioner unbinds the Christian and strips 
 him of his clothes. He then makes him lay 
 his head on a block of wood, and cuts it off*. 
 
 6 
 
66 
 
 COREA. 
 
 On the 20th of July, 1839, the following 
 ' eight martyrs were beheaded outside the 
 western gate. 
 
 JOHN BAPTIST Y. 
 
 John was the younger brother of Augus- 
 tine, whose martyrdom has been already re- 
 lated. He embraced Christianity with his 
 elder brother, w r hen he was twenty-eight 
 years old. His fervor attracted the attention 
 of the catechists, who sent him to Pekin 
 in the suite of the embassy to negotiate 
 affairs of religion. He performed this jour- 
 ney twice. The priests of the capital, in ad- 
 miration of his piety, conferred upon him 
 baptism and the other sacraments. John 
 Baptist, after his return to his country, ab- 
 stained from flesh-meat during the rest of 
 his life, and made a resolution to live in 
 celibacy. His exterior was that of a man 
 absorbed in God ; and on this account the 
 Christians used to say that he had received 
 in the sacraments the fulness of the Holy 
 Ghost. He had a great desire to shed his 
 blood for Jesus Christ. He was arrested 
 w T ith his brother, and underwent the same 
 tortures as the latter, with equal constancy. 
 After sentence was passed upon him, he re- 
 mained in prison for six months, and thus 
 
COREA. 67 
 
 increased his reward. He received the palm 
 of martyrdom at the age of thirty-nine. 
 
 MAGDALEN Y, 
 
 HER MOTHER MAGDALEN, TERESA HER AUNT, BAR 
 BARA HER SISTER, AND BARBARA HER NIECE.* 
 
 Magdalen Y belonged to a family of noble 
 descent hut possessed of little property. 
 Her father was a pagan, and held the Chris- 
 tian religion in abhorrence. This obliged 
 Magdalen, her mother, her aunt, and her 
 sister to practise it in secret. When she 
 became of an age to marry, her father wished 
 to give her in marriage to a pagan. In this 
 extremity Magdalen resolved to preserve her 
 virginity by flying from her father’s house. 
 She had a young Christian slave for her maid ; 
 and this was the plan she devised. One even- 
 ing she took the servant into her confidence, 
 and said to her, “ The distance from here to 
 the capital is three leagues. I do not know 
 the way ; but my father is to go there to- 
 morrow. You must follow him at a distance, 
 without losing sight of him ; and I, in my 
 
 * The Christian women of Corea have, for some reason 
 which is not known, an extraordinary devotion to S. Bar- 
 bara, and, if it were permitted them, would almost all bear 
 the name of this saint. 
 
68 
 
 C0EEA. 
 
 turn, will follow you in the same way.” 
 During the night she made her preparation, 
 changed her clothes for others old and worn 
 out, and w T ent out privately, carrying with 
 her the clothes which she had taken off. The 
 house was situated in the mountain, not far 
 from a forest. Magdalen went into the wood, 
 sprinkled the clothes with her blood, tore 
 them up, and threw the pieces about in dif- 
 ferent directions. Her father set out at an 
 early hour on his way to the city, the slave 
 after him, and Magdalen after the slave. 
 When she reached the capital, she went to 
 the house of her aunt Teresa. “01i, my 
 God!” cried the latter, “what a state you are 
 in ! what misfortune have you to tell me ?” 
 Magdalen was dressed in rags and covered 
 all over with blood. “ Hush !” she replied ; 
 “you shall know all; say no more.” She 
 then related every thing that had taken 
 place. She had not finished speaking, when 
 word was brought that her father was at the 
 door. She hastily retired to a place apart, 
 while her father entered and greeted his 
 sister. 
 
 In the mean time at Magdalen’s home all 
 are astonished at her not making her ap- 
 pearance. They call her, hut there ^is no- 
 answer ; they open the door of her room, but 
 
COREA. 
 
 69 
 
 no one is there ; they seek her everywhere in 
 vain. The uneasiness of her mother may he 
 easily imagined. Her uncle leaves the house 
 and penetrates into the wood; seeing marks 
 of blood, he grows pale; he follows them up 
 and reaches the bloody shreds of her clothes. 
 He immediately proceeds in haste to the city, 
 and sorrowfully enters the house in which 
 his brother was still conversing with Teresa. 
 “ Misery ! misery !” cried he, “ the tiger has 
 devoured our child.” “My child!” said the 
 father, and fell senseless to the ground. He 
 was brought to himself again ; nothing was 
 heard but loud cries and weeping. Teresa 
 alone was acquainted with the secret, and, 
 that she might not betray it, she wept like 
 the rest. The two brothers returned in haste 
 to their family, and informed the mandarin 
 of the misfortune which had happened. 
 The mandarin sent out some men to kill the 
 tiger; but they searched every corner of the 
 forest without meeting with any tiger. The 
 relations of Magdalen passed three months 
 in tears and lamentation. Meanwhile her 
 mother became acquainted with the secret, 
 and from that time appeared less sorrowful. 
 Her husband perceived it, and suspected that 
 his daughter was not dead. He said to his 
 wife, “You seem to be less sad than you 
 
70 
 
 COREA. 
 
 have been hitherto. Tell me the truth, is our 
 daughter still living? Tell me all. I pledge 
 myself not to oppose in any way her desire 
 for the future.” His wife informed him of 
 the circumstances. The father rushed in a 
 transport of joy to the house in which his 
 daughter was concealed, embraced her ten- 
 derly, and said to her, “It is enough for me 
 to find you still alive; henceforth follow your 
 own inclination. I no longer oppose your re- 
 maining unmarried.” Thus Magdalen pre- 
 served her chastity from danger. Her father 
 even allowed her to remain with her aunt, 
 and to practise her religion with perfect 
 freedom. 
 
 Her elder sister Barbara found herself ex- 
 posed to danger under circumstances nearly 
 similar. She had been promised in mar- 
 riage to a pagan, and as the time fixed for the 
 ceremony approached, she felt a virtuous ab- 
 horrence of a marriage* contrary to the laws 
 of the Church. She professed to be suffering 
 from a malady in the legs, and remained in 
 a sitting-posture for three months. Her be- 
 
 * In this barbarous country parents promise their children 
 in marriage, and even marry them, without regarding the 
 feelings of the latter, who have to bow their head beneath 
 the yoke without saying a word. Thus there are few happy 
 marriages and numerous domestic quarrels. 
 
COREA. 
 
 71 
 
 trothed sought his fortune elsewhere. A 
 Christian, who was acquainted with the cause 
 of her illness, asked her of her father, who 
 granted the request. At the end of two 
 years he left her a widow. As Barbara could 
 not practise her religion as she desired in the 
 family of her husband, she went and lived 
 with her aunt and sister. They spent several 
 years together in the exercise of virtue and 
 in extreme poverty. In the month of March, 
 1839, their mother came to the city to make 
 her confession, and went to the house of 
 Teresa, where she also found two other 
 Christians, named Martha and Lucy Kim. 
 The persecution -was then raging in all its 
 violence, and the conversation turned on the 
 happiness of shedding one’s blood for Jesus 
 Christ. These six courageous women took 
 the resolution of going out to seek martyr- 
 dom. Just at this moment the news was 
 brought them that the house of Damian Yam 
 had been broken into, and that the officers 
 were pillaging it. They immediately went 
 out, and presented themselves before the 
 latter. “You are at war with the Christians,” 
 said they: “here are six of them, bind us and 
 take us to prison.” The officers, in their sur- 
 prise, refused to believe them. “We are 
 
COREA. 
 
 72 
 
 Christians ; do not doubt : here is a proof of 
 it,” they replied, holding up their rosaries. 
 
 The officers bound their hands behind their 
 backs, and led them to prison. The judge 
 ordered them to be brought before his tribu- 
 nal, and addressed them as follows : — “Do you 
 believe that the doctrine of the Christians is 
 the true one?” “Certainly, if we had any 
 doubt on this point, we should not now be 
 here before you.” “Renounce this religion, 
 and give up to me the books which treat of 
 it.” “We would rather die than deny our 
 God.” They underwent the torture of bend- 
 ing the legs four times, but remained per- 
 fectly firm. After five days had elapsed, the 
 judge ordered them to appear before him 
 again. “Have not the tortures which you have 
 endured, and the horrors of prison, awakened 
 you from your lethargy?” “You are losing 
 time in exhorting us to apostasy. To give 
 testimony to Jesus Christ, we have given our- 
 selves into your power, and you wish us to 
 deny him. Ho, no, you are mistaken : a true 
 Christian lives and dies for his God. If by 
 the laws of the kingdom we are condemned 
 . to death, we will die ; but renounce our reli- 
 gion? no, never.” They suffered each in 
 turn the same torture. When they were re- 
 manded to the second court, the judge said 
 
COREA. 
 
 73 
 
 to them, “Do you still believe the teaching 
 of the Christians to be true?” “We believe 
 it-to be true, we honor God, and are willing 
 to shed our blood for his sake.” The judge, 
 in a passion, ordered that they should be 
 beaten more severely than the rest, because 
 they had surrendered themselves of their 
 own free will, and as he could not weaken 
 their resolution he condemned them to death. 
 On the 20th of July, Magdalen Y, aged 31, 
 and her aunt Teresa, aged 53, had their heads 
 cut off. Her sister Barbara was executed on 
 the 3d of September, at the age of 41 ; their 
 mother Magdalen on the 26th of September, 
 at the age of 67. The account of Martha and 
 Lucy Kim will be found below. 
 
 Barbara Y, belonging to the same family, 
 was left an orphan in her infancy. She had 
 to endure the privations of poverty, and was 
 distinguished for her virtue among the chil- 
 dren of her age. She was arrested in the 
 month of March, and taken to the Potseng, 
 where she endured all the tortures with 
 great firmness. The judge, unable to make 
 her apostatize, transferred her to the Kientsd 
 The judge of this latter court several times 
 endeavored to gain her over by kind means, 
 but could not influence her. He was asto- 
 nished at such constancy in a girl of four- 
 7 
 
74 
 
 COREA. 
 
 
 teen, and, pitying her extreme youth, sent 
 her back to the Potseng, where she under- 
 went fresh torments, hunger, cold, stripes, 
 and sickness. At length she was strangled 
 in prison. 
 
 MARTHA KIM. 
 
 Martha was born of pagan parents, in a 
 village not far from Seoul. As she dis- 
 agreed with her husband, she left him 
 secretly and went to the capital, where she 
 lived with a blind old man, a magician by 
 profession. While she was in this house, 
 she heard the faith discussed, and conceived 
 a desire to embrace it. She left the house 
 of the magician, where she was living in 
 ease, and became poor for the love of Jesus 
 Christ. She was one of the six women who 
 voluntarily surrendered themselves to the 
 officers. She was tortured in her legs five 
 times, and also in other ways, and, after re- 
 maining in prison five months, was beheaded 
 on the 20th of July, at the age of thirty -four. 
 
 LUCY KIM. 
 
 Lucy was born at a small town situated on 
 the banks of the river which flows along the 
 walls of the capital. Her father, who was a 
 
 
COREA. 
 
 75 
 
 pagan, departed this life in the flower of his 
 age. Her mother was a fervent Christian, 
 and brought her up from infancy according 
 to the law of God. Lucy was possessed of 
 remarkable beauty, great sweetness of dis- 
 position, much talent, and a courage beyond 
 her sex. She thought little, however, of 
 natural advantages, and consecrated her vir- 
 ginity to God by vow. At the death of her 
 mother, she and her sister were obliged to 
 sell their small property to defray the ex- 
 penses of the funeral. Being then without 
 further resources, she asked shelter of Chris- 
 tian families, passing from one to another, 
 that she might not always be a burden upon 
 the same people. She was frequently re- 
 commended to marry, but remained faithful 
 to her resolution. It has already been re- 
 lated how she surrendered herself to the 
 officers. She was brought into court with 
 her hands bound behind her back. The 
 judge said to her, “How comes it that you, 
 who are so largely endowed with natural 
 gifts, practise the religion of the Christians ?” 
 “ I believe it to be the true one, and for that 
 reason I practise it.” “How you will have 
 to abandon it to save your life.” “I cannot 
 do so.” “If you are beaten, and your body 
 is mangled, will you not renounce it?” “I 
 
76 
 
 COREA. 
 
 worship God, and cannot deny him, even if 
 I should have to die under the torture.” 
 “Tell me wherefore you cannot deny him.” 
 “ God has created heaven and earth, spirits 
 and men, and governs them in his provi- 
 dence. He is the King and the Father of 
 mankind ; he rewards the good and punishes 
 the wicked. These are the reasons for which 
 I cannot deny him.” “ Who instructed you 
 in your religion ? How long have you prac- 
 tised it?” “From my childhood my mother 
 told me of God, and taught me to love him.” 
 “ You know some of the Christians, because 
 they received you into their houses : inform 
 me where they live.” “I cannot injure my 
 benefactors : murder is forbidden by my re- 
 ligion.” “ Why do you not marry?” “I 
 am but twenty years old : there is yet time ; 
 and, besides, you have no business to speak 
 of marriage to a girl like me.” “ You are 
 right. In your books the soul is frequently 
 mentioned. What sort of a thing is this 
 soul ?” “ The soul is a spiritual substance, 
 
 which cannot be perceived by material eyes.” 
 “ Where is it?” “ The soul is in every part 
 of the body, and is the cause of its motion, 
 the principle of its life ; when the soul is 
 withdrawn, the body remains immovable.” 
 “ Are you not afraid to die ?” “ I fear death 
 
 
COREA. 
 
 77 
 
 and I love life; but for my God I abandon 
 life and give myself up to death.” “Have 
 yon ever seen God?” “I see his works and 
 I believe in his existence: this great world, 
 and. the order which pervades it, are to me 
 sufficient proofs that he is the author of it. 
 The people in the provinces have never seen 
 the king, yet they believe that he exists.” 
 The judge, moved by her youth and beauty, 
 desired to withdraw her from death by 
 making her apostatize. He employed per- 
 suasion and threats, and afterward torture, 
 but in vain, for Lucy confounded him by 
 her answers. She was condemned to death, 
 and the sentence was carried out on the 20th 
 of July. While in prison she wrote down 
 her examination and sent it to the Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 ANNE KIM, WIDOW. 
 
 Anne Kim was born in the capital, of poor, 
 Christian parents, and lived from her child- 
 hood in the practice of virtue. She became 
 a widow at an early age. After the death 
 of her husband she lived with her aged 
 mother, and cheerfully endured the priva- 
 tions of poverty. As she lived in a neigh- 
 boring house to that of Augustine and John 
 Baptist Y, she was arrested at the same time, 
 7 * 
 
 % 
 
78 
 
 COREA. 
 
 and underwent the same tortures. After re 
 maining in prison for five months, she was 
 beheaded, in the fifty-first year of her age. 
 
 ROSE KIM, WIDOW. 
 
 Rose was a pagan. There were, however, 
 some Christians among her relations, and 
 this afforded her an opportunity of becoming 
 acquainted with their religion, which she 
 embraced after the death of her husband. 
 Rejoicing in the treasure which she had dis- 
 covered in the faith, she desired to make 
 others sharers in it, and became very zealous 
 for the propagation of the gospel. The 
 people of her own family were the principal 
 objects of her zeal. In December, 1838, the 
 officers entered her house unexpectedly, and 
 captured her. Rose went cheerfully to prison, 
 invoking the hoty names of Jesus and Mary. 
 The judge caused the instruments of torture 
 to be brought before her, and then said to 
 her, ‘‘Before your legs are bent and your 
 body is torn to pieces, renounce the Lord of 
 heaven, and denounce your accomplices/’ 
 “I cannot deny my God, I cannot betray the 
 Christians.” “And why?” “God is the 
 Creator and the Father of all men. He 
 loves virtue, and punishes vice. He has ppe- 
 
COREA. 
 
 79 
 
 pared for the virtuous eternal rewards, and 
 punishments without end for the wicked. To 
 deny him is a crime, which I ought not to com- 
 mit. To do injury to my neighbor is an evil 
 action, from which I must abstain. Press 
 me no further : it is in vain. I am ready to 
 seal with my blood the truths which I speak.” 
 “ The king forbids this religion.” “ I belong 
 to my God before belonging to the king.” 
 The judge, in a rage, ordered her to be tor- 
 tured ; but Rose was invincible. After seven 
 months of severe captivity, her sentence was 
 carried out. She was fifty-six years old. 
 
 MARY OUEN. 
 
 The parents of Mary lived in the country ; 
 they left her an orphan at an early age. She 
 came to live with one of her relations at the 
 capital, and supported herself there by work- 
 ing embroidery. Although youthful in years, 
 she combined in her conduct the prudence 
 of mature age with a heart which was up- 
 right, humble, sweet, and amiable. By her 
 virtues she became an object of admiration 
 to all who surrounded her. She consecrated 
 her virginity to Jesus Christ. In the month 
 of March the officers entered the house sud- 
 denly in the middle of the night. Mary had 
 
80 
 
 COREA. 
 
 time to escape by a private way ; but she was 
 captured while wandering about the city in 
 search of shelter. At first she had been dis- 
 turbed in mind ; but she soon became calm, 
 and went with a firm step to the prison. Her 
 hands were bound behind her back, and she 
 was led before the tribunal. The judge said 
 to her, “ You are of the sect of the Chris- 
 tians.” “You have said it ; I am a Chris- 
 tian.” “Abandon that religion, and your 
 life will be spared.” “I worship God : I de- 
 sire to save my soul. My mind is made up: 
 if it is necessary for me to die, I will die ; 
 but the salvation of my soul I prize above 
 all else ; and I should lose it were I to aban- 
 don my religion.” Her legs were twisted, 
 and she was beaten with the “long rod.” 
 She suffered torture several times, all her 
 bones were dislocated, and the ground was 
 covered with her blood ; but her constancy 
 remained unshaken. When she was trans- 
 ferred to the Kientso, the judge used vain 
 endeavors to persuade her by gentle means. 
 After the three interrogatories and the usual 
 tortures, he condemned her to death. Mary 
 underwent martyrdom at the age of twenty- 
 one. 
 
COREA. 81 
 
 On the 3d of September six martyrs were 
 beheaded. 
 
 JOHN PAK. 
 
 John had not nobility of birth; but he 
 had something better, for the blood of a mar- 
 tyr flowed in his veins. His mother was a 
 water-carrier by trade, and he himself manu- 
 factured straw shoes. He was at the head 
 of his trade, and was celebrated for the 
 strength of his Work. This simple and de- 
 vout man was arrested, together with his 
 wife. The. judge said to him, “What is 
 your name?” “My name is Pak-Mieng- 
 Kouang-i.” “What is your profession?” 
 “I am a Christian, and my trade is that of 
 a shoemaker.” “Are your parents still alive?” 
 “ My mother died a few years ago, and my 
 father had his head cut off in 1801 for the 
 same cause for which I am now brought 
 before you. I have no other relations.” 
 “The king does not allow this religion; 
 you are infringing his orders.” “God is 
 my Creator. He commands me to love him, 
 and I owe obedience to him rather than to 
 the king.” “Denounce those companions 
 of your disobedience with whom you are 
 acquainted.” “I am not permitted to injure 
 my neighbor.” “Denounce your religion, 
 
82 
 
 COREA. 
 
 if you desire to live.” “My religion is 
 dearer to me than life ; I had rather die than 
 abandon it.” He received forty blows of the 
 “board;” his flesh fell off in pieces, and his 
 blood flowed upon the ground. The wood, 
 beating upon his bones, emitted a horrible 
 sound, but the confessor remained unshaken. 
 His legs were then bent. He was sent to the 
 second tribunal, where his torments were re- 
 newed. Sentence was pronounced upon him, 
 and carried out five months afterward. John 
 was forty years of age. 
 
 The other five martyrs were : — 
 
 Mary, wife of Damian Ham. 
 
 Barbara, wife of Augustine Y. 
 
 Barbara, sister of Magdalen Y. 
 
 Mary Pak, who showed herself as firm in 
 suffering as her sister Lucy, who was maid 
 of honor to the queen. She was fifty-four 
 years of age. 
 
 Agnes Kim, whose history will be given 
 with that of her sister Coiumba. 
 
 On the 22d of September the two follow- 
 ing were beheaded : — 
 
 PAUL TING. 
 
 The family of Ting belonged to the highest 
 class of nobility in the kingdom. The high 
 
COREA. 
 
 83 
 
 dignities of tlie state had been handed down 
 in this family from generation to generation, 
 until the time of Augustine, who was the 
 first to embrace Christianity. In 1801, the 
 first persecution broke out. He was arrested 
 with Cecilia his wife, and his children, Charles, 
 Paul, and Elizabeth. Augustine was mar- 
 tyred with Charles, his eldest son ; his wife 
 and his other children were set at liberty. 
 Their crown was reserved until later. As 
 they had no resources, they sought hospi- 
 tality at the hands of their numerous rela- 
 tions in the capital. The latter were pagans, 
 and refused them permission to enter their 
 houses. For this reason they were com- 
 pelled to take refuge in the country. Paul, 
 who was then at the age of seven, lived under 
 the eyes of his mother in the practice of 
 virtue. When he grew up, he lamented 
 with tears the state to which the Church of 
 his country was reduced, — without a shep- 
 herd, without sacraments, — and he prayed 
 incessantly to God to send it evangelical 
 laborers. For the love of Jesus Christ, and 
 in the service of his brethren, he did not dis- 
 dain the occupation of a slave. He put him- 
 self at the service of the Government inter- 
 preter, and was thus able to travel to China 
 eight or nine times. 
 
84 
 
 COREA. 
 
 He earnestly entreated the Bishop of Pekin, 
 who then governed the Church of Corea, to 
 send some priests there. Circumstances did 
 not permit of this step for some time, and 
 the prelate was unable to do more than com- 
 passionate their lot. At a later period, he 
 was able to dispose of a Chinese priest, and 
 sent him to Corea, provided with faculties ; 
 but this priest died before arriving at the 
 frontier. In spite of this misfortune, Paul 
 did not lose heart, but made application anew, 
 and, in union with several other catechists, 
 wrote even to the Supreme Pontiff to obtain 
 a pastor. Some years later, they had among 
 them a bishop and two priests. The bishop, 
 perceiving in Paul talent, zeal, and virtue, 
 caused him to study Latin, and then theo- 
 logy, and was about to ordain him, when 
 the persecution broke out. Paul expected 
 to be captured, as he was too well known to 
 remain concealed. He composed an apology 
 for the faith, with the intention of presenting 
 it to the judge when he should be brought 
 into court. A traitor had denounced him. 
 The officers entered his house and bound 
 him, together with Cecilia his mother, and 
 Elizabeth his sister. The judge said to him, 
 “You transgress the laws of the kingdom, 
 by practising a foreign religion and teaching 
 
 # 
 
COREA. 
 
 85 
 
 it to others.” “God is the Creator of all 
 men : he is my Lord : he commands me to 
 worship him ; and I must obey him. All 
 nations proceed from one principle, which is 
 God, and from but one family, of which he 
 is the Father. His religion, which is com- 
 posed of the duties which they owe to him, 
 is no more foreign in Corea than it is any- 
 where else.” “It follows from your answer 
 that the king and the mandarins are mistaken 
 in forbidding it. What do you say to this ?” 
 “ If you press me in that manner, I have only 
 one reply to make, namely, that I am a Chris- 
 tian, and will die a Christian.”* 
 
 Paul handed his apology to the judge, 
 who, after reading it attentively, said to him, 
 “ You are right in what you have written ; 
 but the king forbids this religion : it is your 
 duty to renounce it.” “ I have told you that 
 
 * I asked the person who was interpreting these words 
 to me, why Paul did not answer the question directly, and 
 what harm there was in saying that the king and mandarins 
 were wrong, when the thing was as clear as day. “To say 
 that the king and mandarins are mistaken,” he answered, 
 with an air of surprise, “is a crime of high treason. He 
 who had committed it, were he guilty of no other crime, 
 besides the ordinary tortures, would have his arms, legs, 
 and head cut off. His father and mother would be put to 
 death, and all his other relations sent into exile.” “You 
 live,” replied I, “ inder a wonderful system.” 
 
 8 
 
86 
 
 C 0 REA. 
 
 I am a Christian, and will be one until my 
 death.” The executioners bound his hands 
 behind his back, and joined his arms tightly 
 together; then, passing two sticks between 
 the arms, they separated them with violence. 
 The bones of the sufferer were thus dislo- 
 cated, and he was led back to prison. At 
 the second interrogatory, his legs were 
 twisted. At the third, he was brought into 
 the same court as the bishop. He under- 
 went the torture of the “long rods,’*’ bending 
 of the legs, the torture of the “triangular 
 rod,” and the “sawing rope.” Wonderful 
 to relate, amid these frightful punishments, 
 his countenance remained tranquil. The 
 judge was desirous of learning from him the 
 place of retirement of the two missionaries ; 
 but could not extract a single word from his 
 lips. He left him in the power of the officers, 
 who employed every refinement of cruelty, 
 with no better success. When the two mis- 
 sionaries came to the prison, Paul was trans- 
 ferred with them to the Kempou, where, after 
 suffering fresh torments, he was condemned 
 to death. When he was bound to the cross 
 upon the cart, he went quite cheerfully to the 
 place of execution ; for his sufferings were 
 almost at an end, and he was about to enter 
 
COREA. 
 
 87 
 
 upon the happiness which will endure forever. 
 He was forty-five years of age. 
 
 AUGUSTINE LIOU. 
 
 Augustine was born in the capital, of a 
 family distinguished for the number of offices 
 which were filled by its members. From 
 his childhood upwards, he had a decided 
 inclination to study. Before he reached the 
 age of twenty, he had acquired as much 
 knowledge as is acquired by most men in the 
 whole course of their lives. His family was 
 favored by fortune, and many of his relations 
 were in positions of dignity.* 
 
 Little moved by prospects of honor, he 
 preferred to follow the pursuit of science. 
 This world was to him an enigma, of which 
 he desired to find the key. He sought it 
 in the religion of Taosse, and in that of Fo, 
 thoroughly studying their books day and 
 night for the space of twelve years, but did 
 not find it there. There remained a void in 
 
 * His condemnation was accompanied by the degradation 
 of twenty-six mandarins, who were relations of his, and 
 the banishment of his elder brother. They were all pagans. 
 By the barbarous laws of the kingdom, when a crime is 
 committed by one member of a family, all the others are 
 put to death, or sent into exile, or deprived of their dig- 
 nities, according to the heinousness of the crime. 
 
88 
 
 COREA. 
 
 his heart which disturbed him. He interro- 
 gated other learned men, but they were un- 
 able to solve his doubts. Then, remember- 
 ing that in his childhood he had seen some 
 Christians led forth to die for their teaching, 
 he was inflamed with a desire of knowing it 
 and of discoursing with them ; and he 
 endeavored to meet with some, but. without 
 success.* 
 
 One day, in his room, casually casting his 
 eyes upon a piece of furniture which was 
 covered with paper glued together, he per- 
 ceived the top of a sheet which had detached it- 
 self ; he took hold of it and read these words : 
 — “ Of the truth of the Lord of Heaven. ”f 
 
 “Here is what I want,’' said he, “this is 
 what I am in search of.” He detached all 
 the other sheets and pieced them together. 
 These disjoined sheets never gave him the 
 complete sense of a passage ; he read enough, 
 however, to redouble his desire of finding 
 Christians. He continued his search with 
 increased activity, and at length met with 
 
 * In Corea, and especially in the capital, the Christians 
 conceal their faith •with the utmost care, because if they 
 ■were known as such, they would immediately be arrested. 
 
 + This is the title of a work composed by F. Matthew 
 Ricci, the first controversial book which has been writtea 
 in the Chinese language. 
 
COREA. 
 
 89 
 
 one who gave him some books. He had no 
 difficulty in recognising the truth, and be- 
 came a Christian. At a later period he was 
 raised to the dignity of Government in- 
 terpreter.* 
 
 He went to Pekin frequently, conferred 
 with the bishop, and received baptism. As 
 he was devout, zealous, and well instructed, 
 he sustained the faithful by his example and 
 good advice. He was one of those who 
 managed the religious affairs of the mission. 
 This man, thus chosen by God, had to endure 
 terrible assaults from his relations, especially 
 from his daughters and his wife, who still re- 
 mained in paganism. One of his sons, how- 
 ever, imitated him in his faith and in his 
 virtues. This boy, at the age of thirteen, 
 conceived so ardent a desire of shedding his 
 blood for Jesus Christ, that he surrendered 
 himself of his own accord. We shall see 
 later how he bore up against the tortures 
 with a courage which was the admiration of 
 his judges. Augustine was seized in the 
 month of July, and went cheerfully to prison, 
 wnither his son had preceded him by one 
 day. As soon as his brother and his other 
 relations knew that he was in the hands of 
 
 * In Corea this is an important office. 
 $* 
 
90 
 
 COREA. 
 
 the police, they came in. crowds to entreat 
 him to have pity on his family, to save his . 
 own life, and to spare themselves the loss of 
 their dignities. “ I am deeply grieved,” he 
 answered them, “ that yon are going to suffer 
 on my account; I compassionate your lot, 
 but after having once known God, I cannot 
 deny him. The salvation of my soul must 
 take precedence of every consideration of 
 flesh and blood ; imitate my example, become 
 Christians, then you will despise what you 
 now so greatly fear to lose.” A few days 
 after, he appeared in court. The j udge made 
 him go up to the raised place where he was 
 seated himself, and conversed with him 
 familiarly. He exhorted him with energy to 
 abandon his faith ; ahd pointed out to him 
 the precipice lying beneath the feet of his 
 family. His words were like the waves of 
 the sea which fruitlessly advance against a 
 rock and break upon it without moving it. 
 The judge ordered him to descend into the 
 court again : he was unable to comprehend 
 the motive which actuated the Europeans in 
 leaving their country, relations, and friends ; 
 he said that they had come to Corea in 
 search of honor, riches, and pleasure. Au- 
 gustine replied to the judge in the following 
 terms: — “ The Western doctors have come 
 
COREA. 
 
 91 
 
 among us to spread the glory of the Lord of 
 Heaven, to make him known to men and to 
 teach them to keep his laws. Our God de- 
 sires to be served by contempt of riches and 
 honors, and by mortification of the passions. 
 At the end of time, he will raise all men 
 from the dead, bring them together before 
 his tribunal, judge them, and render to each 
 one according to his works. Heaven and 
 its ineffable joys will be the reward of his 
 servants : hell and its infinite pains will be 
 the inheritance of those who have neglected 
 him. This is what our masters have taught 
 us. While they are imparting these precepts 
 to others, can they themselves transgress 
 them, and act in opposition to what they 
 say ? What weight would their words then 
 have? Can they make others good, if they 
 themselves are evil? Certainly not. Thus, 
 from their childhood, they exercise them- 
 selves in virtue, that they may be more free 
 and unencumbered by any impediment. 
 They abstain even from lawful pleasures, 
 and make a vow of not marrying. After a 
 sufficient period of trial in knowledge and 
 goodness of life, they are invested with a 
 high dignity, and sent to preach the faith in 
 foreign countries. If the love of pleasure, 
 riches, or honor, were any inducement to 
 
92 
 
 COREA. 
 
 them, would they have left their own coun- 
 try, where such things abound ? They have 
 crossed a sea of nine thousand leagues amid 
 innumerable dangers and toils ; on their 
 arrival here they meet with every kind of 
 privation : they are pursued as noxious 
 beings, and are exposed daily to death and 
 to horrible tortures. Before their departure, 
 they were not ignorant of what awaited 
 them in these distant coun tries.” “ Who in- 
 troduced them into the kingdom ?” “ I did.” 
 “ Where are the other two Europeans ? How 
 many persons have you imbued with your 
 teaching? Denounce them.” Augustine 
 made no answer, and was tortured. He was 
 then conveyed to the prison in which Mgr. 
 Imbert was. He was tortured twice, and 
 endured all, preserving his constancy to the 
 last. He was forty-nine years of age. when 
 his head fell under the sword. His property 
 was confiscated : his wife and daughters, his 
 younger son, nine years old, and his brothers 
 were sent into exile. 
 
 On the 26th of September, the following 
 nine martyrs were beheaded outside the west- 
 ern gate: — 
 
CORE k. 
 
 93 
 
 CHARLES TCHAO. 
 
 Charles was born at Koi-iang, in the pro- 
 vince of Kang-ouen. His parents were 
 pagans, and left him an orphan at the age 
 of five. The little property which belonged 
 to his family was soon spent. To support 
 himself, he cut off his hair and became a 
 bonze;* but he soon grew tired of such a 
 life, returned to the world, and entered the 
 service of Augustine Liou, interpreter to the 
 Government, whom he accompanied every 
 year to Pekin. Augustine perceived in 
 Tchao more uprightness than ordinary in a 
 pagan, and ventured to speak to him of the 
 faith. At first he met with some resistance, 
 but he persuaded him fully, and made him a 
 fervent neophyte. Tchao received baptism 
 at Pekin. On his return, he labored for the 
 conversion of his family, and had the good 
 fortune to bring the whole of it to Jesus 
 Christ. His zeal for the propagation of the 
 
 * In Corea, as in China, the bonzes follow the doctrine 
 of Fo, and believe in the transmigration of souls. Very 
 few of them are in good faith. Despised by the people, 
 human respect and other passions retain them in the de- 
 grading state which they have embraced: about fifty of 
 them have become Christians. 
 
94 
 
 COREA. 
 
 faith extended still further, and about .fif- 
 teen pagans owed their conversion to him. 
 Charles was one of the persons who intro- 
 duced the missionaries into the kingdom. 
 At the beginning of 1839, when he was re- 
 turning from Pekin, he had a dream, in 
 which it seemed to him that he saw Jesus 
 Christ, with SS. Peter and Paul, standing by 
 him, and heard the following words from his 
 lips : — “In the course of this year, I will give 
 thee the grace of shedding thy blood for 
 the glory of my name.” Charles thanked 
 him, making a profound inclination before 
 him. When he awoke, he was much asto- 
 nished at what he had heard. At his de- 
 parture for China, the persecution had not 
 commenced; and he was ignorant at the 
 time of the feeling which existed against the 
 Christians. He attributed this dream to a 
 groundless imagination ; but when it was re- 
 peated a second time, with the same circum- 
 stances, he no longer doubted of its reality, 
 especially when he learned the state of affairs 
 on his return to Corea. 
 
 He redoubled his fervor, and prepared for 
 martyrdom. However, to avoid being ar- 
 rested, he concealed himself, left his house, 
 .and went to lodge elsewhere. One day, 
 as he was returning home, he saw a crowd 
 
COREA. 
 
 95 
 
 assembled at the door. The officers were 
 within, employed in putting the members of 
 his family in fetters. Charles let them alone, 
 and, when they went out, he mixed in the 
 crowd, and followed them to the prison, and 
 into the court: many other persons also en- 
 tered. The officers ordered them to retire, 
 hut Charles remained in his place. One of 
 them took him by the shoulders and pushed 
 him roughly : he offered some resistance. 
 They asked his name. “I am the head,” he 
 replied, “of that family which you see there ;” 
 and they seized him immediately. As Charles 
 brought with him every year what was neces- 
 sary for the mission, he had many religious 
 objects in his house at the time when it was 
 pillaged. The judge said to him, “To whom 
 do these objects belong? — who charged you 
 to introduce them into the kingdom?” “I 
 make the journey to Pekin every year, and I 
 bought them in China.” “ They are not 
 yours, they belong to some one else: tell me 
 their proprietor and the persons of your 
 sect.” “ God, in his commandments, forbids 
 us to do injury to our neighbor; I cannot 
 betray my co-religionists to you.” “What! 
 to observe the commandments of your God 
 do you rebel against the will of the king and 
 the mandarins?” “God is higher than the 
 
96 
 
 COREA. 
 
 king and the mandarins. His will must take 
 precedence of theirs.” His legs were bent, 
 and his arms dislocated, without one word 
 being extracted from him. The sufferer was 
 then suspended in the air by his arms, and 
 beaten on all parts of his body. He received 
 thirty-five blows of the board, and was car- 
 ried back to prison upon two sticks. These 
 tortures were repeated four times, until the 
 whole of his body was one wound ; but, far 
 from overcoming him, they served to increase 
 his fervor. He was confronted with the 
 bishop after the capture of the latter. He 
 was subjected to fresh tortures, that the secret 
 of the place of concealment of the two mis- 
 sionaries might be wrested from him: his 
 arms and legs were twisted, his flesh was 
 sawn through with a rope, and his bones 
 rubbed with the triangular stick: all this 
 took place four times during the same inter- 
 rogatory. He was taken before the royal tri- 
 bunal with the Europeans, and suffered three 
 times the punishment of the ruler; after 
 which his sentence w T as pronounced. He 
 underwent altogether eleven interrogatories. 
 During his tortures he exhibited such firm- 
 ness, (without a sigh or a word of complaint,) 
 and so surprising an insensibility, that the 
 judges and officers said, “This man’s body 
 
COREA. 
 
 97 
 
 is not of flesh, but of wood and stone.” As 
 he was on the point of being bound to the 
 cart he said to the jailer, “My friend, I am on 
 my way to heaven ; tell my family that I go 
 before them, and may they have the courage 
 to follow me.” The jailer executed his com- 
 mission with tears in his eyes. Charles, in 
 his turn, started for the place of execution ; 
 a heavenly joy overspread his countenance. 
 When he was unbound from the cross, he 
 perceived in the crowd some of his relations, 
 who were pagans, buried in deep grief ; and he 
 gave them a last salute, with a pleasing smile. 
 He then lowered his head, which fell beneath 
 the sword, and his soul took its flight to its 
 eternal home. Charles was forty-five years 
 of age.* 
 
 SEBASTIAN NAM. 
 
 Nam belonged to a family of distinguished 
 nobility. In the persecution of 1801, his 
 father was captured, and sent into exile, 
 where he died almost immediately. Sebas- 
 tian was arrested at the same time, and con- 
 demned to the same punishment as his father. 
 He was not baptized; and all that he knew of 
 
 * Are not such men martyrs of whom Rome and Lyons 
 would be proud ? 
 
 G 
 
 9 
 
98 
 
 COREA. 
 
 the faith was the Lord’s Prayer and the angelic 
 salutation, which he recited daily. His con- 
 duct in all other respects was that of a hea- 
 then. A severe illness by which he was at- 
 tacked caused him to awake to better senti- 
 ments : he asked for a Christian, had himself 
 instructed, and received baptism. He re- 
 gained his health, and from that period led 
 an exemplary life. He was recalled from 
 exile, and was one of those who went to the 
 frontier to introduce the missionaries, whom 
 he entertained in his house. During the 
 persecution a Christian betrayed him ; and 
 he was arrested, with bis wife, and thrown 
 into prison. Tbe judge commanded bim to 
 denounce tbe other Christians, to give up his 
 religious books, and to deny his God. Hot- 
 withstanding his advanced age, Sebastian 
 showed himself firm under suffering; be was 
 remanded to tne IGentso, and from thence 
 to the Kempou, — having to undergo torture 
 before each of these tribunals. He was then 
 condemned to death. Before mounting the 
 fatal car, which to the martyrs is a car of tri- 
 umph, he said to the keeper of the prison in 
 which the women were confined, “I had 
 ardently desired to die on the same day as 
 my wife, but our God disposes otherwise ; 
 tell her that I await her in the abode of 
 
COREA. 
 
 99 
 
 bliss.’' He went forth to die with remark- 
 able cheerfulness. He was sixty years old. 
 
 Magdalen, mother of Magdalen Y. Her 
 history has already been related. 
 
 IGNATIUS KIM. 
 
 The family of Ignatius is celebrated in the 
 church of Corea for the number of martyrs 
 which it has furnished. Its dwelling was 
 situated in the country. In the first perse- 
 cution, Ignatius’s father left his home to take 
 refuge in the mountains, and brought up his 
 son in virtuous habits from his earliest years. 
 Ignatius was remarkable for strength of 
 body: he possessed the strength of five or 
 six ordinary men. His son-in-law betrayed 
 him, and he was arrested and led to prison. 
 Besides the crime of religion, he was guilty 
 of another in the eyes of the law, namely, 
 that of having sent his son to Macao to study 
 European languages;* and he was, therefore, 
 tormented more cruelly than the rest. During 
 the tortures his courage failed him, and he 
 apostatized; he was not, however, released on 
 that account. When he was transferred to 
 
 * The Corean Government has such a ridiculous horror of 
 foreigners that it condemns to death all who have communi- 
 cation with them. 
 
100 
 
 COREA. 
 
 the second court the confessors said to him, 
 “Do not hope to be set free; certain con- 
 demnation awaits you : return to yourself, 
 acknowledge your weakness before the judge, 
 and die a martyr.” Ignatius returned to him- 
 self, lamented his fault, made a retraction 
 before the judge, underwent with constancy 
 his three interrogatories, and regained the 
 palm which he had let fall from his hands. 
 He was forty-four years old. His son Andrew 
 is now a priest, and in prison for the faith. He 
 will probably have the glory of following his 
 ancestors to the place of triumph. (Andrew 
 Kim was beheaded on the 16th of September, 
 1846.) 
 
 JULITTA KIM. 
 
 Julitta was born in the country. Her 
 parents were Christians, but inattentive to 
 their duties. Before the persecution of 1801 
 they came to establish themselves in the 
 capital. When Julitta had arrived at the 
 necessary age, they were anxious to marry 
 her; but she made the resolution to preserve 
 her virginity. As she w^s persecuted daily, 
 and on the point of being compelled to yield, 
 she tore out her own hair, and made her head 
 as smooth as her hand. “ That will do for 
 the present,” her parents said; “your hair 
 
COREA. 
 
 101 
 
 will grow, and then we shall see.” In the 
 mean time arose the persecution of 1801, 
 and they returned to their native place; but 
 Julitta fled secretly, and asked to be received 
 into one of the royal palaces.* 
 
 As she soon saw the difficulty of practising 
 her religion in this place of disorder, she left 
 it, and received hospitality of a Christian. 
 By working with assiduity she earned a little 
 property, and bought a house, where she 
 lived all alone with the fervor of a religious. 
 As she was of a firm character and an inflexi- 
 ble will, she had an open manner of speak- 
 ing, which made her feared by her neigh- 
 bors. Thus they were careful of their words 
 when they came into her presence. She let 
 nothing bad escape from them. They would 
 say of her, “ Julitta had rather be killed than 
 
 * These royal palaces are miserable houses, which the 
 smallest townsman in Europe would not condescend to in- 
 habit. Besides those in which the king lives, there are 
 others set apart for the tombs of his ancestors. As the 
 superstition exists in Corea of treating the dead as if they 
 were alive, saluting them, offering them food, &c., in those 
 palaces eunuchs and maidens are collected by order of the 
 king for the service of his ancestors. These young women 
 cannot marry, and must live in continence : if they fail in this, 
 they are punished with death and exile. When once they have 
 entered these sanctuaries, they cannot leave them except for 
 severe illness. W e refrain from relating here the crimes which 
 are committed in these places where the devil reigns as lord. 
 
 9 * 
 
102 
 
 COREA. 
 
 let one wrong word pass.” She was betrayed, 
 and led to prison. The judge said to her, 
 “Deny your God, denounce the Christians, 
 inform me of the places where your religious 
 books are concealed.” She replied, “I love my 
 God, and I cannot deny him; if I betray the 
 Christians to you, you will inflict death upon 
 them ; you will burn the books of our religion 
 if I tell you of the places where they are. I 
 would rather die than commit such crimes.” 
 Before both tribunals all the tortures were 
 exhausted, all means of persuasion were em- 
 ployed; but she remained unshaken, and her 
 sentence was pronounced. Julitta was fifty- 
 six years of age. 
 
 AGATHA TSEN. 
 
 Agatha was gifted by nature with both bodily 
 and mental advantages. While yet young, 
 she was presented at court. She heard the 
 faith spoken of, and embraced it. From that 
 moment she sought to abandon a place where 
 she could not be a Christian. She took off 
 her fine clothes and left the palace. Her 
 family was pagan ; she could not, therefore, 
 return home without exposing her faith to a 
 multitude of dangers. She became poor 
 with Jesus Christ, whom she had learned to 
 know, and sought hospitality of some Chris- 
 
COREA. 
 
 103 
 
 tians. She applied herself to the practice of 
 virtue with greater fervor, and her example 
 was proposed to the rest as a model. God 
 tried her by various sicknesses, which she 
 bore with patience. Devout and zealous, she 
 devoted herself successfully to the conversion 
 of pagans. Agatha was with Lucy Pak, her 
 companion, when the officers unexpectedly 
 entered the house. Without being disturbed, 
 she received them with courtesy, ordered 
 food to be prepared for them, made up a 
 bundle of the most necessary linen, and fol- 
 lowed them to prison. When she came 
 before the court the judge said to her, “How 
 is it that a person of your rank can have 
 embraced a wicked religion?” “God is the 
 Creator of the universe,” said she ; “ he 
 gives to men their being and their life, and 
 preserves it to them. He rewards virtue 
 and punishes vice ; to render him homage is 
 not a crime worthy of punishment.” 
 
 The judge endeavored several times to 
 make her apostatize; as he was unable to 
 succeed, he sent her before the second tribu- 
 nal. The mandarins said to her, “You have 
 been educated and brought up in the king’s 
 palace, and will you transgress his orders? 
 Renounce your religion, and return home.” 
 “ I had rather die a thousand times than do 
 
104 
 
 COREA. 
 
 what you tell me.” Five times she underwent 
 the torture of the legs, in which her bones 
 were fractured. During her sufferings she 
 preserved a calmness which excited admira- 
 tion among those around her. Her brother 
 was a pagan, and held an honorable posi- 
 tion in the world: if his sister was con- 
 demned to capital punishment, his honor and 
 reputation were lost. He therefore used 
 every endeavor to make her apostatize ; but, 
 as he could not succeed, he thought that if 
 she died in prison her death would not make 
 so much noise, and he might preserve his 
 honor and the place he had in the Govern- 
 ment. He conceived the horrible project of 
 poisoning her, and sent her a dish prepared 
 with poison ; but Agatha threw it up imme- 
 diately after having taken it. This unnatural 
 brother, seeing the failure of his plan, went 
 to the chief of the police, and entreated him 
 to have her beaten till she expired. Agatha 
 had to endure horrible torments, but she did 
 not die under them. She knew that was the 
 design of her brother, and feared lest he 
 should procure that she should be left in 
 prison to die a natural death. In fact, this 
 had already been hinted at to her. Her com- 
 panion Lucy was in possession of the palm 
 of martyrdom; she saw before herself a future, 
 
COREA. 
 
 105 
 
 the length of which made her tremble. She 
 prayed to God with tears not to deprive her 
 of her crown ; and her prayers were heard. 
 After six months of captivity, she was be- 
 headed, at the age of fifty. 
 
 MAGDALEN PAK. 
 
 Magdalen was the child of pagan parents. 
 After the death of her husband, she again 
 became a member of their household, and 
 lived like a fervent Christian with her father’s 
 wife. From her this person learned the faith 
 and embraced it. She acquitted herself of her 
 obligations with exemplary exactness; she 
 even undertook those domestic details which 
 were the hardest to perform, and left to 
 others the more agreeable occupations, — con- 
 duct which gained her the good will of all. 
 Three or four Christian families occupied the 
 house where she dwelt, which gave occasion 
 to much confusion and to a concourse of peo- 
 ple : butthis never disquieted her; she had only 
 one fear, which was lest she should fail in 
 some duty. When the persecution began, 
 all fled, she alone remaining in charge of the 
 house. Some time after, the brother of her 
 mother-in-law returned, and, at a moment 
 when they least expected it, the soldiers 
 
106 
 
 COREA. 
 
 entered, secured them both, and conducted 
 them to prison. When placed before the 
 judgment-seat, she was addressed by the 
 judge in the following words: — “Deny thy 
 God, say where the people of thy house have 
 gone, denounce the Christians, or thou shalt 
 be beaten all to pieces.” “I cannot deny 
 my God; the people of the house have fled, I 
 know not whither ; as to the Christians, I do 
 not know any.” “Let her legs be twisted. 
 At thy house a crowd of people used to be 
 coming and going, and thou dost not know 
 them !” “It did not concern me who came 
 and went. I do not know them.” She 
 suffered the torture more than once, and dis- 
 played great firmness in her torments. She 
 was transferred to the Kientso, and the judge 
 said, “ There is still time : renounce thy reli- 
 gion, and thou shalt be restored to liberty.” 
 “Were it lawful for me to renounce my reli- 
 gion, I should not have come here. I should 
 have apostatized at the first tribunal. Im- 
 portune me no more: it is useless. Iam here 
 to shed my blood for my God ; execute the 
 laws of the state.” After the punishment of 
 the ruler three times renewed, she was con- 
 demned to death. The sentence was carried 
 out seven months later. She was aged 44 
 years. 
 
COREA. 
 
 107 
 
 PEEPETUA HONG, WIDOW. 
 
 Pcrpetua Hong was born in the suburbs of 
 the capital. Her parents left her an orphan at a 
 tender age. Her grandmother took charge of 
 her and brought her up. She was married to a 
 pagan; but, after the death of her husband, she 
 heard of the faith and embraced it. She quitted 
 her family, in which her faith was imperilled, 
 and asked hospitality of certain Christians. 
 With them she lived in the practice of piety. 
 During the persecutions, she was caught and 
 cast into prison. The judge plied her with 
 promises, threats, and tortures; all was in 
 vain ; he therefore abandoned her to the 
 mercy of the executioners, who suspended her 
 and beat her to death. Besides her tortures, 
 she had to undergo the miseries of the prison 
 for six months. She was 36 years of age. 
 
 COLUMBA KIM, AND HEE SISTEE AGNES. 
 
 Columba was born m a village at no great 
 distance from the capital. Her family was 
 pagan, and possessed wealth. Her father, 
 having had a difference with a neighbor, 
 committed suicide.* Her mother embraced 
 
 * Th* Coreans hang themselves and drown themselves 
 
108 
 
 COREA. 
 
 the faith, with her six children, and some 
 years after died the death of the just. Co- 
 lumba and her sister Agnes vowed their vir- 
 ginity to God, and dwelt with their brother’s 
 family. Columba was naturally of a timid 
 disposition, even more so than those of her 
 sex ordinarily are. Every time that she heard 
 that a Christian had been apprehended, she 
 grew pale and fell into a sort of swoon. Never- 
 theless, before the tribunal she displayed a 
 courage which made an impression on the 
 judges. In the month of May, the soldiers 
 suddenly entered the house and bound her, 
 with her sister Agnes, in chains. The judge 
 said to Columba, “Believest thou that the 
 religion of the Lord of heaven is true ?” “ I 
 
 believe it is true, and therefore practise it.” 
 “Why dost thou not marry?” “Our God 
 loves purity of body and spirit : I honor him 
 by consecrating to him both.” “ Thou failest 
 in thy duties to society, and breakest the 
 orders of the king. Benounce thy religion, 
 denounce the Christians, tell where the books 
 of thy sects are concealed, and where thy 
 brother has gone.” “I will never abandon 
 my God. I know not where my brother is 
 
 with strange indifference. A slight offence, a contemptuous 
 word, a mere nothing, will drive them to this mad crime. 
 
COREA. 
 
 109 
 
 hid. You put Christians to death, burn 
 their books : to give them up to you is a 
 crime.” Her limbs were dislocated, and she 
 was beaten with the “long rod.” “Thou 
 wilt not obey: I will J^ive thee beaten till 
 thou dost expire.” “As you please: I will 
 do none of the things you order me.” She 
 was taken back to prison. Some time after- 
 ward, the soldiers, without any orders from 
 the judge, burst into the prison, stripped off 
 her garments, and, with her sister Agnes, 
 hung her up, jeering them ; and, procuring 
 rods, they covered them with wounds. Then, 
 heating a fire-iron, they thrust it, in twelve 
 places, into the body of Columba. During 
 the torture, she preserved a tranquil counte- 
 nance, and her constancy wearied out her 
 tormentors. The judge ordered her to be 
 stripped a second time, and cast without 
 covering into a dungeon of thieves. There 
 were sixteen in number, who rushed upon 
 her to assault her ; but the God of martyrs 
 gave her in that moment so supernatural a 
 strength, that she beat the brutal ruffians 
 away. Five days after her torments, Co- 
 lumba found herself as robust as ever, and 
 not a trace of her wounds was visible. The 
 judge attributed this marvel to the agency of 
 the devil, by whom he thought her to be pos- 
 10 
 
110 
 
 COREA. 
 
 sessed ; and he caused her to be exorcised by 
 a magician, who took a large needle and 
 pricked her with it in many places to make 
 a passage for the devil. “ What have we 
 done,” said Columb%, — “what is there so bad 
 in our religion, that you should torture us 
 so cruelly ?” “You do not honor your an- 
 cestors,” answered the judge; “you do not 
 offer them the food prescribed by the rites.”* 
 “Your rites are vain observances: the soul 
 separated from the body needs no food.” 
 She was sent, with Agnes, to the second 
 tribunal. The judge said to her, “Except 
 in your religion, can no one be holy ?” “No,” 
 answered Columba: “there are no means.” 
 “ Then Confucius and Montze are not holy ?” 
 “ If Confucius and Montze have known 
 God and adored him, they are holy. If they 
 have not done this, they are reprobate.” 
 
 * Almost all the religious practices of the Coreans may 
 be reduced to offering food before the sepulchral slab of 
 their ancestors’ tombs, and saluting them by bowing the 
 forehead to the ground. They believe them to have souls, 
 and that there is in heaven a divine power, or, rather, that 
 heaven itself is a divinity. But what is this divinity? 
 They have no idea, and do not trouble themselves to form 
 one. If spoken to of their last end, they answer* like a 
 certain class of Europeans, “ What happens at death ? No 
 one knows, and no one has come back to tell us. Let us 
 eat and drink : to-morrow we shall die.” 
 
COREA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 The judge asked many other questions, which 
 have escaped us. At the end, Columba said, 
 “ The mandarins are the fathers of the people, 
 they listen favorably to the prayers made to 
 them : may I ask my judge one question ?” 
 “ Speak.” “ If the laws condemn Christians 
 to death, I am ready to die; but whence 
 comes it that pains are inflicted on me which 
 are not appointed by the laws ? At the other 
 tribunal, I was despoiled of my garments; 
 I was suspended amid indecent scoffs; my 
 body was pierced with a red-hot iron. Does 
 the law permit modesty to be thus outraged?” 
 “ This damsel is a pearl,” exclaimed the angry 
 judge ; “ who has attempted to dim its lustre ?” 
 At once he issued an order to cane the cul- 
 prits : and two of the ringleaders were ba- 
 nished. After this the women were spared 
 these disgusting punishments. Agnes was 
 beheaded on the 8d of September, after four 
 months of great suffering. She was twenty- 
 five years old. The pains of sickness were 
 added to the other sufferings of Columba. 
 After an imprisonment of five months, she 
 also was beheaded, at the age of twenty-six. 
 
 On the 29th of December the seven fol- 
 lowing martyrs were beheaded : — 
 
112 
 
 COREA. 
 
 PETER TSHOI. 
 
 Peter belonged to an honorable family of 
 Seoul, and his ancestors had held offices under 
 the Government. In the persecution of 1801, 
 he lost his eldest brother, who was martyred 
 for the faith. Being then only thirteen years 
 of age, and having no protector, he was 
 greatly neglected, and his religious educa- 
 tion uncared for. Thus his conduct did not 
 differ from that of the pagans. In 1820, a 
 scourge as terrible as it was extraordinary* 
 devastated Corea and every day struck down 
 a multitude of victims. Peter entered into 
 himself, procured instruction, and received 
 baptism. Henceforth his conduct was irre- 
 proachable: his sweet and peaceful dispo- 
 sition made him pleasing to every one. Full 
 of gri^f and contrition for his past life, he 
 often said, with groans, “ Alas ! only martyr- 
 dom can expiate my many transgressions. My 
 God, do not deprive me of this grace.” As 
 soon as he saw the persecution declare itself, 
 his desire for martyrdom became more lively, 
 and he prepared himself with intense fervor. 
 
 * From the description given me, this was, without 
 doubt, the cholera. It passed from Japan, through Corea, 
 into China. Twelve years afterward, it was at the gates 
 of Paris. 
 
COREA. 
 
 113 
 
 About the end of June, the officers visited 
 his house, put the family in chains, and con- 
 ducted them to prison. The mandarin ordered 
 Peter to be brought before him, and said, 
 “Dost thou follow the wicked doctrine of 
 the Christians?” “In the doctrine of the 
 Christians there is nothing wicked. 1 adore 
 God and serve him.” “ Renounce this God, 
 and thou shalt live.” “I cannot deny my- 
 Creator.” “ How long hast thou known him ?” 
 “ My parents were Christians : they spoke 
 of him to me from my childhood.” “ See 
 what a wise doctor we have here,” said the 
 mocking officials. Seven times he was made 
 to undergo the torture ; seven times his legs 
 were bent ; seven times four executioners 
 together beat him with the end of the long 
 rod ; and he received in all one hundred and 
 fifty blows of the board. His constancy was 
 invincible. When transferred to the Kientso, 
 he there underwent the three ordinary inter- 
 rogatories and the tortures by which they are 
 accompanied. His sentence was pronounced, 
 and six months after, he underwent it. J ust as 
 they were about to set out for the place of 
 punishment, he said to the jailer, “ I go to 
 die. Tell my wife and daughter not to mourn 
 for me, but rather to praise and thank the 
 
 Lord. I hope that in a few days they will 
 H 10* 
 
114 
 
 COREA. 
 
 follow me to the place of triumph.’' Peter 
 gained the crown of martyrdom at the age 
 of fifty-three. 
 
 BARBARA TSO, 
 
 WIFE OF SEBASTIAN NAM. 
 
 The family of Barbara was distinguished 
 for its nobility and piety. At the age of 
 sixteen she was espoused to Sebastian Nam, 
 whose martyrdom has been recorded above. 
 Their son, the only fruit of their union, 
 died some months after his birth. In 1801 
 her father was martyred, and her father-in- 
 law and husband were banished. Barbara, 
 having now only a younger brother left 
 out of all her family to protect her, went 
 to reside with him. After a few years had 
 passed, her husband was recalled from exile, 
 and they both went to live in the capital. 
 Barbara was one of those who most con- 
 tributed their efforts to introduce the minis- 
 ters of the gospel into Corea. They were 
 received into her house, and served by her 
 as messengers of heaven. Animated with a 
 great desire to shed her blood for Jesus 
 Christ, she prepared for martyrdom by the 
 most fervent practices of piety. She was 
 arrested in June, and taken before the tri- 
 bunal. The judge said to her, “You have 
 
COREA. 
 
 115 
 
 the choice of only two things, either to die, 
 or to renounce your religion and denounce 
 the Christians ; think well before you an- 
 swer.” “ My choice is made,” she replied: 
 “rather a thousand deaths than commit a 
 crime which my conscience abhors.” She 
 endured the torture before the tribunal five 
 times; ten times the executioners inflicted 
 their torments ; in all she received one hun- 
 dred and eighty blows of “the rod.” Her 
 body was cut to shreds, and there was not a 
 single spot without a wound. At last the 
 judge grew tired of tormenting her, apd 
 gave sentence. During the six months 
 which she spent in prison, Barbara con- 
 ciliated in an extraordinary degree the affec- 
 tions of her fellow-captives. When her turn 
 arrived, they speedily brought her the news 
 in the morning, and surrounded her weeping. 
 She consoled them, and as the execution was 
 delayed, begged them to withdraw, and, lay- 
 ing herself down on her mat, slept tranquilly 
 until the moment when she had to ascend 
 the car. She went joyfully to death, being 
 fifty-eight years of age. 
 
116 
 
 COREA. 
 
 MAGDALEN HAN, WIDOW, 
 
 HER DAUGHTER AGATHA, AND AGATHA Y. 
 
 Magdalen was born in the country, of 
 noble parents, who were not very rich. Her 
 family was pagan, but she was converted to 
 Christianity a few years after the first perse- 
 cution. Her daughter Agatha received from 
 nature gifts of which she made an unhappy 
 use. She was a scandal to religion, but she 
 made reparation by repentance. Agatha Y 
 was also born in the country, of Christian 
 parents. These three women dwelt in the 
 capital when they were arrested. The two 
 Agathas, with the connivance of some sol- 
 diers, escaped from prison, and their flight 
 occasioned the judge to lose his office, be- 
 sides the death of a jailer, the banishment 
 of two more, and the seizure of several 
 Christians. They were retaken, and suffered 
 their torments courageously, with Magdalen. 
 She was beheaded at the age of fifty-six, on 
 the 29th of December, 1&39 ; Agatha, her 
 daughter, at the age of 21, and Agatha Y at 
 the age of 27, January 31, 1840. 
 
 BENEDICTA HIEN, WIDOW. 
 
 The family of Hien held one of the first 
 ranks in the middle class, and the secondary 
 
COREA. 
 
 117 
 
 dignities of the state were transmitted in it 
 from father to son. The father of Benedicta 
 was martyred in 1801, and her mother, a 
 pious Christian, brought her up with great 
 eare. The child knew how to profit by her 
 mother’s lessons, and made great advances 
 in the practice of virtue ; she was one of 
 those whom people looked upon as an exam- 
 ple. After three years of married life, she 
 lost her husband.* As persecution had 
 many times despoiled her family of its 
 wealth, she was reduced to indigence, and 
 was forced to gain a livelihood by manual 
 labor. She became a sempstress, and when 
 the missionaries arrived she made clothes 
 for them. The informer denounced her as 
 one who had frequent intercourse with Euro- 
 peans, and sister to Charles, the catechist to 
 one of them. She was taken, and had to 
 suffer horrible torments. Eleven times had 
 she to endure the torture before the tribunal, 
 and besides the bending of her legs, she re- 
 ceived more than three hundred blows of the 
 “rod.” The judge, unable to subdue her, 
 condemned her to death. Benedicta awaited 
 tranquilly for seven months, in prison, amid 
 
 * In Corea, among the better sort of inhabitants, to 
 marry again is infamy to the widow, however young, — an 
 absurd custom, which gives rise to a thousand disorders. 
 
118 
 
 COREA. 
 
 privations of every kind, and the sufferings 
 of sickness, the moment when the heads- 
 man’s axe should sever her head from her 
 body and put her in possession of the crown 
 of martyrs. She was aged forty-six years. 
 
 ELIZABETH, SISTER OF PAUL TINGL 
 
 We have seen that Elizabeth was impri- 
 soned for the faith, with all her family, in 
 1801 . She was then four years of age. 
 Brought up with care, she showed herself to 
 be the worthy imitator of her parent’s piety. 
 From her tenderest years she vowed her vir- 
 ginity to Jesus Christ. She was seized with 
 her mother and brother. The judge, know- 
 ing her state, said to her, “Why have you 
 not taken a husband?” “As my family has 
 been degraded,* and has forfeited its rank, 
 no one has thought of me.” “Do you prac- 
 tise the religion of the Lord of heaven?” 
 “Yes, I practise it.” “Who has imbued 
 you with the teachings of this sect?” “From 
 my infancy my mother has taught me, and 
 told me of the punishments in store for those 
 who do not know him.” “ Renounce your 
 
 * When the head of a family has been punished with 
 capital punishment, the other members are degraled forever. 
 Elizabeth’s father was martyred in 1801. 
 
COREA. 
 
 119 
 
 religion, and you shall live.’* “ To renounce 
 my Creator is a crime; I cannot commit it.” 
 “Your brother has been fool enough to 
 choose to die : be you more wise ; only say 
 the word, and you go free, taking your 
 mother with you.” “ If I cannot live with- 
 out denying my God, I prefer death.” The 
 judge tried promises, and then threats; but 
 all his efforts were unavailing against the con- 
 stancy of Elizabeth. She endured the torture 
 seven times, and received three hundred and 
 fifty blows of the “rod.” Amid her torments 
 she preserved a tranquil countenance. She 
 said afterward, “ By a special grace I did not 
 expire beneath the blows, and I now under- 
 stand a little what immense agony my Sa- 
 vior must have suffered.” When transferred 
 to the second tribunal, she w T ent through the 
 three interrogatories with like firmness. Her 
 sentence was pronounced. During the six 
 months that she waited in prison, prayer, 
 meditation, consoling the afflicted, and ex- 
 horting the weak to endure their sufferings 
 patiently, were her daily works. She joy- 
 fully mounted tfte car which bore her to the 
 place of execution. She was aged forty- 
 three years. 
 
 Her mother Cecilia generously confessed 
 Jesus Christ before the judge, and under her 
 
120 
 
 COREA. 
 
 torture showed a courage disproportioned to 
 her great age. She received two hundred 
 and thirty blows of the “ rod,” and died in 
 prison, November 23, aged seventy-nine. 
 
 BARBARA KO. 
 
 Barbara was born in the capital, of re- 
 spectable parents. Her father was martyred 
 in 1801 ; and her mother reared her in the 
 fear of God and in the practice of Christian 
 works. She was married to Augustine Pak, 
 whose martyrdom will be related below. 
 Before entering the lists she greatly feared 
 the tortures; but when once on the field of 
 battle she kept up bravely the fight for the 
 Lord. Seized with gratitude and admiration 
 for this grace which God had given her, she 
 exclaimed, “ Truly, I did not know it would 
 be so sweet to suffer for Jesus Christ.” Be- 
 sides the torturing of her legs and arms, 
 which were dislocated, her body was torn to 
 pieces by scourges. Her flesh fell off in 
 shreds, and her bones were laid bare. After 
 three months of prison and suffering, she 
 was beheaded in her forty-first year. 
 
COREA. 
 
 121 
 
 MAGDALEN Y AND HER SISTER MARY. 
 
 These two maidens were born in the capi- 
 tal, of pagan parents, who were very poor. 
 Their maternal grandmother, who was a 
 Christian, finding herself without support, 
 took refuge in their family. They listened 
 to her conversation about religion, and em- 
 braced it, together with their mother Bar- 
 bara. It is impossible to relate how much 
 they had to suffer, especially vexations and 
 injuries from their father, a violent, obsti- 
 nate man, and steadfast in his superstitions; 
 but they succeeded in getting out of the 
 house secretly, and receiving baptism. Mag- 
 dalen had determined to remain always a 
 virgin ; but when she was nineteen her father 
 wished to give her in marriage to a pagan. 
 She excused herself, professing the pretext 
 of sickness. Her father not believing her, 
 Magdalen, with blood drawn from her fin- 
 ger,* wrote on a paper her resolution never 
 to marry, and showed it to him, asking him 
 to press her no more. Her father tore the 
 paper, and told her in a voice of anger that 
 there was nothing left for her but to obey 
 
 * The usual way with the Coreans to express their will 
 energetically. 
 
 11 
 
122 
 
 0 E E A. 
 
 him. Magdalen, seeing herself on the point 
 of being forced, formed a project of flight, in 
 concert with her mother and sisters. They 
 accomplished it, and came to tell the bishop. 
 The bishop ordered them to return to their 
 family and to be faithful to their religion. 
 “ My husband,” said Barbara, “is of so vio- 
 lent a disposition that our return home will 
 be our death.” “In that case,” said the 
 bishop, “do as you think best;” and he pro- 
 mised them some assistance. They hired a 
 house, and henceforth were able to give full 
 scope to their zeal and devotion. Mean- 
 while the pagan, finding that they did not 
 return, imagined that in despair they had 
 thrown themselves into the river. He called 
 boatmen, and made them examine the water; 
 their nets brought up the bodies of three 
 women ; he took them for his wife and two 
 daughters, and buried them. He is still igno- 
 rant of their history, and believes to this day 
 that they drowned themselves. They dwelt 
 with two other Christians, Magdalen Tso and 
 her daughter of the same name, when the 
 soldiers suddenly entered their house, en- 
 chained them, and threw them all five into 
 prison. They bore the tortures bravely. 
 Barbara, Magdalen Tso, and her daughter, 
 after some months of suffering, died in prison 
 
COREA. 
 
 123 
 
 of a pestilential fever. Magdalen Y and her 
 sister were decapitated, — the former on De- 
 cember 29, 1839, aged twenty-eight; the latter 
 on January 31, 1840, aged twenty-seven. 
 
 After the execution of the martyrs, guards 
 kept watch for three days over their bodies. 
 After this some mendicants made themselves 
 masters of the corpses, and tied a rope under 
 the arms to drag them before the houses, 
 the startled inhabitants of which gave them 
 money to take away the odious spectacle. 
 At a later period they begged the mandarin 
 to be pleased to order that the place of 
 punishing the Christians should be farther 
 off*. 
 
 The 31st of January, 1840, outside the ram- 
 parts of the city, in a place called Tan-Ko- 
 Kai, six martyrs were beheaded. 
 
 AUGUSTINE PAK, CATECHIST. 
 
 Augustine was an inhabitant of the capital. 
 His virtue and talent obtained for him the 
 rank of catechist. He was taken the day 
 before his wife, Barbara Ko, and went through 
 the same interrogatories and torments, show- 
 ing the same firmness. He was aged forty- 
 eight. 
 
/ 
 
 124 COREA. 
 
 PETER HONG AND PAUL HIS BROTHER 
 
 These two brothers were distinguished 
 among the Christians for their nobility and 
 piety. Their grandfather, who was the first 
 of his family to embrace the faith, was mar- 
 tyred in 1801. They were arrested, and the 
 chief judge, being their kinsman, would not 
 try their cause, but banded them over to the 
 two inferior judges, enjoining them to make 
 them apostatize and send them home. These 
 as well as the executioners thought to gain 
 credit with the chief judge by preserving the 
 life of his two relatives. For this reason 
 they refined their cruel barbarities, but all 
 their devices only served to make their mar- 
 tyrdom more glorious. They were beheaded, 
 Peter on the 31st of January, aged 42, and 
 Paul the next day, aged 39. Some months 
 after, their father’s brother, with his sons, 
 was martyred in the province of Tsella, after 
 twenty years’ imprisonment. In them their 
 family became extinct on earth, to be more 
 splendid in the abode of glory. 
 
 MAGDALEN SON, WIFE OF PETER TSIIOI 
 
 Magdalen was born in Seoul, of an honor- 
 able family. In 1801 het father was exiled 
 
COREA. 
 
 125 
 
 for the faith, her mother soon died, and her 
 education was very much neglected. In 1820, 
 at the time of the cholera, she was converted 
 with her husband, received baptism, and gave 
 herself up to the practice of Christian duties. 
 She was seized in June, and taken to prison 
 with her daughter, a child of two years old. 
 When brought to the tribunal, the judge said 
 to her, “Who has instructed thee in the 
 Christian religion ? How long hast thou 
 practised it?” “From infancy my grand- 
 mother spoke to me of God, of the reward 
 he destines for virtuous men, and the punish- 
 ment he prepares for the impious.” “What 
 people frequent this house?” “You will put 
 them to death: I cannot denounce them.” 
 “To whom do ftiose objects found with thee 
 belong?” “I do not busy myself with these 
 matters: I do not know the owner.” “Re- 
 nounce thy God.” “Never; God is my 
 Creator, I honor him.” “Have pity on thy 
 daughter; spare thyself at least for her sake; 
 say one word and thou shalt regain thy liberty. 
 If thou dost persist in thy obstinacy, thou shalt 
 not escape the tortures and the final punish- 
 ment.” “ God is the judge of life and death ; 
 my life belongs to him. I cannot preserve it 
 at the expense of the obedience which I owe 
 V) him. When I shall be no more, he will 
 
 ii* 
 
126 
 
 COREA. 
 
 take care of my little one.” Four times they 
 violently bent her legs; and she received three 
 hundred and sixty blows of the “rod.” All 
 her body was lacerated, the blood streaming 
 from her veins. Fearing lest her child might 
 be an occasion of temptation and fall, she 
 intrusted it to a Christian. She suffered 
 besides this for eight months the privations 
 of imprisonment, after which she began her 
 immortal life. She was aged thirty-nine 
 years. 
 
 The other persons who suffered martyrdom 
 on the same day are: — 
 
 Agatha Y and Agatha Kouen, who are 
 spoken of in the account of Magdalen Han. 
 
 Mary Y, who is spoken of with her sister 
 Magdalen. 
 
 The 1st of February, 1840, three martyrs 
 were beheaded; first Paul Hong, whose 
 history has been related. 
 
 JOHN Y. 
 
 John was a descendant of a family of the 
 provincial nobility. In his childhood he was 
 left an orphan and adopted by a Christian of 
 the capital. When older he put himself at 
 the service of the Europeans, who intrusted 
 
COREA. 
 
 127 
 
 him with the management of missionary 
 affairs. He was arrested and taken before 
 the tribunal. The judge observed his youth 
 and distinguished appearance, and became in- 
 terested in him, speaking to him in an affec- 
 tionate and benevolent way. “ You are still 
 young, well educated, and can hope for pre- 
 ferment ; a fine career is open to you : how 
 comes it that you have embraced this sect 
 and rebelled against the orders of the king ? 
 An ignominious death awaits you; renounce 
 this religion, which was unknown to our fa- 
 thers; say but one word and you shall be free.” 
 John answered, “ To cling to life and shrink 
 from death is, I well know, 0 mandarin, a 
 sentiment natural to man. I know, too, 
 what advantages you would procure for 
 me, but these have small attractions ; this 
 life is short, and its honors are like a 
 passing shadow. The sensible man pre- 
 fers immortal glory and unending joy to 
 the pleasure of a moment. Through the 
 tribulations of this world, and beyond the 
 tomb, my religion reveals an eternal happi- 
 ness ; for this I practise it. The king, it is 
 true, prohibits this religion ; but higher than 
 the king is God, the Creatbr and Father of 
 all men, who orders me to adore him. Can 
 I without crime refuse obedience ? Judge 
 
128 
 
 COREA. 
 
 of it yourself. If in this kingdom the king 
 commanded one thing and a mandarin the 
 contrary, whom ought we to obey ? Know 
 that, in the hands of God, kings are manda- 
 rins, of whom he makes use to govern this 
 earth.” 
 
 The judge, as a proof of his friendliness, 
 and to win him, offered him a little wine to 
 drink ; but soon, finding his different means 
 of seduction useless, he proceeded to tor- 
 tures. He commanded that he should be 
 stretched on the ground, and receive twenty 
 blows of “ the hoard.” Blood gushed forth 
 violently, and John fainted. The judge, see- 
 ing him about to expire and unfit to endure 
 further torments, had him conveyed back to 
 prison. The confessor was transferred after- 
 ward to the second tribunal, where he under- 
 went the three questionings with the same 
 constancy. He was condemned to death, 
 and three months afterward his sentence was 
 executed. He was thirty years of age. 
 
 BARBARA TSHOI. 
 
 Barbara was taken at the same time that 
 her father and mocher, Peter Tshoi and Mag- 
 dalen Son, were arrested. When her parents 
 spoke to her of marriage, she replied, “ In 
 
COREA. 
 
 129 
 
 selecting a husband for me, do not think of 
 his age, or rank, or riches ; let him only be 
 a good Christian, that is all I want to make 
 him suit me.” Their choice fell on Charles 
 Tchao, whose age exceeded hers by twenty- 
 four years. When brought before the tri- 
 bunal the judge said to her, “Renounce your 
 religion, denounce the Christians, and say 
 who is the owner of the objects found with 
 your husband.” “ Though I must die, I never 
 will renounce my God ; I am acquainted with 
 few Christians, — and, besides, you will put 
 them to death ; I cannot denounce them ; I 
 do not know who put the things in our 
 house.” The judge ordered her legs to be 
 bent. It happened that, like her mother, 
 Barbara was nursing a child. Lest its pre- 
 sence might excite in her maternal heart 
 emotions which might prove fatal, she in- 
 trusted it to a Christian, beseeching him to 
 watch over it. She seven times underwent 
 the torture, and received more than three 
 hundred blows with “the rod.” For eight 
 months she endured the horrors of imprison- 
 ment. Her father, mother, and husband had 
 preceded her to the abode of happiness, and 
 she sighed for the moment when she would 
 be again with them. She was beheaded 
 when she was twenty-one years of age. 
 
 I 
 
130 
 
 \ 
 
 COREA. 
 
 PAUL HE. 
 
 Paul was a soldier. During the first inter- 
 rogatories he stood firm, although he re- 
 ceived seventy blows of “the board. 1 ’ After- 
 ward the miseries of the prison made him 
 apostatize; but the very same day he entered 
 into himself and bitterly bewailed his guilt. 
 He went in search of the mandarin, and 
 accused himself of his weakness. “ I have 
 sinned, I repent; my tongue has apostatized; 
 my heart was Christian ; it is still the same ; 
 see, I am rfeady to go through your torments 
 again.” “Very well,” said the officers; “but 
 we cannot tell if you are speaking the truth : 
 you must prove by some sign that you have 
 changed.” Close at hand stood a large tub, 
 into which the prison-sewer emptied itself. 
 “If you are really sorry, here is a cup; dip 
 it into that tub, and drink.” Paul, without 
 hesitation, filled it, and at one gulp swal- 
 lowed the whole of the disgusting liquid. 
 He wished to repeat it. “Enough,” they 
 cried, “ enough of this. Here is a crucifix ; 
 prostrate yourself before it.” Paul pros- 
 trated himself and respectfully kissed it. 
 The judge, irritated at his return, ordered 
 them to beat him to death with “the board.” 
 He was forty-eight years of age. 
 
COREA. 
 
 131 
 
 PETER Y. 
 
 Peter was born in one of the provinces, 
 of a noble but impoverished family. On the 
 death of his father, his mother went with her 
 children to reside in the capital. Peter led 
 the life of a fervent Christian, and was ar- 
 rested with his sister in 1834. He under- 
 went most courageously, before the tribunal, 
 the wrenching of his arms and legs, and the 
 torture of “the board.” The judge, unable 
 to extort from him a word of apostasy, wrote 
 a large letter on a slip of paper, and put it 
 before him, saying, “ It is hard for you to 
 pronounce your apostasy: spit at this letter, 
 and it shall be a sign that you will be a 
 Christian no longer.” “It is the same 
 thing,” replied Peter; “I cannot do it.” “I 
 will have you beaten, and if you utter a 
 groan I shall understand that you abandon 
 your religion.” He caused him to be cruelly 
 beaten, and his arms and legs were bent, but 
 Peter remained mute and motionless. His 
 sentence was pronounced. The wording of 
 it was, that he was condemned to death for 
 following a false doctrine. The judge showed 
 it to him, ordering him to subscribe it. “ My 
 religion is holy,” he replied, “the doctrine it 
 teaches is true. I cannot attest that it is false.” 
 
132 
 
 COREA. 
 
 The judge commanded an assistant to take 
 hold of his hand and compel him by force to 
 sign it. Peter was kept prisoner for four 
 years, during which he observed a rigorous 
 fast. Feeling his end approach, he said, “I 
 ardently longed that my head might fall be- 
 neath the sword ; but God disposes other- 
 wise; may his holy will be done!” Having 
 spoken these words, he slept the sleep of the 
 just, in the month of June, 1838, aged thirty- 
 six. His sister was martyred the following 
 year. 
 
 JOSEPH TSANG. 
 
 Joseph was what is commonly called a 
 kind-hearted sort of man. He was born at 
 Seoul, in the lowest rank of life. As he was 
 very poor, he used to get a livelihood by 
 selling small wares, but he soon abandoned 
 this, because he found it an occasion of daily 
 falsehoods. His family said to him, “We 
 now have nothing, we are starving ; keep to 
 your trade which supported us.” Joseph re- 
 plied, “ I was able with my business to earn 
 the clothes that cover us, but to me it was an 
 occasion of ruin. I would rather lose my 
 life than preserve it at the expense of my 
 conscience.” During the persecution he was 
 inflamed with so violent a desire of shedding 
 
COREA. 
 
 138 
 
 his blood for his God, that he was on the 
 very point of giving himself up voluntarily 
 to the mandarin ; however, he waited for the 
 guards to come and seize him. He fell sick: 
 “ Alas,” said he, “I shall not be able to be 
 a martyr.” But the soldiers made their ap- 
 pearance, and he was oveijoyed; he was 
 carried to prison and thrown on one side. 
 Several days passed, and no one took any 
 notice of him. “ I am a Christian,” he com- 
 plained ; “ why am I passed over, why am I 
 not interrogated, why am I not beaten?” 
 “He is delirious,” said the officers. “Iam 
 not delirious, I am in my sound senses ; I am 
 a Christian, I tell you, and I have come here 
 to suffer and to die.” The judge accorded 
 that for which he so passionately longed ; he 
 ordered them to inflict twenty-five blows of 
 the “board.” Joseph expired almost in- 
 stantaneously, June 5, 1839. He was aged 
 fifty-four. 
 
 PROTASIUS TSENG. 
 
 Protasius belonged to a mandarin family. 
 He embraced Christianity as an adult, and 
 fulfilled his duty with the greatest fervor. 
 So humble was he that, disregarding his own 
 nobility, he prostrated himself to all the 
 nobles whom he met. When brought before 
 12 
 
134 
 
 COREA. 
 
 the first tribunal, he endured the tortures 
 with the greatest firmness. At the second 
 the judge gained him by his kindness, per- 
 suaded him to apostatize, and sent him 
 home. No sooner had Protasius reached 
 home than he conceived so lively a sorrow 
 for his sin, that for days he could not eat or 
 drink. He went hack to the Pretorium. 
 “Ah, here you are again,” said the guards; 
 “ and what brings you here ?” “ I come to 
 
 make reparation for a crime I have com- 
 mitted ; I apostatized, bpt I repent of it, and 
 am come to tell the mandarin.” Saying 
 these words, he entered the hall. “Bah!” 
 said the guards, driving him out, “what you 
 have said is said, it is over now, go home.” 
 Protasius returned to the attack the three 
 following days, but they constantly refused 
 him entrance. He stationed himself in the 
 street, and watched for the departure of the 
 judge. Seeing him come out, he prostrated 
 himself with tears, crying out, “I have 
 sinned, my mouth said what my heart denied; 
 I repent, I am a Christian, I want to be one.” 
 “I do not believe you,” answered the judge, 
 moving on. Protasius followed, calling out, 
 “lam a Christian; I want to die a Chris- 
 tian.” “ What a set of people they are !” ex- 
 claimed the judge angrily ; “ it is impossible 
 
COREA. 
 
 135 
 
 to get rid of them.” He commanded him 
 to be taken hack to the first tribunal, and 
 there Protasius obtained the object of his de- 
 sires; for he received twenty-five blows of 
 the “ board,” and expired the next night, 
 aged forty-one. 
 
 PETER LIOU. 
 
 Peter was the son of Augustine, the Go- 
 vernment interpreter. He became the faith- 
 ful imitator of his father’s virtues. It is in- 
 credible what he had to endure from the ill 
 treatment of his mother and sisters, avowed 
 enemies of the Christian name. This little 
 boy, persuaded that he could never elude 
 the search of the ministers of justice, went 
 to the tribunal to give himself up. He 
 was tortured eight times, and received more 
 than six hundred blows of the “rods.” 
 Fourteen times did the executioners set 
 upon him with menaces, and load him with 
 injuries and outrages. He received forty 
 blows of the “board.” During his tortures 
 he displayed so great firmness and so tran- 
 quil an air, that the very executioners stood 
 in amazement. He took bits of his flesh 
 which were hanging to his body only by 
 shreds of his tender skin, and threw them 
 down before the judges with a smile. In 
 
136 
 
 COREA. 
 
 prison he was an apostle; he encouraged 
 the disheartened, and exhorted apostates to 
 repentance. “You are a catechist and a 
 grown man,” said he to one of them ; “ I 
 am only a boy : it is you who ought to be 
 exhorting me to suffer courageously; how 
 comes it that we have changed places ? Re- 
 turn to yourself, and die for Jesus Christ.” 
 Peter was strangled in prison, October 31, 
 at the age of thirteen. 
 
 The following martyrs in their interro- 
 gatories were asked the same questions and 
 gave the same replies ; we are therefore com- 
 pelled to curtail them in part, to avoid tedious 
 repetitions. 
 
 AGATHA TSONG. 
 
 Agatha was born on the banks of the river 
 which flows near the capital. She embraced 
 Christianity in middle age. After the death 
 of her husband, when there was no longer 
 any one to maintain her, she begged her 
 bread from door to door. In extreme indi- 
 gence, she was most faithful to her duties. 
 When she was brought before the tribunal, 
 the judge, in order to frighten her, displayed 
 all the different instruments of torture, and 
 
COREA. 
 
 137 
 
 threatened that she should he beaten to death 
 unless she apostatized. “ It were unworthy 
 of me, at my age,” said she, “ to abandon 
 my true religion. I am on the point of ap- 
 pearing before the Judge of the living and 
 the dead : there is hardly a breath in my 
 body now. Make haste to deprive me of it, 
 before death prevents you.” She was carried 
 to the prison of the Kientso, where she ex- 
 pired of the pangs of hunger, pronouncing 
 the sweet names of Jesus and Mary. She 
 was aged seventy-nine. 
 
 BARBARA KIM. 
 
 Barbara was born in the country, of pagan 
 parents. While still a girl, she entered the 
 service of a Christian family in the capital. 
 She was firm under the torture, and died 
 of hunger and sickness, in the month of June, 
 aged thirty-six. 
 
 LUCY THE DWARF. 
 
 The parents of Lucy were poor peasants. 
 She was born a humpback, and never had 
 any other name than Lucy the Dwarf. She 
 preserved throughout her life the simplicity 
 of a child. She was servant in a family of 
 the capital, and exact in the performance of 
 
138 
 
 COREA. 
 
 her duties. She confessed Jesus Christ before 
 the tribunal with great intrepidity. “ Press 
 me no more,” she said, “I am a Christian. 
 Send me to death: I go readily.” She died 
 of hunger, in prison, aged seventy-one. 
 
 ANNA HAN, 
 
 AND HER SISTER-IN-LAW, BARBARA KIM, WIDOW. 
 
 These were two poor women, who confessed 
 Jesus Christ generously, and endured the 
 torture courageously. The first received 
 three hundred and ninety blows pf the “ rod 
 the second, three hundred and forty. They 
 expired in prison, in consequence of their 
 sufferings ; Anna at the age of fifty-five, the 
 29th of August, Barbara at the age of forty- 
 nine, the 23d of August, 1839. 
 
 CATHERINE Y, WIDOW, 
 
 AND HER DAUGHTER, MAGDALEN TSO. 
 
 After a generous profession of faith, they 
 died in prison, in consequence of their tor- 
 ments ; Catherine, aged fifty-seven, Magdalen, 
 aged thirty-three. Out of love for her vir- 
 ginity, Magdalen, in spite of her mother’s 
 entreaties, would never marry. 
 
COREA. 
 
 139 
 
 FRANCIS TSHOI. 
 
 Francis was born near tbe capital. He was 
 one of the most fervent Christians, and suf- 
 fered, with great courage, horrible torments, 
 and the torturing of his arms and legs. At 
 two interrogatories, he received one hundred 
 and ten blows of the “ board,” and expired 
 on the spot, August 25, 1839, aged thirty-five. 
 His son Thomas was sent to Macao, to study 
 Latin, and is now a deacon. 
 
 ANDREW TSENG. 
 
 He was a rich Christian of the provinces. 
 He had received, as it were, the simplicity of 
 the dove ; but he had not the wisdom of the 
 serpent. The traitor went out to him, to 
 discover where the bishop lay hid. Andrew 
 himself was taken afterward. He under- 
 went courageously the torturing of his limbs, 
 scourgings, and one hundred blows of the 
 “ board.” He was strangled in prison, Janu- 
 ary 24, 1840, aged thirty-three. 
 
 TERESA KIM. 
 
 Teresa was a pious woman of the provinces. 
 She was in the house of Paul Ting, where 
 
140 
 
 COREA. 
 
 she was a servant, when she was appre- 
 hended. She received the torture six times, 
 and two hundred and eighty blows of the 
 “ rod.” After seven months’ imprisonment, 
 she was strangled, on the 10th of December, 
 1839, aged forty-four. 
 
 STEPHEN MIN. 
 
 Stephen was converted some years before 
 the persecution. He was of noble origin, 
 and his education, talent, and piety won for 
 him the distinction of catechist. Before the 
 tribunal, his replies to the judge were bold 
 and intrepid. “ Not only will I not abandon 
 my religion/’ said he, “ but, if you let me go, 
 I will preach it to the gentiles.” The en- 
 raged judge commanded him to be beaten 
 with the utmost cruelty. “ He is worthy of 
 death : let him die beneath the blows.” 
 Stephen received these, and then forty blows 
 of the “ board.” He was cast into prison, 
 where he exhorted the apostates and moved 
 them to repentance. He was there strangled, 
 December 31, 1839, aged fifty-three. 
 
 ANTONY KIM. 
 
 Antony was a farmer. He embraced the 
 faith in his manhood ; and, by his zeal and 
 
 y 
 
COREA. 
 
 141 
 
 fervor, * converted the greater part of the 
 villagers. He went to live in the capital, 
 and made his house a place of reunion for 
 the faithful. When arrested, he bore the 
 torments with courage. He said to the judge, 
 “ I have hut one word to say to all your ques- 
 tions and exhortations: I am a Christian, 
 and I want to die one.” He received ninety 
 blows of the “ board,” and was strangled in 
 prison, in March, 1841. He was aged forty- 
 seven. 
 
 Fiant novissima mea horum similia. May 
 my last end be like these . 
 
 FERREOL, 
 
 BISHOP OP BELLINA. 
 
 September 22, 1846. 
 
COREA. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 Letter of Mgr. Ferrtol, Vicar- Apostolic of Corea, to 
 Signor Barran , Superior of the Foreign Missions at 
 Paris, relative to the new Corean Martyrs. 
 
 Sir and dear Confrere: — 
 
 I have to speak to you of the triumphs of 
 Christianity in the Corea, of martyrs again 
 this year, and illustrious martyrs. From her 
 foundation the Church of Jesus Christ has 
 not ceased to offer at all times to her Divine 
 Spouse generous children, who have washed 
 their stoles in the Blood of the Lamb : this 
 is one of the glorious privileges which dis- 
 tinguish her from the sects which are sepa- 
 rated from her. We were ministering to the 
 Christians in peace when the enemy made a 
 declaration of war. In the combat many 
 have been vanquished and many victors ; at 
 the head of these last we find M. Andrew 
 Kim, a native priest, the only man of any 
 capacity whom I had at my disposal. I had 
 sent him to the borders of the province 
 of Hoang-hai, where Chinese boats come in 
 
 142 
 
 i 
 
COREA. 
 
 143 
 
 great numbers every spring for the fishing. 
 He was to visit these places, and ascertain if 
 there were any means of establishing with 
 the Chinese a chain of communication for 
 the transmission of letters and the intro* 
 duction of missioners. His mission was 
 safely accomplished, when an unforeseen ac- 
 cident caused him to be seized. This is his 
 own account of his capture, and of part of 
 the torments he had to suffer before receiving 
 the final stroke of the sword. The original 
 of his letter was in Latin. 
 
 Valley of Souritsicol, in the province of 
 
 Tshongtseng. 
 
 November 3, 1846. 
 
 My Lord: — 
 
 Your Excellency will have already heard 
 what has happened in the capital since we 
 parted. We set sail as soon as we had com- 
 pleted our preparations; and a favorable 
 wind brought us in safety to the Sea of Yen- 
 pieng, which was covered at that time by a 
 quantity of fishing-boats. My people bought 
 some fish, and went to the harbor of the 
 island of Suney to sell it again ; but, not find- 
 ing purchasers, they sent a sailor ashore to 
 salt it. In the course of our voyage we 
 
144 
 
 COREA. 
 
 passed by Pokang, and the islands of Maihap 
 Thetsinmok and Sotseng Taitseng, and at 
 last cast anchor near Pelintao. I saw there 
 about a hundred fishing-junks from Canton; 
 they kept very near to the shore, but the 
 crews were prevented from landing by senti- 
 nels, who were posted on the elevations of 
 the coast and the tops of the hills. Curiosity 
 drew a crowd of Coreans from the neighbor- 
 ing islands round the Chinese. I myself 
 went near them at night, and was able to 
 speak to the master of a boat. I intrusted 
 him with the letters of your excellency, and 
 wrote some to MM. Beneux, Libois, and 
 Martre, as well as to two Chinese Christians. 
 I added to these two maps of Corea, with a 
 description of the islands, rocks, and other 
 remarkable features of the coast of Hoang- 
 hai. This place appears very favorable for 
 the introduction of missionaries, and for 
 the transmission of letters, provided suffi- 
 cient precautions are taken in making use 
 of the Chinese. They make an appointment 
 here for the fishing every year, about the be- 
 ginning of the third month, and remain there 
 till about the end of the fifth. After having 
 executed your lordship’s orders, we set out 
 again, and returned to the harbor of Suney. 
 Up to this time my voyage had been very 
 
COREA. 
 
 145 
 
 prosperous, and I hoped for an equally for- 
 tunate termination of it. The fish which we 
 had left was not yet dried, which obliged us to 
 stay longer in port. My servant Veran asked 
 leave to go on shore to reclaim some money, 
 which he had left in charge of a family with 
 whom he had been concealed for seven years 
 for fear of persecution. 
 
 After he had gone, the mandarin came to 
 our boat with some of his people, and asked 
 to be allowed to use it to drive away the Chi- 
 nese junks. Corean law does not allow the 
 boats of the nobles to be taken for the public 
 service ; and as I had been made, I do not 
 know how, to pass with the people for a 
 ianpan of high rank, as the nobles are called, 
 I should have fallen in their estimation, and 
 so done an injury to our future expeditions, 
 if I had given up my boat to the mandarin. 
 Besides, Veran had prescribed for me a line 
 of conduct which I was to pursue in similar 
 circumstances. I therefore replied to the 
 mandarin, that my boat was for my own use, 
 and that I could not give it up to him. His 
 officers abused me violently, and took my 
 pilot away with them. They came back in 
 the evening, and, taking away another sailor, 
 brought him into the court, where the an- 
 swers which both of them made when ques- 
 
 K 13 
 
146 
 
 COREA. 
 
 tioned threw grave suspicions upon me. The 
 mandarin was aware that the grandmother of 
 one of them was a Christian. The officers 
 then consulted together, and said, “¥e are 
 thirty; if this person is really noble, perhaps 
 one or two of us may be put to death, but not 
 ail ; let us go and seize him.” They accord- 
 ingly came at night, accompanied by several 
 women of bad character, and, throwing them- 
 selves upon us like madmen, they dragged 
 me by the hair, some of which was pulled 
 out, and tying me with a cord, they show- 
 ered kicks and blows with their hands and 
 with sticks upon me. In the mean time the 
 remaining sailors, under cover of the dark- 
 ness of the night, crept quietly down into 
 the boat, and rowed away as fast as they 
 could. Wheu we reached the shore, the 
 officers stripped me of my clothes, bound 
 and beat me again with every sort of insult 
 and sarcasm, and brought me to the court, 
 where a great many persons were assembled. 
 The mandarin said to me, “Are you a Chris- 
 tian?” “Yes, I am,” I answered. “Why do 
 you practise this religion contrary to the 
 king’s orders? Give it up.” “I practise my 
 religion because it is true ; it teaches me to 
 know God, and brings m^ to eternal happi- 
 ness : I know of no such thing as apostasy.” 
 
COREA. 
 
 147 
 
 The torture was then applied to me, and the 
 judge said, “If you do not apostatize you 
 shall die under the blows.” i: As you please, 
 but I will never abandon my God. Do you 
 wish to hear the truth of my religion ? Listen. 
 The God whom I worship is the Creator of 
 heaven and earth, of men, and of every thing 
 that is. He punishes sin and rewards vir- 
 tue, &c. Whence it follows that all men are 
 bound to do homage to him. For my part, 
 I thank thee, O mandarin, for making me 
 suffer these tortures for his love. May my 
 God reward you for this benefit, and raise 
 you to a higher rank!” At these words the 
 mandarin and the whole assembly began to 
 laugh. They next brought me a cangue, 
 about eight feet long, which I immediately 
 took up, and put on my neck, at which 
 bursts of laughter broke from all parts of the 
 audience. I was thrown into prison with 
 the two sailors, who had already apostatized. 
 My hands and feet, my neck and my loins, 
 were tightly bound, so that I could neither 
 walk, nor sit, nor lie down. A crowd of 
 people pressed round me out of curiosity, 
 and I spent part of the night in preaching 
 the faith to them ; and they declared that they 
 would embrace it if it were not forbidden by 
 the king. The officers, finding some Chi- 
 
148 
 
 COREA. 
 
 nese articles in my bag, believed that I was 
 of that country, and the next day the manda- 
 rin sent for me and asked if I was a Chinese. 
 “ No,” I answered, “lam a Corean.” Not 
 believing what I said, he asked, “In what 
 province of China were you born ?” “ I was 
 brought up in Macao in the province of 
 Koang-tong ; I am a Christian, and curiosity 
 and the desire of propagating my religion 
 brought me to this country.” He then sent 
 me back to prison, from whence, five days 
 later, I was taken by a subaltern and several 
 men to Kaiton, the capital of the province. 
 The governor asked me if I was a Chinese, 
 and I answered as I had done to the manda- 
 rin of the island. He put a great many 
 questions to me about my religion, and I 
 gladly took the opportunity of speaking to 
 him of the immortality of the soul, hell, 
 paradise, the existence of God, and the neces- 
 sity of worshipping him in order to be happy 
 after death. He and his people answered, 
 “ What you say is good and reasonable : but 
 the king does not allow us to be Christians.” 
 They afterward asked me many things which 
 would have compromised the Christians and 
 the mission, and I was very careful not to 
 reply to them. “ If you do not tell us the 
 truth,” they said, angrily, “we will torment 
 
COREA. 
 
 149 
 
 you in various ways.” “Do what you 
 please,” I answered; and running to the in- 
 struments of torture I took them up and 
 threw them at the governor’s feet, saying, 
 “ See, I am ready, strike me. I do not fear 
 your tortures.” The officers removed them 
 immediately, and the servants of the manda- 
 rin came up to me and said, “It is the cus- 
 tom for everybody who speaks to the gover- 
 nor to call himself So-in,” (which means fool.) 
 “What are } 7 ou saying?” I answered: “I 
 am a great nobleman, and know nothing of 
 such an expression.” 
 
 Some days afterward, the governor sent 
 for me again, and overwhelmed me with 
 questions about China, sometimes speaking 
 by an interpreter to find out if I was really 
 a Chinese, and ending by ordering me to 
 apostatize. I shrugged my shoulders and 
 smiled to express my pity for him. The 
 two Christians who were arrested with me 
 were overcome by the severity of the torture, 
 and pointed out the house where I had lived 
 in the capital, besides betraying your excel- 
 lency’s servant, Thomas Ly, his brother 
 Matthew, and several others : they confessed 
 that I had communicated with the Chinese 
 junks, and given some letters to one of 
 them*. A detachment of soldiers was imme- 
 
 13 * 
 
150 
 
 COREA. 
 
 diately sent off to the junks, which brought 
 back the letters to the governor. We were 
 very strictly guarded in separate cells, with 
 four soldiers watching us night and day, and 
 a long cord tied to our loins. The soldiers 
 seeing seven scars which had been left on my 
 breast by the ten leeches which I had put on 
 when I was ill at Macao, declared that I was 
 the Great Bear, and amused themselves by 
 many jokes about it. 
 
 As soon as the king heard of our arrest 
 he sent some officers to bring us to the 
 capital: he had been told that I was a 
 Chinese. 
 
 During the journey we were not bound as 
 we were in prison, but our arms were tied 
 with a red cord, as is done with robbers and 
 great criminals, and our heads were covered 
 with bags of black cloth. We suffered 
 greatly on the way from the crowds, who 
 thought I was a foreigner, and pressed to see 
 me, some even climbing up trees and getting 
 on the roofs of houses as I passed. When 
 we reached Seoul we were thrown into the 
 prison of thieves. The people of the court, 
 hearing me speak, said I was a Corean. The 
 following day I appeared before the judges, 
 who asked me what I was. “ I am a Corean,’ ' 
 I answered, “and I was educated in China.” 
 
C 0 E E A. 151 
 
 Interpreters of Chinese were then called, that 
 I might speak with them. 
 
 In the persecution of 1839 the person who 
 betrayed us declared that three young Co- 
 reans had been sent to Macao to study the 
 language of the Europeans, so that it was 
 impossible that I should not be recognised : 
 besides, one of the Christians who was 
 arrested with me had told them that I was 
 their countryman. I confessed to the judges 
 that I was Andrew Kim, one of the three 
 Coreans mentioned, and I related to them all 
 that I had gone through in order to return 
 to my country. When I had told my story 
 every one exclaimed, “ Poor young man ! 
 From his infancy upward he has been in 
 trouble.” The judges ordered me to conform 
 to the king’s orders and to apostatize, but I 
 answered, “ The God who orders hie to 
 worship him is above the king, and to deny 
 him is a sin which the king’s order cannot 
 justify.” When it was suggested to me to 
 denounce the Christians, I objected to them 
 the duties of charity and the commandment 
 of God to love our neighbor. Being asked 
 about religion, I spoke to them at length of 
 the existence and unity of God, of the crea- 
 tion and immortality of the soul, of hell, of 
 the necessity of worshipping our Creator, 
 
152 
 
 COREA. 
 
 and of the falsehood of the religions of the 
 heathen. When I had finished speaking, the 
 judges answered, “Your religion is good, 
 hut ours is so also, and therefore we practise 
 it.” “If £uch is your opinion,” I replied, 
 “you ought to leave us alone and live at 
 peace with us. But instead of that you per- 
 secute us, and treat us worse than the greatest 
 criminals : you confess that our religion is 
 good, and you attack us as if its teaching 
 was abominable.” They laughed loudly at 
 my reply, and handed to me the letters and 
 papers they had taken. The judges read the 
 two that were written in Chinese; they only 
 contained salutations to friends. They then 
 told me to translate the European letters, but 
 I only explained to them what was of no 
 consequence to the mission. They asked me 
 about MM. Berneux, Maistre, and Libois, 
 and I answered, “esse philosophantes in 
 Sinis,” that they were studying philosophy 
 in China. Finding a difference between my 
 letters and those of your excellency, they 
 asked me who had written the latter. I said 
 in general that they were my letters. They 
 showed me those of your excellency, and 
 desired me to write like them, intending to 
 entrap me, but I was too cunning for them. 
 “These characters,” I said, “were written 
 
COREA. 
 
 153 
 
 with a metallic pen ; if you will bring one I 
 will do as you wish.” u ¥e have no pens 
 of metal.” “Unless I have one I cannot 
 form characters like these.” A quill was 
 then brought, and the judge gave it to me, 
 saying, “ Cannot you write with this instru- 
 ment?” “It is not the same thing, but it 
 will serve to show how a person who uses 
 the European characters can write different 
 hands.” Then making a»very fine pen, I wrote 
 several lines in a small hand, and afterward 
 I cut off the point and wrote much larger. 
 “ You see,” I said to them, “ these characters 
 are not the same.” This satisfied them, and 
 they did not press me further, but your lord- 
 ship will see from this how far our learned 
 men in Corea are behind those of Europe. 
 
 The Christians who were taken with me have 
 not yet been put to any torture in the capi- 
 tal. Charles and his companions are in an- 
 other prison, where we cannot communicate 
 with them. Of the ten who are here four 
 have apostatized ; but three of them repent 
 of their weakness. Matthias Ly, who played 
 so vile a part in 1839, appears full of courage 
 and desirous of martyrdom. His example is 
 followed by the father of the convert Sensiri, 
 by my pilot, and by Peter Ham, who formerly 
 gave such scandal to the faithful. We do 
 
154 
 
 COREA. 
 
 not know when we shall be led out to death ; 
 but we are full of confidence in the mercy 
 of the Lord, and trust that he will give us 
 strength to confess his holy name up to our 
 last moment. The Government has de- 
 cided upon seizing your excellency’s servant 
 Thomas, and several other important persons. 
 The police seem rather tired, and, not caring 
 to look for Christians any more, have said 
 that they have all gone away to Itsen Iantsi 
 Ogni, and into the provinces of Tshong- 
 tsheng and Tsella. I entreat your excellency 
 and M. Daveluy to remain concealed until 
 after my death. The judge tells me that 
 three vessels, believed to be French, have 
 anchored near the island Oiento. He says 
 they have come by order of the Emperor of 
 France, (a convenient expression in these 
 countries,) and that they threaten to do much 
 harm to Corea ; that two of them have gone 
 away with the intention of returning next 
 year, and that the third still remains in Co- 
 rean waters. The Government seems fright- 
 ened, remembering the death of the three 
 Frenchmen who were martyred in 1839. I 
 was asked if I knew the reason of their 
 coming ; and I replied that I knew nothing 
 about it, but that they need not be afraid, for 
 that the French never did harm to any one, 
 
COREA. 
 
 155 
 
 without good reason. I have spoken to them 
 of the power of France, and of the liberality 
 of her Government. I think they believe 
 me; but they object to me that they have 
 killed three Frenchmen, without coming to 
 any harm. If French ships have really come 
 to Corea, your excellency will, doubtless, be 
 aware of it. 
 
 I have had to translate an English map of 
 the world, and have made two copies of it in 
 colors, which have pleased them much : one 
 is intended for the king. Just now I am en- 
 gaged, by order of the ministers, in making 
 a small compendium of geography. They 
 take me for a very learned man. Poor people ! 
 
 I recommend Ursula, my mother, to your 
 excellency. She was allowed to see her son, 
 for a day or two, after an absence of ten years, 
 and then he was taken from her again. Have 
 pity upon her, I beseech you, and console her 
 in her sorrow. 
 
 Prostrating myself in spirit at your excel- 
 lency’s feet, I salute for the last time my be- 
 loved father and revered bishop. I likewise 
 salute Mgr. De Besi, and send my respectful 
 compliments to M. Daveluy. May we meet 
 in heaven ! From prison, 26th August, 1846. 
 
 Andrew Kim, Priest, 
 
 Prisoner of Jesus Christ. 
 
156 
 
 COREA. 
 
 Va 
 
 M. Kim was treated as an enemy of the 
 State, and executed in the same way as Mgr. 
 Imbert, and MM. Chastan and Maubant. On 
 the 16th of September, a company of soldiers, 
 with shouldered muskets, marched to the 
 place of execution, on the banks of the river, 
 at the distance of about a league from the 
 capital. A little later, a volley of musketry 
 and the sound of trumpets announced the 
 arrival of a military mandarin of high rank. 
 In the mean time the prisoner was brought 
 out of his dungeon, and was made to sit, 
 with his hands tied behind his back, on a 
 chair which had been roughly prepared, and 
 consisted only of two long sticks, with a seat 
 woven between them of straw. He was thus 
 conducted, in the midst of a crowd of people, 
 to the scene of his triumph. The soldiers had 
 erected on it a pike, from which a standard 
 floated, and stood round it in a ring, which 
 they opened to admit the prisoner. The 
 mandarin read the sentence, which con- 
 demned him to death for having held com- 
 munication with foreigners. M. Kim cried 
 out, with a loud voice, “ This is my last hour 
 of life: listen to me attentively. If I have 
 held communication with foreigners, it has 
 been for my religion and for my God. It is 
 for him that I die. My immortal life is on 
 
COREA. 
 
 157 
 
 the point of beginning. Become Christians, 
 if you wish to be happy after death ; because 
 God has eternal chastisements in store for 
 those who have refused to know him.” 
 
 When he had finished speaking, his robe 
 was taken off him, and each of his ears was 
 pierced with an arrow, which was left hang- 
 ing in it. Some water and a handful of lime 
 was then thrown in his face, and two men, 
 passing a stick under his arms, took him on 
 their shoulders and carried him three times 
 rapidly round the ring ; after which they 
 made him kneel down, and, fastening a cord 
 to his hair, passed it through a hole in the 
 pike, and pulled it by the other end to hold 
 his head up. During these preparations the 
 martyr lost none of his composure. “ Now,” 
 he said to his executioners, “am I placed 
 rightly ? Can you strike me conveniently ?” 
 “ No : turn this way : that is right.” “ Strike ; 
 I am ready.” A dozen soldiers, armed with 
 scimitars, then began a sham fight, and, wheel- 
 ing round, struck the neck of the martyr as 
 they passed. His head did not fall until the 
 eighth blow. -A soldier immediately put it 
 on a small dish and presented it to the man- 
 darin, who returned to give an account of the 
 execution to the court. By the laws of the 
 kingdom, the bodies of criminals remain on 
 
 14 
 
158 
 
 COREA. 
 
 the place of execution for the space of three 
 days, after which their relations are at liberty 
 to remove them. The remains of M. Kim 
 were buried in the place where he was killed, 
 and the officers kept guard over it ; so that, 
 as yet, it has not been possible to transfer 
 them to a more becoming place. 
 
 You will easily understand, my dear con- 
 frere, what a cruel thing the loss of this 
 young native priest has been to me. I loved 
 him as a father loves his child, and nothing 
 but his happiness consoles me for his ab- 
 sence. He is the first, and up to this time the 
 only one, of his nation who has been raised 
 to the priesthood. In the course of his cleri- 
 cal education, he imbibed ideas which made 
 him very much the superior of the people 
 here. His lively faith, sincere piety, and 
 attractive manner at once obtained for him 
 the respect and love of the Christians. In 
 his ministry he surpassed our hopes, and a 
 few years’ practice would have made him a 
 most able and valuable priest. It was not 
 easy to detect his Corean origin ; we were 
 able to intrust all sorts of affairs to him, and 
 his character, manners, and knowledge were 
 a guarantee of their success. In the present 
 state of the mission, his loss is an irreparable 
 
COREA. 159 
 
 one. It will not be out of place to give you 
 here a short account of his life. 
 
 Andrew Kim was born in the province of 
 Tshong-tsheng, in August, 1821. If the tra- 
 ditions of the family are to be trusted, it 
 traces its descent from a king who ruled over 
 the South of Corea in ancient times, when it 
 was divided into small states; but, in spite of 
 this illustrious pedigree, it does not rank 
 high in the kingdom. The reigning dynasty 
 has not yet completed its fourth century, and 
 some of its members have sunk to the lowest 
 class, namely, that of slaves; they, however, 
 are not now considered as belonging to it. 
 The Kim family will have a different reputa- 
 tion with posterity, for having given several 
 martyrs to the Church. 
 
 Andrew was brought up in piety from his 
 infancy. When M. Maubant arrived in 
 Corea, he found him so intelligent that he 
 took him as his attendant, and in 1836 sent 
 him to Macao with two other young men 
 to study Latin. He was there instructed by 
 excellent masters, and made great progress 
 in learning and virtue. In the year 1842, at 
 the end of the Anglo-Chinese war, when M. 
 Cecile, commander of the frigate “Erigone,” 
 expressed his intention of visiting the Corean 
 Court, M. Libois sent Andrew with him to 
 
160 
 
 COREA. 
 
 serve as interpreter in his intercourse with 
 China. At Ting-hai and Shanghae, and in 
 other places, he gave the Chinese a high idea 
 of the generosity of the French, and con- 
 ciliated the esteem of that people toward 
 them. 
 
 In this position he acquired that boldness, 
 which was developed in him by degrees, until 
 he was prepared for the accomplishment of 
 the designs which Providence intended him 
 to carry out. From that time his mind was 
 gradually enlarged, and the hazard of any 
 enterprise rather excited him to its achieve 
 ment than deterred him from it. As the 
 French ship could not reach Corea that year, 
 he left it, and embarked with two mission- 
 aries on a junk which was setting sail for 
 Leaotong. Toward the time when the Corean 
 embassy went to Pekin, he was sent to 
 Pien-men to see if it afforded any means of 
 re-establishing the communication which had 
 been broken off for three years, but he arrived 
 too late, as it had already entered China. 
 
 Meeting it on its way, he examined it 
 closely, to see whether it contained any 
 Christians. Seeing a young man alone, a 
 little apart from the rest, he ventured to ask 
 if he was a Christian. The sign had not de- 
 ceived him; and he persuaded the young 
 
COR EA. 
 
 161 
 
 man, who was a courier with intelligence, to 
 turn back and introduce him. It was repre- 
 sented to him that it would be impossible for 
 him to escape recognition if he travelled 
 alone and without a proper dress; but he 
 rejected the courier’s advice, and courage- 
 ously set out by himself. While in the 
 desert, between China and Corea, he altered 
 his clothes to the Corean fashion, and went 
 on in the disguise of a beggar. When he 
 reached the frontier, he followed a knot of 
 about fifteen persons, and most providen- 
 tially was not asked for his passport at the 
 custom-house. He proceeded a day’s journey 
 into the country, but at the first stopping- 
 place his language, manners, and head-dress 
 betrayed him, and he was obliged to turn 
 back. During the day he concealed himself 
 among the mountains, which were covered 
 with snow, and travelled only at night. He 
 thus repassed the custom-house, and regained 
 the desert. After remaining for three days 
 without food, he was overpowered by weari- 
 ness and sleep, and lay down upon the snow 
 to rest, although the cold was terrible and the 
 night dark. He had hardly fallen asleep 
 when he was awakened by a voice which said 
 to him, “Arise, and walk,” and at the same 
 time he imagined he saw something shadowy 
 
 L 14* 
 
pointing out a way through the darkness. 
 When relating the story to me afterward, 
 he said, “I believed that voice and appari- 
 tion to be merely produced by my imagina- 
 tion, worked upon by my three days’ fast, 
 and the horrors of my solitary position; but 
 still they were most useful, for I should most 
 likely have been frozen to death, and 
 awakened only in the next world.” A fresh 
 danger awaited him on his return to Pien- 
 men. He then looked neither like a Corean 
 nor a Chinese : his feet were so much frost- 
 bitten that they could hardly support him, 
 and his lips were so swollen with the cold 
 that he could not speak articulately. It was 
 proposed to arrest him, and take him before 
 the mandarin, but his presence of mind saved 
 him from that danger. 
 
 In the beginning of 1844 I sent him to the 
 north frontier of Corea, to try to obtain an 
 entrance for missionaries in that direction. 
 He travelled for two months across the vast 
 forests of Mantchouri, in the midst of ice and 
 snow. He met some Christians, and arranged 
 that they should come to Pien-men at the 
 end of the year, to try to introduce the Vicar- 
 Apostolic into the country. At the appointed 
 time I took him with rile, in the hope that 
 we might both succeed in reaching the mis- 
 
COREA. 
 
 163 
 
 sion. Out of the seven messengers who 
 came to the frontier, only three were able to 
 cross it, and they considered that the risk 
 was too great to make it possible to introduce 
 a European. I compelled them to take with 
 them Andrew, who was then a deacon, 
 directing him to prepare a boat and go to 
 Shanghae. Under cover of night he passed 
 between two mountain frontier stations, and 
 waited for the messengers until the appointed 
 day. His great faith and his firm trust in 
 Mary enabled him to bear with great patience 
 all the difficulties of his journey. When he 
 reached Seoul, the capital of Corea, he im- 
 mediately got a boat ready, and collected 
 some Corean peasants, whom he made his 
 sailors. Without communicating his inten- 
 tion to his crew, he boldly set out in his little 
 boat to cross a sea of which he knew no- 
 thing. God had still further trials for him ; 
 bad weather obliged him to return to port, 
 and he encountered a violent storm while 
 still at sea: his masts were cut away, his 
 rudder broken, and part of his property and 
 provision thrown into the sea. That Provi- 
 dence, to which alone he looked for safety, 
 threw in his way a Chinese junk, which 
 agreed to tow his boat to Shanghae, where 
 he was ordained priest. Two months after- 
 
164 
 
 COREA. 
 
 ward he landed two European missionaries 
 on the shores of Corea, anvl thus happily ac- 
 complished the mission he had received from 
 on high, before it pleased God to take him 
 to himself by the glorious death of martyr- 
 dom. 
 
 After the execution of M. Kim, there still 
 remained in prison eight noble confessors, 
 who refused to purchase their liberty by 
 apostasy. On the last day of the seventh 
 month of the Corean year, (September 19,) 
 the king ordered that they should be put to 
 death. Charles Kien, the chief of them, was 
 beheaded in the same way as M. Kim, and 
 received ten blows from the scimitars of the 
 soldiers. The other seven were strangled in 
 prison, after having been almost killed by 
 the blows of the “ board.” In the acts of the 
 martyrs of 1839 you will find a description 
 of this terrible punishment. In this case, the 
 martyrs w^ere already at their last gasp when 
 they were strangled. I will now proceed to 
 give a short account of them. 
 
 Charles Kien belonged to a distinguished 
 family in the capital. His father was mar- 
 tyred in 1801, and in the persecution of 1839, 
 his wife and his son died in prison, while his 
 sister, Benedetta, fell beneath the axe of the 
 executioner. Charles was the chief manager 
 
COREA. 
 
 165 
 
 of the affairs of the mission for many years. 
 He went to the frontier of China to join Mgr. 
 Imbert, and was the constant companion of 
 M. Chastan in his ministrations to the Chris- 
 tians. His age and virtue made him beloved 
 and respected by all the faithful. Before the 
 martyrdom of the bishop, he desired Charles 
 to compile the acts of all those who shed 
 their blood for Jesus Christ, and to take 
 charge of the mission during its widowhood. 
 He was pursued by the police for three years, 
 and was obliged to disguise himself and to 
 seek refuge in the poorest cottages and in the 
 caves of the mountains. When there were 
 no priests, he encouraged the Christians and 
 preserved them in their faith; he often sent 
 messengers to reopen communication with 
 China, and he formed part of the Shanghae 
 expedition. On his return to Corea he was 
 entirely devoted to the service of religion, 
 and as he was alone in the capital when the 
 persecution broke out, the direction of every 
 thing fell upon him. He had just moved 
 from one house to another, taking with him 
 part of the money and property of the mis- 
 sion, when the police came upon him sud- 
 denly and carried him off* to prison with four 
 other persons. He was not put to the tor- 
 ture, but was well treated until he was de- 
 
166 
 
 COREA. 
 
 dared a traitor to the state, and the second 
 chief of the Christians. His laborious career 
 was thus crowned with the glory of martyr- 
 dom. His death has made a great impres- 
 sion on the faithful, who lament him very 
 much : many of them owed their conversion 
 to hifri. He is a great loss at a time like 
 this, when we have so few men capable of 
 serving the mission with fidelity and zeal. 
 He was the last of his family, and died at the 
 age of forty-nine. 
 
 Peter Ham was born of poor parents in the 
 capital. He was a soldier in the service of a 
 chief mandarin, and was arrested in the per- 
 secution of 1839, hut liberated without apos- 
 tatizing, by the exertion of his brothers, who 
 were heathens. Afterward he gave much 
 scandal to the faithful, but he repented of it 
 and repaired it. Before being strangled, he 
 received fifty blows with the “board.” He 
 died at the age of fifty-three. 
 
 Lawrence Han was the catechist of a village 
 called Ogni, about fifteen leagues from the 
 capital; it has now been entirely destroyed. 
 He was a well-instructed and fervent Chris- 
 tian, and very desirous of martyrdom. When 
 the police attacked the village, they seized 
 him as the chief Christian, beat him severely, 
 and took him to the prison of Seoul, where 
 
COREA. 167 
 
 he died, aged forty, having received seventy 
 blows with the “board.” 
 
 Joseph Im was born in a village on the 
 banks of the river which passes near the 
 capital. He was a pagan, but his wife and 
 children were Christians, and in 1839 he be- 
 came a police-officer to protect them. He 
 was arrested because his son was the pilot 
 of Andrew Kim’s boat. When the son apos- 
 tatized and refused the grace of martyrdom, 
 God seems to have transferred it to the 
 father. From the time he entered the 
 prison he had a great desire to die for Jesus 
 Christ, although he knew hardly any thing 
 of the faith. When he appeared in court, 
 the judge, who knew him to be a pagan, said 
 to him, “Do you know the commandments 
 of God?” “No, I do not.” “If you do not 
 know them, you are not a Christian.” “In 
 the same family,” he replied, “there are 
 children of different ages ; some of them 
 have attained the use of reason, while others 
 are not yet weaned; the elder ones know 
 their father better than the younger, but all 
 love him ; I am like a child in the faith, I 
 can hardly walk in it ; but although I know 
 so little of God, I know that he is my Father, 
 and I desire to die for him. Matthias here, 
 who is intelligent and well instructed, knows 
 
168 
 
 COREA. 
 
 God better than I do, and is like a grown-up 
 son in our Christian family.” (Matthias is 
 the son of Ly, the mandarin who introduced 
 the faith into the country. He is one of the 
 most distinguished literati of the country In 
 1839 he was so weak as to apostatize, but 
 this year he has shown the most gratifying 
 signs of repentance and firmness; he con- 
 fessed Jesus Christ with great courage, and 
 looked forward to his martyrdom with much 
 eagerness ; but this favor has been denied 
 him, for the judge considered him useful to the 
 kingdom, and has privately given him over 
 to his family.) When Joseph Im heard the 
 prisoners cursing their religion, he said to 
 them, with great indignation, “ I cannot an- 
 swer you, because I am ignorant, but my 
 heart is pained by what you say. Matthias, 
 you can answer them : why do not you speak ?” 
 He was instructed and baptized in prison by 
 M. Kim. He was anxious to be beheaded, 
 and said to the judge, “How is it that you do 
 not carry out the laws of the kingdom ? They 
 order that every criminal condemned to death 
 should be beheaded, and yet you order us 
 to be beaten, to be killed by the ‘board,’ or 
 to be strangled.” The judge, in great anger, 
 ordered him to receive fifty blows with the 
 “board.” Just before being strangled, he 
 
CORE A* 
 
 169 
 
 cried out with a loud voice, “ 0 Jesus, my 
 Master, I give thee all I have, my soul and 
 my body.” He was fifty-five years old. 
 
 Teresa Kim was a pious person of the capi- 
 tal, aged thirty-six, who had vowed her vir- 
 ginity to Jesus Christ. 
 
 Agatha Y, aged thirty-seven, and Susanna 
 Y, her servant, aged forty-three, both widows, 
 lived at Seoul in great fervor ; they both re- 
 ceived fifty blows with the “board” and 
 were strangled. 
 
 Catherine Toki was by birth a slave in the 
 country. Her pagan master beat her severely, 
 and left her for dead, in consequence of her 
 refusal to perform some superstitious acts. 
 Her mother took her home and healed her 
 wounds, but she remained a cripple. She 
 was arrested with the others, and strangled, 
 in the thirtieth year of her age, after receiv- 
 ing seventy blows with the “board.” 
 
 I send you, my dear confrere, the acts of 
 some of the martyrs of 1839. I am sorry 
 that they did not appear with the news of 
 the persecution of that date. It is now 
 rather late, but they are so beautiful that the 
 editors of the Annals will not, I am sure, 
 make an}' difficulty about publishing some 
 of those which are the most touching, as 
 their publication cannot fail to be most edi- 
 
 15 
 
170 
 
 C 0 E E A. 
 
 tying in Europe. I am confident that the 
 Directors will do all they can not to deprive 
 the faithful of the history of these interest- 
 ing events. Would not Rome canonize or 
 beatify some of the martyrs ? What a con- 
 solation that would be for the poor Chris- 
 tians in Corea ! and what an encouragement 
 for them in the midst of their sufferings and 
 trials ! I have no hesitation in saying that 
 many of them would brave torture more 
 courageously if they had before them the 
 example of their brethren reigning in heaven. 
 I entreat the Directors to interest themselves 
 about this at the Court of Rome. It is im- 
 possible for us to give any more information 
 than we have already sent. There is not 
 the slightest ground for doubting the fact of 
 their martyrdom ; and it is clear that they 
 have suffered death for their faith with cou- 
 rage and resignation. I had intended to 
 translate their acts into Latin, but that is 
 impossible, as I have not the time to do so. 
 I am not even able to copy them out, and 
 what I am sending is only an abstract. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 Letter of M. Guillemin, Prefect Apostolic of the Mission 
 of Quang-tong and Quang-s\, to the Directors of the 
 Pious Work of the Propagation of the Faith. 
 
 The mission of Quang-tong, which has 
 long been subjected to severe trial, can now 
 boast of having given three martyrs to the 
 Church. M. Chapdelain, Missionary Apos- 
 tolic of this province, was beheaded at 
 Quang-si, on the 29th of last February, 
 together with a young convert, whom he 
 had brought to the knowledge of the gospel, 
 and a young widow, named Agnes, who had 
 devoted herself to the instruction of pagan 
 children. I only received this news yester- 
 day by a courier, who brought me several 
 letters from the province of Kouei-teheou. 
 I have but few hours before the post leaves 
 to look over them, and to put in order what 
 relates to this event : but the circumstances 
 which accompanied the martyrdom of these 
 three heroes of Christianity are so touching 
 and so edifying to souls who love God, that 
 
172 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 I cannot make up my mind to defer laying 
 them before you even for a short time. 
 Accept, gentlemen, this relation as a proof 
 of my respect for the members of your pious 
 work, and of my veneration for the worthy 
 missionary whose glorious end we envy. 
 
 M. Augustus Chapdelain, having been ap- 
 pointed to the mission of Quang-si, which 
 from time immemorial had been destitute of 
 evangelical laborers, left Hong-Kong in Oc- 
 tober, 1853, and, after a disastrous journey 
 of three days, during which he was robbed 
 and several times threatened with death, he 
 reached the province of Kouei-tcheou, from 
 which he was to make his way to his own 
 mission. He found in that place Mgr. Lyons, 
 a zealous missioner, whose long residence 
 there had made him acquainted with the lan- 
 guage and custom of the country, in which 
 he instructed his new colleague. When M. 
 Chapdelain came in sight of his promised 
 land, he threw himself on his knees to thank 
 God for having brought him to the place of 
 his inheritance; and, offering himself to him 
 once more, he consecrated his whole power 
 and life to labor in the glorious work which 
 was intrusted to him. The fruits he pro- 
 duced soon corresponded to his zeal. After 
 two years’ work, he could reckon about two 
 
CHINA. 
 
 1T3 
 
 hundred converts. The harvest was abun- 
 dant, and the apostle could look forward with 
 consolation to the future which seemed to be 
 before him ; but soon the enemy of all good 
 interfered to disappoint his hopes, and raised 
 against him, under pretext of the following 
 circumstances, one of the most terrible per- 
 secutions on record in this age. 
 
 A young convert had a dispute with his 
 ■wife, who was still a pagan, and whom he had 
 reproved for her bad conduct. She applied 
 to her father and brother, who were officers 
 in the court of the mandarin ; and, as they 
 had a most determined hatred of the name 
 of Christian, they took this opportunity to 
 give way to their revenge and to bring to 
 ruin not only the Catholics of the place, but 
 also the Father who directed them. They 
 presented themselves before the mandarin, 
 and made a report against the Christians, 
 which was the most unjust and absurd that 
 can possibly be imagined. In it they stated 
 that Christianity was a false and perverse re- 
 ligion ; that its followers taught people to fly, 
 like birds ; that they were in possession of 
 secrets of magic, by which they could do 
 what they pleased ; that their leader was a 
 certain foreigner named M&, who came from 
 distant countries to excite the people to re- 
 15* 
 
174 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 bellion ; that he was collecting followers on 
 every side ; and that it was high time for the 
 authorities to interfere to prevent the further 
 progress of the evil. Although this accusa- 
 tion was so palpably false, it was received 
 very readily b} T the mandarin ; and it was 
 obvipus that tbe persecution would be con- 
 ducted with unusual severity. The very 
 heavens seemed to confirm this sad presenti- 
 ment, by giving out one of those signs of 
 coming storms whereby the elect are fore- 
 warned of the attack of the enemy. “ De- 
 disti metuentibus te significationem, ut fu- 
 giant a facie arcus.” “ Thou hast given a 
 warning to them that fear thee, that they may 
 flee from before the bow.” The day before 
 the arrest, there appeared in the air a cross 
 of light, surrounded by a brilliant crown, 
 which seemed to hang over the village of 
 Yoa-chan, and was visible alike to pagan 
 and Christian. The pagans considered it 
 unfavorable to the authors of the accusation ; 
 but the Christians, on the contrary, more 
 accustomed to interpret the mysteries of the 
 Passion, saw in it new evidence that the 
 crown was only to be reached by means of 
 the cross, and, therefore, with redoubled 
 prayers prepared themselves for every trial 
 to which it might please God to subject 
 
CHINA. 
 
 175 
 
 them. The event proved the truth of their 
 anticipations. The next day, the nineteenth 
 of the first moon, which corresponds to the 
 24th of February, the mandarin, without 
 waiting, according to the custom of the 
 courts, for the end of the vacation, ordered 
 two officers to collect a sufficient number of 
 soldiers and to arrest all the Christians of 
 Yoa-chan. 
 
 In some parts of China, as in Quang-si 
 and Si-ling-hien, the Government does not 
 keep a standing army, but, when any judicial 
 sentence has to bp carried out, one or more 
 officers are chosen, according to the import- 
 ance of the case, to make an appeal to the 
 people, and especially to all who may be un- 
 employed in the neighboring villages. Those 
 who are collected in this way are a thousand 
 times worse than the regular soldiery, for, 
 having nothing to lose, they are less easily 
 kept in order, and, consequently, ransack 
 and pillage whatever comes in their way. 
 The two officers collected in this way about 
 a hundred men, armed with long pikes and 
 large knives, besides other weapons of offence. 
 The father and brother of the person who 
 made the denunciation joined their ranks, 
 and, in this way, they marched upon Yoa- 
 chan, a village about three leagues from 
 
176 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 where M. Chapdelain lived, and the place 
 whither the young woman who began the 
 persecution had been sent. 
 
 When this band first set out, it was cur- 
 rently reported that it was marching against 
 the Christian village, and especially to seize 
 its chief. A convert living in the city, who 
 had taken his degree as a man of letters, 
 had notice of it, and hastened to despatch a 
 messenger to warn the ^Father of the con- 
 spiracy against him and to offer him his own 
 house as a place of refuge. In this pressing 
 danger, the missionary gladly accepted his 
 proposal, and set off immediately, under the 
 guidance of a convert, who led him to Si- 
 ling-hien by an unfrequented path, at the 
 same time that the soldiers took the more 
 direct road. The Christians, on their side, 
 with the assistance of the young companion 
 of the Father, collected hastily the most pre- 
 cious things which would be considered sus- 
 picious, — such as the sacred ornaments, the 
 religious books, &c., — and hid them, as well as 
 they could, in a neighboring cottage. Having 
 done this, two or three Christians of Kouei- 
 tcheou went out to see what was going on, 
 and to give notice to their companions, while 
 the rest waited for the arrival of the sol- 
 diers, which took place soon after. Al- 
 
CHINA. 
 
 177 
 
 though our poor Christians had some idea 
 of the danger they were in, they were far 
 from imagining it to be so terrible as it 
 proved. 
 
 They hoped to be able to get off by paying 
 a few packets of sapecs ;* but the soldiers an- 
 nounced, on their arrival, that they would not 
 hear of any such arrangement. They seized 
 the most noted converts, beat them, and, put- 
 ting them in chains, harassed them in every 
 way, to make them discover the property of 
 the missionary, the whole of which they wished 
 to take. All at once this ruffianly band dis- 
 persed itself over the village, broke into all 
 the houses, plundering and robbing every 
 thing without mercy. Oxen, goats, poultry, 
 and bales of cotton, — with which the country 
 abounds, — all became the prey of these de- 
 vastators, who only left the Christians a little 
 maize and rice, that they might not die of 
 hunger. Thus laden with booty, they retired, 
 carrying away with them fifteen prisoners. 
 Instead, however, of taking them to the city, 
 they brought them to a pagan castle, that 
 they might question them at pleasure, and so 
 extract from them the little money they still 
 
 * Each packet contains a thousand sapecs, of which there 
 are twenty-eight in a penny. 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 retained. By means of torture, they ob- 
 tained from them two hundred packets of 
 money, (£30 sterling;) and, even after this 
 barbarous treatment, they brought them into 
 court, that they might undergo more. Among 
 them was the young Agnes, named before, 
 whose virtue and unshaken firmness we had 
 so much occasion to admire. 
 
 Laurence Pe-mou, one of the Father’s most 
 faithful converts, succeeded in escaping from 
 the soldiers who searched for him. In anx- 
 iety for his master’s safety, he went toward 
 Si-ling-hien, where M. Chapdelain then was, 
 and on joining him protested that he wished 
 to die with his own pastor, who had come so 
 far and exposed his life so often to save his 
 soul. Soon afterward five or six women, 
 mothers or wives of prisoners, came to Si- 
 ling-hien with their children in their arms, 
 to see the Father, and to learn from him 
 what steps they ought to take in their present 
 difficult position. After conferring together, 
 it was arranged that these women should 
 present themselves, with their children, to 
 the mandarin, and reclaim from him their 
 husbands, their sons, and all that they had 
 been robbed of. As they, not unreasonably, 
 expressed some fear for themselves, Laurence 
 Pe-mou said to them, “ Why, what are you 
 
CHINA. 
 
 1T9 
 
 afraid of? If you do not like to go alone 
 before the mandarin, I will accompany you 
 myself. If it is necessary for us to die, let 
 us have no fear in offering our lives for the 
 glory of God and the salvation of our souls.” 
 With these words, he led the way to the court, 
 and when they reached the audience-chamber 
 the women, according to the Chinese custom 
 in cases where persons make reclamations 
 without first asking permission to do so, set 
 up a loud screaming. The mandarin within, 
 hearing the noise, came out to know the 
 reason of it, but instead of hearing their peti- 
 tion had them all beaten and chained, dis- 
 charging his wrath upon Laurence Pe-mou 
 in particular, for having dared to bring the 
 women inside his court. 
 
 As we have already related, the P. Chapde- 
 lain took refuge at Si-ling-hien, in the house 
 of the worthy convert Lo-kong-ye. He 
 hoped that he would be in safety there, not 
 expecting that any one would dare to search 
 the house of a learned man who was so much 
 esteemed both in the city and in its neigh- 
 borhood. He forgot, however, that to go to 
 the capital, to the very gate of the court, was 
 putting himself into the hands of his per- 
 secutors. The first night he was there he 
 might have been able to retire to Kouei- 
 
180 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 tcheou, where he would have found a secure 
 asylum with his worthy colleagues, Mgr. 
 Penny, the superior of the mission, and his 
 neighbor Mgr. Lyons, who had already 
 helped him so much in preaching the gospel 
 in Quang-si. But how could he fly from his 
 dear converts, who were still so young in the 
 faith? Would there not be reason to fear 
 that their courage would fail them if they 
 saw their Father yield to the influence of 
 fear, and leave them to themselves in their 
 danger? Like the good shepherd, he resolved 
 to throw in his lot with that of his sheep, in 
 order that he might teach them, if necessary, 
 to sacrifice themselves for the Lord, as they 
 had already learned from him how to dedicate 
 themselves to his service. Having taken this 
 resolution, M. Chapdelain only thought of 
 ' uniting himself in prayer to his Divine Master, 
 with the most complete abandonment of him- 
 self and confidence in him. It is to be re- 
 gretted that at that solemn moment, when 
 Heaven was preparing to give him his crown, 
 he did not address to his brethren some word 
 of farewell, some salutation which he might 
 have known would be the last. Undoubt- 
 edly we should have seen in it sentiments of 
 the tenderest piety, and ardent desire that 
 the glorious martyrdom for which he had 
 
CHINA. 
 
 181 
 
 always sighed should no longer he delayed. 
 But, when he saw heaven opened before him, 
 he forgot earth, and on bended knees began 
 a prayer, which was only ended by the arrival 
 of the soldiers to drag him away. 
 
 Before proceeding to his arrest, the chief 
 judge sent an officer to the house of Lo- 
 kong-ye, to make sure that he was really con- 
 cealed there. When the messenger arrived, 
 he presented himself to M. Chapdelain, and 
 told him that he had come to seek him by 
 order of the mandarin. At these words the 
 missionary turned to him, and answered, with- 
 out the slightest emotion, “My prayer is 
 ended; go and tell your master that I will be 
 with him directly.” 
 
 When the mandarin was assured of the 
 presence of M. Chapdelain, he sent a large 
 body of officers to surround the house of Lo- 
 kong-ye, which stood at a little distance from 
 the court. The chief alone entered the house, 
 while the rest kept guard over the approaches 
 to it. Owing to the degree which the worthy 
 Lo-kong-ye had taken, no injury was done to 
 any thing in his house ; the venerable Lo- 
 kong-ye also, who is blind, and who ever 
 since his baptism has shown himself worthy 
 of the name of Christian, was treated with 
 respect. But, taking M. Chapdelain, together 
 16 
 
182 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 with the second son of Lo-kong-ye, and the 
 young convert who had accompanied the Fa- 
 ther the day before, they put them in chains, 
 and conducted them to the tribunal of the 
 mandarin. 
 
 The courageous Pe-mou, with the five or 
 six Christian women who had accompanied 
 him, was there also ; and on the evening of 
 the same day, the 25th of February, the con- 
 verts who had been arrested at Yoa-chan the 
 day before, arrived, so that there were alto- 
 gether four or five and twenty assembled to 
 render homage to the holiness of their faith, 
 — a beautiful spectacle to the court of heaven, 
 and touching for those poor converts, who, on 
 first embracing Christianity, thui? shared the 
 ignominy of their Savior’s life. From the 
 time of their entrance into prison they were 
 loaded with chains, their limbs were tortured 
 by blows with canes, and cangues were 
 added, which they had the happiness of wear- 
 ing all night for the glory of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The next day, the 26th of February, Lau- 
 rence Pe-mou was the first to appear before 
 the mandarin. He who had volunteered to 
 follow the missionary in all his hardships, 
 • had the honor of confessing Jesus Christ 
 
 with all the firmness and courage with which 
 his faith inspired him. 
 
CHINA. 
 
 183 
 
 The mandarin first attempted to shake him 
 by threats. “Why,” he said to him, “do 
 you practise this religion of the Lord of 
 heaven, which is so perverse, and which ex- 
 cites people to rebellion?” “No,” answered 
 the generous neophyte, “ the religion of the 
 Lord of heaven has nothing to do with what 
 you impute to it. What it teaches is to 
 avoid evil, to do good, and to save our 
 souls.” “Why do you follow the Master 
 M&?” (this was the Chinese name of M. 
 Chapdelain.) “ Because he teaches me to 
 follow the true God and to practise his holy 
 religion.” “Will you still follow him?” 
 “Yes; I will never leave him.” “Unless 
 you abandon him, and renounce your reli- 
 gion, I will have your head cut off.” “ The 
 mandarin can cut off my head, and not only 
 mine, but also those of my wife and chil- 
 dren ; but to renounce my religion, the re- 
 ligion of the Lord of heaven, — to give up 
 offering my humble prayers and adorations 
 to him, — oh, no ! I will never be guilty of such 
 treachery ! Mandarin ! cut off* my head if 
 you will, but I will never be an apostate.” 
 The mandarin, in great indignation, or- 
 dered him to be beaten with canes, and said, 
 angrily, to him, “Well, since you wish to be 
 beheaded, you shall be.” He then called 
 
184 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 one of his savage attendants, and made him 
 cut off his head. 
 
 It is not yet known what has become of 
 the body of this glorious martyr of Jesus 
 Christ. Some say that it has been buried ; 
 others that it has been thrown away. But 
 what does it matter? God will know where 
 to find it when he wishes to clothe it with 
 the glory which is its due. It was only five 
 days since this worthy combatant had been 
 regenerated in the waters of baptism, and 
 received the name of the martyr, S. Lau- 
 rence, whose constancy he imitated so well. 
 As his holy patron refused to leave S. Xys- 
 tus, when he was taken to execution, so 
 Laurence Pe-mou never for a moment aban- 
 doned his dear master. Like S. Laurence, 
 he faced with firmness the fury of the tyrant, 
 and like him, too, his soul, purified and 
 made beautiful by the blood so nobly shed, 
 has gone to join the glorious army of mar- 
 tyrs, and to share their splendor for eter- 
 nity. 
 
 The execution of the youthful Agnes fol- 
 lowed that of Laurence Pe-mou; but, before 
 relating her triumph, it will be well to give 
 some account of her earlier years. 
 
 The daughter of an old Christian physi- 
 cian in great poverty, Agnes Tsaou-kong 
 
was born in 1833, in the province of Kouei- 
 tcheou. She was remarkable from her in- 
 fancy for her piety and persevering goodness. 
 Being left an orphan at the age of fifteen, 
 and entirely destitute, she was supported by 
 the charity of the missionaries of the pro* 
 vince, who sent her to school, where she 
 made great progress in reading and writing 
 the Chinese language. The following year 
 she was married to a Christian ; but he died 
 three or four year later, leaving Agnes with- 
 out any means of subsistence,' but entirely 
 resigned to the will of God. In the mean 
 time the faith obtained an entrance into the 
 province of Quang-si, and the number of the 
 faithful increased so rapidly that Mgr. Lyons, 
 at the request of M. Chapdelain, sent Agnes 
 to him, to instruct persons of her own sex in 
 the Christian religion. She executed with 
 great exactness the charge which was in- 
 trusted to her. Endowed with a virtue which 
 was superior to every trial, gentle, modest, and 
 always satisfied either with good or evil for- 
 tune, she thought of nothing but of winning 
 souls to God and ejecting them in the way 
 of salvation. Thus did she prepare herself, 
 by the discharge of the duties of her state, 
 for fighting the battle of the Lord with heroic 
 faith. 
 
186 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 Agnes was arrested on the 24th of Febru- 
 ary, and, because she showed more courage 
 than others, she was put in chains, and 
 brought before the judge, who tried in a 
 thousand ways to shake her constancy. Her 
 faith, however, was not to be conquered, 
 for neither the promises, the threats, nor 
 the curses which the brutal mandarin heaped 
 upon her, nor the sight of the punishments 
 which he barbarously brought before her, 
 were able to weaken even for a moment her 
 resolution to dedicate herself entirely to God, 
 and to remain faithful to him to the last 
 moment of her life. Among the various 
 questions which the mandarin addressed to 
 her, the following will best show the peace 
 and simplicity of her soul : — 
 
 “ Whence are you ?” “From Kouei-tcheou, 
 of Hyn-y-fou.” “ Who taught you the Chris- 
 tian religion?” “My parents, who were 
 always Christians. I was also sent to school, 
 where I learned to read a little.” “What 
 did you come here for?” “ Two years ago, 
 when a great number of persons in this 
 country embraced the Christian religion, I 
 came to teach their wives and daughters to 
 pray and to serve God.” “ Why do you 
 teach them to fly like birds?” “I do not 
 teach them to fly, but to pray. The man- 
 
CHINA. 
 
 187 
 
 darin knows well that this is a calumny 
 which has been invented against us.” “Why 
 do you instruct them by night, and not by 
 day?” “Because they are at work in the 
 daytime, either in the fields or spinning, and 
 have only their nights free.” “I under- 
 stand. Now you must tell me the truth can- 
 didly, if you wish to save what little life you 
 have left. Are you not the wife of the mas- 
 ter M&?” “No,” she answered, indignantly, 
 “ I am not : I did not know the Father until 
 I came here.” 
 
 The mandarin angrily addressed her with 
 one of the most revolting curses which even 
 Chinese wickedness could devise ; then con- 
 tinuing his questions, “Tell me,” he said, 
 without disguising his mercenary nature, 
 “ tell me how much money your master M& 
 has?” “I know nothing about that.” He 
 put further questions to her, and ended by 
 saying, “ If you will not renounce both your 
 religion, and your master M&, I will have 
 you put to death.” “Have me put to death if 
 you please, but I will never renounce the re- 
 ligion of my master M&, which is that of the 
 Lord of heaven.” “How would you wish 
 me to have you put to death?” “In the 
 same way as my master ML” 
 
 The mandarin, consenting to this choice, 
 
188 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 had a cage made for her, like the one in which 
 M. Chapdelain was already imprisoned. It 
 was about a metre and a half high,* and had 
 a hole in the top, in which the head of the 
 sufferer was inserted, and by which he hung 
 suspended, as his feet could hardly reach the 
 bottom of the cage. His arms were stretched 
 out, and fastened to great blocks of wood, so 
 that they could not be moved. The unhappy 
 victim, thus suspended, and deprived of all 
 power of moving, was left without food 
 sometimes for five or six days, enduring all 
 the tortures of suffocation before coming to 
 the end of his sufferings. Agnes was placed 
 in her cage on the 23d of the first month, 
 corresponding to our 28th of February, 
 about the same time as M. Chapdelain. As 
 they were placed opposite each other, at a 
 little distance apart, they were able to see 
 each other, but not to converse ; a touching 
 circumstance for these two martyrs, who had 
 dedicated themselves to the same work, and 
 now saw each other exposed to the same 
 trial, with the hope of going to receive the 
 glorious reward of it together. On the 27th 
 of the same month, after passing four days 
 in this cruel torture, the holy and illustrious 
 
 * About five feet. 
 
CHINA. 
 
 189 
 
 heroine, worn out with hunger and thirst, 
 and her whole appearance quite changed by 
 weakness, gave up her soul into the hands 
 of her Creator, and went to receive the glo- 
 rious crown of martyrdom from the hands 
 of Jesus Christ. It is very probable that her 
 body has been buried, but we have not yet 
 been able to ascertain the fact. Let us hope 
 that God will one day restore to his Church 
 the precious relics of this holy martyr, who 
 has given us so admirable an example of 
 fidelity in his service. 
 
 Lastly, after having witnessed with his 
 own eyes the combats of his generous con- 
 verts, it was fitting that the priest of Jesus 
 Christ, the apostle of the faith, should in his 
 turn appear upon the scene, and display the 
 courage with which the grace of God had 
 filled his soul. Being first asked about his 
 religion, M. Chapdelain made the necessary 
 replies. Afterward the mandarin put to 
 him irrelevant questions, such as these: — 
 “ How much money have you? Why do 
 you teach your followers to fly?” The 
 missionary,, either, as some think, not under- 
 standing the mandarin clearly, or wishing to 
 imitate our Lord Jesus Christ in the court 
 of Herod, remained silent, and made no 
 answer to these reproaches. The enraged 
 
190 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 judge ordered him to receive a hundred 
 blows on the cheeks with a cruel thong of 
 leather. One stroke was enough to draw 
 blood, so that a hundred, administered with 
 all the force that fanaticism and revenge 
 could inspire, must have entirely broken the 
 jaws and knocked out the teeth of the glo- 
 rious martyr. Being thus rendered incapa- 
 ble of speaking and answering, he received 
 three hundred blows on the back with a 
 cane. During these terrible sufferings he 
 did not breathe a single sigh, nor utter a 
 single complaint, which astonished the man- 
 darin and the bystanders very much, as when 
 the Chinese undergo this punishment they 
 cry out loudly, begging the mandarin to 
 pardon them ; but the confessor, who was 
 united heart and soul to his suffering Lord, 
 was able to bear the most cruel tortures with- 
 out giving any sign of pain. The mandarin 
 attributed his extraordinary silence to his 
 skill in magic, and causing a dog to be killed, 
 he sprinkled the martyr’s body with its 
 blood ; the officers continuing to beat him 
 without counting the blows, until they saw 
 that he was unable to move. 
 
 He was then dragged to the prison, as it 
 was impossible for him to walk a step. But 
 by the merciful goodness of God, he was 
 
 i > 
 
CHINA. 
 
 191 
 
 shortly afterward able to rise and walk, as * 
 if he was in perfect health. The officers 
 who witnessed this new miracle, came up to 
 inquire how it was that at one moment he 
 was unable to stir, and was walking with 
 ease the next. The Father answered with a 
 smile, “ It is the good God who protects and 
 blesses me.” Although this reply only 
 showed the holiness of the generous martyr, 
 the madmen in their blindness considered it 
 a new proof of magic power, and had pre- 
 pared for him a dish of those viands which 
 are reputed the most unclean in the country, 
 in order that they might destroy the effect 
 of the charm. As he was aware that those 
 who belong to secret societies hold in great 
 horror those kinds of food, which they believe 
 to be antidotes to their mysterious practices, 
 he tasted of every thing, in order to show 
 that he was affiliated to no proscribed sect; 
 but he ate very little, although this was all 
 the food he had from the time of his arrest 
 until he was admitted to the heavenly ban* 
 quet, as the mandarin had forbidden, undei 
 pain of death, that any one should supply 
 him with other nourishment. 
 
 But these were only part of the trials which 
 our worthy confessor of the faith went 
 through. During the whole of the 27th he 
 
192 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 endured the terrible punishment of the iron 
 chain. Kneeling on fixed links of this chain, 
 his body was kept upright over it by ropes 
 tied to his head and hands and fastened in 
 opposite directions. On the 28th he and the 
 young Agnes were placed in the cage which 
 we have described, and he remained in it the 
 whole of that day and the following night. 
 
 In the midst of this long and cruel agony, 
 when the martyr, pressed as grapes in the 
 wine-press, had but little life remaining, the 
 mandarin sent one of his servants to offer 
 him his liberty for the sum of four hundred 
 taels. The Father replied that he had no 
 money, but only books. The mercenary 
 officer sent word a second time, that if he 
 could not afford so much, his life should be 
 spared for a hundred and fifty taels. But 
 this time, instead of repeating that he had no 
 money, the missionary replied, “ Let the 
 mandarin do what he pleases with me, I am 
 in his hands.” JSTo doubt, although so large 
 a sum was neither in his own power, nor in 
 that of his poor Christians, to collect, he 
 might have told the mandarin that he would 
 obtain it from his friends at Kouei-tcheou, 
 which would have given him time, and per- 
 haps an opportunity of saving his life. But 
 God did not allow him to think of this expe- 
 
CHINA. 
 
 193 
 
 dient, because it would have prolonged the 
 days of his pilgrimage, and deprived him of 
 the happiness, which so many saints have 
 envied, of giving his blood for the Savior 
 who shed his own for love of us. 
 
 Thus arrived the 29th of February, the 
 happy day on which our martyr was to end 
 his passing sufferings and enter upon eternal 
 bliss. The mandarin, hearing that an extra- 
 ordinary noise had been heard during the 
 night in the place where he was kept, 
 hastened to go himself to him. He found 
 him still alive, and, fearing lest he should 
 escape by some magical device, had him 
 taken out of his cage, and calling an officer 
 who was armed with a large knife, desired 
 him to cut off his head. Thus ended the 
 apostolate of our dear and venerable brother 
 M. Augustus Chapdelain, which, although 
 short, was full of labors and merits. He 
 was born at La Rochelle, in the diocese of 
 Coutanges, on the 6th of January, 1814, 
 ordained priest on the 10th of June, 1843, 
 started for the missions in 1851, and was 
 beheaded for the faith on the 29th of Fe- 
 bruary, 1856. 
 
 But what became of the remains of this 
 glorious martyr after his execution? Per- 
 haps it would be better to drop a veil over 
 N 
 
194 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 the scenes of horror which that day witnessed, 
 and the outrages of which those precious 
 relics were the subject; yet we must reveal 
 what common report has told us. If on the 
 one hand we see acts of cruelty to which 
 history scarcely affords a parallel, on the 
 other we know that the power of God pro- 
 tects the bodies of his elect, and that they 
 will not be lost forever, but will appear again 
 in glory on the day of resurrection. The 
 precious head of the martyr was taken out of 
 the city, and tied to a tree. It is generally 
 the custom, when the head of a criminal is 
 thus exposed in public, to put it in a case, 
 which protects it from the insults of the 
 populace. But no such care was taken of the 
 martyr of Jesus Christ. His head was simply 
 hung up by the hair, and the boys and passers 
 by knocked it down with stones, so that 
 the venerable relic was seen rolling about in 
 the dust and mud, until it was devoured by 
 the unclean animals, who fought for the 
 fragments of it. Nothing was preserved but 
 the hair, which was tied up in a knot in the 
 v Chinese fashion. After remaining in the 
 dust for more than a month, it was found by 
 a young convert, and taken to Mgr. Lyons, 
 who recognised it as being undoubtedly that 
 of the martyr. 
 
CHINA. 
 
 195 
 
 His body has also disappeared. Some say 
 that it was buried in the place set apart for 
 criminals, but others tell us, which is more 
 probable, that it was cut into small pieces, 
 and given to be devoured by the unclean 
 animals with which the country abounds. 
 But what has become of his heart? It is 
 well known that in China, when a criminal 
 has been executed, his heart is immediately 
 taken out. Ho one could imagine the hor- 
 rible fate of that of our holy martyr; the 
 mind recoils from believing it, the tongue 
 refuses to tell it, the hand trembles to write 
 it. It w T as taken out of the body, and placed, 
 still beating, on a dish, where it was examined 
 with great curiosity by the bloodthirsty 
 savages. It was then cut into pieces, put 
 into a frying-pan, and cooked with the fat 
 of a pig, after which the cannibals devoured 
 it with the voracity of wild beasts. Would 
 it be possible for the degradation of man to 
 commit any more savage excess ? Incredible 
 as it may appear, this is not an uncommon 
 event in this unhappy heathen country, where 
 men are often found so destitute of human 
 feeling as to feed upon the hearts of their 
 kind, under the delusion that to devour them 
 in this way will give them indomitable courage 
 in battle. Such excesses are, however, more 
 
 / 
 
196 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 execrable in the case of a poor missionary, 
 who only loved others and gave them all the 
 compassion of his heart, thus becoming their 
 victim, while he had no other feelings to- 
 ward them but those of tenderness and 
 love. 
 
 In spite of all this barbarity, we will say. 
 Blessed be the martyrdom of our dear M. 
 Chapdelain. which rejoices our hearts, and 
 shows us that we have a home in heaven, 
 where God will reward us largely for the 
 sufferings we encounter in his service. 
 
 It might be supposed that this barbarous 
 persecution would satisfy the cruelty of the 
 mandarin ; but no ; the first three victims 
 of his anger had hardly expired before he 
 applied fresh tortures to his other prisoners. 
 The Christians tell us that some of them had 
 as much to suffer as the first three, and very 
 nearly received the same crown. Further, 
 the mandarin laid hands on those who had 
 escaped from the beginning of the persecution, 
 had them dragged before his tribunal, in- 
 flicted a cruel scourging upon them, and im- 
 posed upon them a ransom which was greater 
 than their whole property. Some have been 
 obliged to sell every thing they had, and 
 others could only free themselves by borrow- 
 ing money at the exorbitant interest which 
 
CHINA. 
 
 197 
 
 is customary, so that they will have a heavy 
 burden to bear for many years. Lastly, when 
 Mgr. Lyons last wrote to me, nine prisoners 
 still remained in prison, without any hope of 
 release. 
 
 What will become of this little Christian 
 colony, which promised so well at the outset? 
 May those martyrs who have watered it with 
 their blood protect it from their thrones in 
 heaven, restore peace to it, and increase in it 
 the number of the worshippers of the true 
 God ! May the venerable brother whose lot 
 we envy, whom we knew so well, and to 
 whom we gave the embrace of peace at the 
 moment of his departure for his glorious mis- 
 sion, deign to extend to us a hand of succor, 
 and aid us poor missionaries, so often tossed 
 about by stormy waves, that we may reach 
 the harbor where he has arrived so happily ! 
 
 Be pleased to accept, gentlemen, on my 
 part, as well as on that of my worthy col- 
 leagues, the expression of the sentiments of 
 gratitude and respectful attachment with 
 which I have the honor to be 
 
 Your most humble and obedient servant, 
 Guillemin, 
 
 Prefect Apostolic of Quang-tong 
 and Quang-si. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 AllTICLE I. 
 
 Letter of Mgr. Retord, Bishop of Acanthus, and Vicar- 
 Apostolic of Western Tongking, about the glorious mar- 
 tyrdom of M. Schceffler. 
 
 The severity of the persecution increases 
 rather than diminishes. In the months of 
 January and February several of the lower 
 mandarins published special edicts against 
 the faith ; but, to say the truth, they did not 
 alarm us much, nor interfere with the ex- 
 ercise of our functions, until a letter which 
 Mgr. Pellerin wrote to us on the 23d of Feb- 
 ruary made us think more seriously of them. 
 He told us that the Prince Hoang-bao, the 
 eldest brother of the king, who believed him- 
 self the rightful heir of the Annamite throne, 
 had made several attempts to escape from 
 prison, in order to seek assistance to enable 
 him to seize the crown, and had now suc- 
 ceeded in regaining his liberty; that the king 
 
 198 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 199 
 
 strongly suspected the Christians of favoring 
 his rival’s flight, and that several old man- 
 darins, enemies of the Christians, encouraged 
 and kept alive these suspicions, so that he 
 was much enraged against the converts, and 
 at several councils which he had held with 
 his ministers, had expressed his Intention of 
 getting rid of our religion entirely. He had 
 already begun to procure information about 
 the number of the Christians, about their 
 assemblies and their priests: he had sent 
 commissioners and spies throughout his whole 
 kingdom to discover where the missionaries 
 had taken shelter, and to arrest them; and it 
 was certain that he had secretly sent severe 
 decrees against the faith, and its professors, 
 to the governors of every province. Mgr. 
 Pellerin sent us at the same time a copy of 
 the following edict, which the chief manda- 
 rins of the capital had distributed in the pro- 
 vince of Puxuan, under the eyes of the king, 
 and probably therefore by his order. 
 
 “renewal of the prohibition of the reli- 
 gion OF JESUS. 
 
 “The iniquitous religion of Jesus has been 
 for a long time severely and publicly pro- 
 hibited ; nevertheless, we know that many 
 people only obey the prohibition in outward 
 
200 WESTEBKT tongking. 
 
 form, and do not repent of or abandon the 
 wicked doctrines which they have been ac- 
 customed to follow. Wherein, however, they 
 are most to be blamed is, that they have gone 
 so far as to attempt to seduce a Royal Prince. 
 The heads of districts, and the authorities of 
 the villages, have the audacity to tolerate 
 them, in spite of the prohibitions of the law, 
 and take no pains to find them out, or to de- 
 nounce them to the courts of justice. Further, 
 the mandarins of Vien regard them with in- 
 difference, and do not trouble themselves 
 about them, but allow these abuses to exist 
 at the very gates of the palace, without en- 
 deavoring to discover and to destroy them. 
 Such conduct as this is a dishonor to the 
 dignity of mandarin. 
 
 “ Henceforward, all public functionaries 
 must combine all their forces, and have the 
 resolution to make searching and minute in- 
 vestigations in all the villages under their 
 jurisdiction, by night as well as by da} 7 ; and 
 wherever they find a follower of the wicked 
 religion of Jesus, they shall arrest him, and 
 bring him for trial to the courts of justice. 
 Those who denounce and cause the arrest of 
 a priest of this iniquitous religion shall be 
 liberally rewarded; and if we know that the 
 officials employed are still negligent in this 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 201 
 
 important affair, not only wall the heads of 
 districts and the authorities of the villages 
 have a heavy penalt}^ imposed upon them, 
 but even the mandarins of Vien will not 
 escape without severe punishment.” 
 
 You see, then, from this paper, and from 
 the letter of Mgr. Pellerin, that the king and 
 his mandarins believe that the Christians 
 endeavored to gain over the Prince Hoang- 
 bao, in order to bring about his escape. This 
 is a great mistake, and a notable calumny, 
 but, for all that, it might easily he an excuse 
 for raising a cruel persecution, or rather for 
 continuing the existing one for some time 
 longer; it would be a specious pretext for 
 changing the king’s dispositions toward us, 
 which have hitherto seemed to be peaceful. 
 However that may be, neither the letter of 
 Mgr. Pellerin, nor the decree of the mandarins 
 of the capital, would have disturbed us much, 
 had not the arrest of M. Schoeffler fallen upon 
 us like a thunderbolt. 
 
 It took place on the 1st of March, and I 
 shall have to say more about it presently. 
 About that time there were many bad re- 
 ports about. It was said that a new edict 
 had been sent to the chief mandarins, and 
 that spies were going about the country in 
 
202 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 search of the missionaries and the native 
 priests. The fact was, that spies had been 
 seen in different parts, and that two or three 
 of them remained at Ke-vinch for several 
 days, but it is not clearly known for what 
 purpose. It seems as if it was to watch the 
 movements of the rebels and our proceed- 
 ings as well. As for the secret decree, it 
 was certainly true that the king has issued 
 one against the faith. As it was much 
 talked about, I resolved to find out what it 
 really was, and succeeded in doing so. In 
 the course of last month some of our Chris- 
 tians obtained a copy of this terrible decree 
 from the office of the chief mandarin of 
 criminal justice. I give you a translation of 
 it, not perhaps quite literal, but exactly con- 
 taining its meaning. 
 
 “ City of Tua-Hien , (Hu2.) 
 
 “COMMANDS OF THE KING. 
 
 “ The doctrine of Jesus comes from the 
 Europeans. It forbids the worship of an- 
 cestors and the veneration of spirits: it 
 
 speaks of heaven and of holy water to de- 
 ceive its followers and to delude the hearts 
 of men. The propagators of these wicked 
 doctrines know that the laws of the state 
 can never tolerate their existence, and there- 
 
 i 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 203 
 
 fore they put before the people the repre- 
 sentation of the punishment of their Master 
 Jesus, to persuade the ignorantto meet death 
 without hesitation. What a fatal deception, 
 what a strange hallucination, is this ! 
 
 “Under the reign of Minh-menh this re- 
 ligion was strictly forbidden by several de- 
 crees, and every time that a Christian refused 
 to abjure it he was severely punished. In 
 the time of Thien-tri many instructions were 
 issued for the renewal of the prohibitions 
 against similar teaching, and no pardon was 
 given to any Christian who remained con- 
 tumacious, unless he was aged or infirm. 
 Thus we see the great anxiety, severity, 
 and prudence with which our holy prede- 
 cessors endeavored to destroy the evil from 
 the very time of its commencement. By 
 the scrupulous observance ot our cere- 
 monies, together with the study of music 
 and the best form of vestments, they ar- 
 rived at the highest pitch of civilization. 
 Uprightness is the basis of our religion, but 
 it would soon be contaminated if the doc- 
 trines of these men of savage dispositions 
 and brutal habits became common. When 
 the heart is corrupted, and no pains are 
 taken to correct it, right reason becomes ob- 
 scured and falls. Therefore, to uproot evil 
 
204 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 customs and to clear away their darkness is 
 of the utmost importance for the morals of 
 succeeding ages. 
 
 “We, Tu-Duc, consistently following out 
 the system which we have always pursued, 
 of seeing, hearing, and examining atten- 
 tively whatever is necessary in all our acts, 
 judgments, and orders, and of ascertaining 
 with great care what it is most expedient to 
 do, charged our ministers to make a report 
 upon a memorial which our privy council 
 laid before us, regarding the necessity of pro- 
 hibiting the religion of Jesus. 
 
 “The advice of our ministry is that the 
 European priests should he cast into the 
 depths of the sea or of the rivers, in honor 
 of the true religion ; and that the Annamite 
 priests, as well as their disciples, whether or 
 not they are willing to trample upon the 
 cross, should be cut in two, in order that the 
 severity of the law may be manifest to all. 
 
 “ Having given much thought to these pro- 
 posals, and considering them reasonable, we 
 have ordered the mandarins to put them in 
 force, secretly and without any proclamation. 
 If, therefore, any European priests shall come 
 by stealth into our kingdom, and shall travel 
 about the provinces to deceive and to seduce 
 the hearts of the people, whosoever shall de- 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 205 
 
 nounce them, or deliver them into the hands 
 of the mandarins, shall receive at once a 
 reward of eight silver dollars, and afterward 
 one-half of the property of those who have 
 given shelter to the criminal, the other half 
 being due to the royal treasury. All those, 
 whether great or small, who have given shel- 
 ter to a European, no matter whether for a 
 short or a long time, shall be cut in two and 
 cast into the river, excepting only children 
 who have not arrived at the age of reason, 
 who shall he transported to a distant place 
 of banishment. Those who were absent, and 
 were not aware of the shelter given to the 
 priest in their house, shall be exempted from 
 all punishment.” 
 
 This is the secret edict. 
 
 Our dear companions, Titaud and Castex, 
 were on the point of being arrested, but, 
 thanks to the special protection of Divine • 
 Providence, were able to save themselves. 
 
 I now come to the case of the martyrdom 
 of M. Schoeffler, at once the most terrible 
 and the most glorious in the annals of our 
 mission. The remembrance of our most be- 
 Ioted colleague pierces my heart with most 
 bitter regret for having lost him in this life; 
 but, on the other hand, my soul is filled with 
 consolation at his triumph, and great confi- 
 18 
 
206 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 deuce in his merits. I will not dwell upon 
 the history of that part of his life which pre- 
 ceded his coming to that mission, since in 
 truth I know nothing more of it than that he 
 came from the diocese of Nancy. But from 
 the virtues which I saw him practise, and 
 from the excellent qualities which I dis- 
 covered in him, I may assert, without fear 
 of mistake, that his youth in France was as 
 exemplary as his apostolate in Tongking 
 was zealous. 
 
 You know that he arrived here toward the 
 middle of the year 1848, when I was with M. 
 Castex, at the end of the province of Doai 
 From that time, until the hour of his arrest, 
 he was continually occupied in the study of 
 the language, in fulfilling the duties of his 
 ministry, or in recovering from his attacks 
 of sickness. So great was the zeal with 
 which he devoted himself to the study of the 
 language, that in five or six months he was 
 able not only to hear confessions but also to 
 give instructions to the Christians. He be- 
 gan at the same time the study of the Chinese 
 characters, which is of great use, although 
 not absolutely necessary. For this purpose, 
 he had copies made of all the characters in 
 the great dictionary of Deguigues, and after- 
 ward wrote out all their meanings. 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 207 
 
 As regards his priestly functions, I desired 
 that he should remain with me for about a 
 year, in order that he might learn our way 
 of exercising them ; for you know how im- 
 portant it is for a missionary, who has just 
 arrived in a country of which he knows 
 nothing, to have rules for his conduct toward 
 the native priests and Christians, and to fol- 
 low the method always pursued by his older 
 colleagues, so that all the missionaries may 
 unite their strength and act with identity of 
 design and uniformity of action. 
 
 M. Schceffler accompanied me in my con- 
 soling pastoral visit to Ke-Bang, in the year 
 1849. Before the beginning of October, he 
 set out for the province of Xu-Doai, which 
 was the district assigned to him. Xu-Doai 
 contains about sixteen thousand Christians, 
 divided into four parishes, which extend over 
 an immense territory, partly covered with 
 mountains and large forests. You will see, 
 from the following annual account of his 
 administration, what was the success of M. 
 Schceffler as an apostle. He had two hun- 
 dred baptisms of children of unbelievers, 
 forty-one of children of Christians, and 
 twenty- three of adults ; four thousand seven 
 hundred and seven confessions; three thou- 
 sand three hundred and fifty-one commu 
 
208 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 oions ; fifty-two administrations of the holy 
 Viaticum ; and one hundred and twenty-five 
 of extreme unction. Is not this a glorious 
 work for a young missionary who was suffer- 
 ing from fever for the greater part of the 
 year ? 
 
 Although M. Schoeffler, since his arrival in 
 these parts, had often been attacked by ill- 
 ness, and that so violently that no less than 
 three times I thought he would have died in 
 my arms, still he appeared in good health 
 when I sent him to Doai ; and he was beside 
 himself with joy at the thought of going to 
 so distant a country, where there were many 
 people to whom the faith had never been 
 preached, and for whose conversion every 
 hour seemed to him as a hundred years. 
 
 I do not remember the precise day on 
 which he arrived at Bau-no, the chief place 
 of one of the two parishes of Lower Xu- 
 Doai. There he expected to begin his apos- 
 tolic ministry ; but, as he thought that his 
 journey to the cit} T of Son-tai was known to 
 the mandarins, by their immediately issuing 
 a decree against the faith and its ministers, 
 and because he was afraid of being accused 
 of communicating with the rebels, who were 
 then holding meetings in the northern part 
 of the province, he remained carefully con- 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 209 
 
 cealed at Bau-no for some days, and then 
 retired to two Christian places in the neigh- 
 borhood, where he was able to exercise his 
 zeal, although secretly and with caution. 
 
 He was still at Bau-no at the end of Feb- 
 ruary, when he received my pastoral letter 
 about the jubilee. As he had completed, 
 about that time, with the assistance of a 
 native priest, the ministrations necessary for 
 those places, he thought it better to go first 
 to open the jubilee in the parishes higher up 
 the country, where he had not yet been, and 
 then to return to the lower part of the pro- 
 vince. He started, therefore, on the 1st of 
 March, for a village about four leagues dis- 
 tant. There are not more than two or three 
 pagan villages along that road, which I know 
 very well; the rest is all mountainous and 
 desert, with paths winding through brambles 
 and shrubs. It was in this wild and savage 
 tract that our beloved colleague fell into the 
 hands of the barbarians, in the manner that 
 I shall now relate. 
 
 On account of the wars, or, rather, the 
 brigandage, with which those mountainous 
 regions abound, the mandarin placed last 
 year commissioners of country police in every 
 district, to watch over the country at night, 
 and to arrest suspected people. These officers 
 O 18 * 
 
210 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 have each a party of ten or fifteen men. The 
 commissioner of this place, together with 
 the syndic of a neighboring village, both 
 pagans, knew that a European had been in 
 Bau-no for two months ; and, hearing that 
 he intended to go higher up the country, 
 they determined to capture him. They laid 
 snares for him along the road and placed 
 ambushes in the thickets. Sentinels were 
 posted in different directions ; and they 
 themselves, with some other followers, pre- 
 tended to be hunting deer in the neighbor- 
 hood. It was known that the pagans had 
 some wicked designs; but it was supposed 
 that they would only execute them at night. 
 It was resolved therefore that M. Schceffler 
 should set out late in the day. A native 
 priest, vicar of the parish, went on with two 
 disciples to prepare the house where the mis- 
 sionary was to lodge. When they arrived at 
 the place where the officers were pretending 
 to hunt, they were arrested. A linen bag 
 containing a pyx, the silver boxes of holy 
 oil, and other things necessary for the ad- 
 ministration of the sacraments, were taken 
 from them, and made the police suspect that 
 they were followers of the European whom 
 they were waiting for, and whose arrival was 
 therefore probably at hand. They took them 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 211 
 
 a little way off, behind a group of thick trees, 
 and, having bound them and left them in 
 charge of several ruffians, they returned to 
 the ambush where they expected their prey. 
 
 M. Schceffler, knowing nothing of what had 
 happened, and advancing cheerfully with one 
 of his catechists and some Christians, fell into 
 the snare which was prepared for him. The 
 neophytes who guided him succeeded in es- 
 caping, but he and the catechist were taken 
 to the place where the Annamite priest and 
 his companions were kept prisoners. At 
 night they were all five taken before the 
 commissioner of country police ; and the 
 worthy Annamite, declaring himself to be the 
 chief of the disciples of M. Schoeffler, used 
 all the powers of his ingenuity, and all the 
 treasures of his eloquence, to move the hearts 
 of the officers and to persuade them to set 
 his master at liberty. Besides a bar and an 
 ounce weight of silver, which they took from 
 M. Schceffler’s purse, they asked, as the ran- 
 som of our beloved colleague, a hundred more 
 bars of silver and one ounce of gold; that 
 is to say, a sum equal to twelve thousand 
 francs.* 
 
 It was impossible for him to pay it at 
 
 * Four hundred and eighty pounds sterling. 
 
212 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 once, especially in a place like that; and his 
 captors, who believed him to he worth man^ 
 millions, would not abate a farthing of their 
 demand. “ Well,” said M. Schceffler, “since 
 you persist in requiring so large a sum for 
 my release, at least set my four followers at 
 liberty, for no one hut they know where to 
 obtain it.” They approved of his proposal, 
 and set free his four fellow-prisoners. Then 
 our dear colleague, seeing that he was 
 alone, and that no one else w T as compro- 
 mised for his sake, rejoiced exceedingly, and 
 asked to be taken immediately before the 
 mandarins. 
 
 In the mean time, the good Annamite 
 priest obtained the same night a loan of ten 
 bars of silver, and was bringing them to the 
 officers, with the intention of giving bills of 
 exchange for the remainder of the sum, 
 which they had refused to abate. But be- 
 fore he arrived at the village where the be- 
 loved prisoner was detained, he met some 
 Christians who were leaving it, and from 
 them he learned that the police who had 
 taken him the day before regretted very 
 much that they had released him, as they 
 heal'd he was a priest, that they had secretly 
 placed men all round the village, in order 
 to arrest him again, and to take from him 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 213 
 
 whatever money he had ; not meaning to set 
 free the missionary, whom they had resolved 
 to make over to the mandarins for the sake 
 of the reward of the thirty bars of silver 
 which was promised by the king. On the 
 receipt of this intelligence the Annamite 
 priest at once took to flight; and he did 
 wisely, for he would undoubtedly have been 
 seized and robbed by those ruffians. M. 
 Schoeffler would not have been saved, his 
 sorrow would have been increased, as well 
 as the difficulties of his position, and the 
 mission would have had to mourn the fur- 
 ther loss of a priest of the country. Thus 
 all hope of ransoming M. Schaeffler fell to 
 the ground. He himself, afraid of losing 
 this opportunity of suffering for the love of 
 Jesus Christ, and of gaining the palm of 
 martyrdom, was very urgent with his cap- 
 tors that they should hand him over to the 
 mandarins without delay. His request was 
 granted on the evening of the 2d of March. 
 Such, gentlemen and dear brethren, are the 
 principal particulars of the arrest of M. 
 Schoeffler. 
 
 When he was consigned to the chief man- 
 darins of the province, he was submitted to 
 an examination in their presence, that they 
 might discover his name, country, and rank, 
 
214 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 the purpose for which he had come, what he 
 had done since his arrival, and the places 
 where he had lived or passed through. 
 They also asked him to whom the property 
 found with him belonged, and if he knew, 
 before coming to that country, that the 
 Christian religion was strictly prohibited in 
 it. Our beloved companion replied that his 
 name was Augustine;, that he was a native 
 of Nancy, in France, a Catholic priest, of 
 the age of twenty-nine years ; that he had 
 come there to preach the gospel, and that 
 since his arrival he had done so whenever 
 he could : that he knew very well, even be- 
 fore he left France, that the Catholic re- 
 ligion was strictly prohibited in that king- 
 dom, but that that was the principal reason 
 of his coming to it rather than to any other; 
 that since his arrival, he had passed through 
 many provinces, and been lodged in many 
 nouses, that he did not remember the names 
 of many of them, and that he would never 
 denounce to the mandarins those which had 
 not escaped his memory. The next day, 
 which was the 5th of March, they put the 
 same questions to him, and he gave the 
 same answers. The chief mandarin imme- 
 diately wrote and despatched a report of the 
 affair to the king, which contained a some- 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 215 
 
 I 
 
 what romantic account of the arrest of our 
 colleague. You will not be surprised at 
 that, gentlemen, for you know how the man- 
 darins prefer plausibility to truth ; besides, 
 they very likely were not acquainted with 
 what really happened. With this report they 
 sent the sentence of death, pronounced by the 
 chief mandarin, and concluded in the follow- 
 ing terms : — 
 
 “ Having taken counsel with the two chief 
 officials of the civil and criminal courts, we 
 have pronounced the following sentence : — 
 
 “ Ser Ao-tu-dinh (Augustine) is a Euro- 
 pean, who, in spite of the prohibitions of the 
 laws, has had the audacity to enter this 
 kingdom, and to travel about it, for the pur- 
 pose of preaching his religion and seducing 
 and deceiving the people, as was clearly 
 proved against him at his trial. Therefore, 
 according to the king’s decree, M. Augus- 
 tine is condemned to be beheaded, and to be 
 cast into the waters of the sea or the rivers, 
 as an example and warning to the people. 
 The wicked man is so careful of those whom 
 he has instructed, and who have given him 
 shelter in their houses, that, although he has 
 been examined several times, he obstinately 
 persists in refusing to give up their names. 
 The officer who arrested him was not able to 
 
216 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 give any information on the subject ; but it 
 is evident that any one who investigated the 
 case would find that a great many persons 
 are concerned in it. Therefore we request, 
 according to the report of the privy council, 
 that no further researches be made about it. 
 With regard to the authorities, and the 
 other persons who discovered and captured 
 this priest, we request for them the reward 
 of three hundred ounces of silver promised 
 in the king’s decree. Also, the mandarin 
 of the soldiers, who directed the search for 
 him, seems to us deserving of praise and 
 remuneration. We await the commands of 
 his majesty, and shall conform ourselves 
 entirely to them. Lastly, we request that 
 the things taken from the prisoner may be 
 burned. 
 
 “This is the result of the trial, and our 
 sentence; and having thus submitted the 
 whole atfair to his majesty, we prostrate our- 
 selves before him, and await his commands. 
 
 “ Fourth year of Tu-Duc, 
 
 “ Twenty-eighth day of the second month 
 (March 30).” 
 
 After this time our beloved confrere was 
 not examined any more, nor did he receive 
 any blows with rods, or the honors of the 
 
WESTERN T0NGKIN6, 217 
 
 cage, as was the case with M. Charrier. He 
 was confined in the prison of those con- 
 demned to death, in company with them, 
 with a cangue on his neck, and chains on his 
 feet, both day and night. Those who know 
 any thing of Annamite prisons, and of their 
 inmates, will be able to understand the pain 
 he must have suffered. How terrible a 
 punishment for a European priest, to find 
 himself alone, six thousand leagues from his 
 own county, in a loathsome prison, covered 
 with disgusting insects, in the midst of 
 wficked pagans, who regard him as a sort of 
 wild beast, who make game of his innocence, 
 weary him with absurd questions, and con- 
 tinually offend his ears with expressions of 
 indecency! His neck galled by the collar, 
 and his feet by the chains, without a friend 
 by whose conversation he can relieve his 
 sufferings, without a single creature to whom 
 he can say a word to lessen the bitterness of 
 his heart ! M. Schoeffler always appeared 
 cheerful, and contented with his lot. In truth, 
 when considered with the eyes of faith, it is 
 the most glorious and the happiest that a 
 missionary can hope for ; and we may well 
 believe that our Divine Master, who chose 
 that he should drink the chalice of His 
 
 19 
 
218 
 
 WESTERN TONGKINGL 
 
 bitterness, fortified him also with the unction 
 of his grace. 
 
 On our part, we did all we could to alle- 
 viate the sufferings of his captivity. As 
 soon as I heard of his arrest, which I only did 
 after he had been delivered to the chief man- 
 darin, I despatched one of my Christians 
 with a letter of consolation, and money to 
 provide him with necessaries, and to enable 
 him to gain over by presents the good will 
 of the mandarins. My messenger was able 
 to convey the letter to him, to see him, and 
 to be seen by him, but did not succeed in 
 speaking wfith him. He also obtained his 
 separation from the other prisoners, and had 
 him placed in a room belonging to the jailer, 
 near the prison. There M. Schoeffler tran- 
 quilly remained, breathing purer air, and not 
 being fettered during the daytime ; he was 
 also allowed to walk in the court-yard, and 
 to amuse himself by talking to the soldiers 
 on guard, who showed him great civility and 
 respect. His condition was certainly im- 
 proved, but he was most carefully watched, 
 as the chief mandarin had strictly forbidden 
 any strangers to be allowed to speak to him. 
 Nevertheless, one of his catechists succeeded 
 in obtaining access to the court-yard in the 
 disguise of a soldier. The master and his 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 219 
 
 disciple took care only to look at each other 
 stealthily, and only to converse by signs ; but 
 fearing lest the mute eloquence of their con- 
 versation should prove too much for their 
 feelings, they separated, to prevent the by- 
 standers from noticing their emotion. My 
 messenger went several times to the jailer’s 
 house, but he was unable to hold any com- 
 munication with M. Schoeffler except by 
 looks. A good Christian obtained leave from 
 an officer on guard to salute the prisoner, 
 and to bring him a present of some fruit; 
 but being touched at seeing him, and be- 
 ginning to w r eep, he was perceived by the 
 chief mandarin, who happened td be passing 
 through the court-yard, and who immediately 
 gave the officer a severe reprimand, and 
 ordered him to be changed ; he then re- 
 peated his command that no Christian should 
 be admitted. In spite of all his precautions, 
 however, an Annamite priest succeeded in 
 getting in, and hearing the confession of the 
 prisoner. 
 
 The royal decree of the 30th day of the 
 second month, concerning M. Schoeffler, 
 reached the capital on the 11th of April. It 
 ran as follows : — 
 
 {Red Seal.) “Having seen the report made 
 to us of the arrest of a European priest in 
 
/ 1 
 
 220 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 the province of Son-tai, we desire our minis- 
 ters to examine it and to despatch our reply 
 to the governor of the said province, in 
 order that he may execute our commands, in 
 concert with the civil and criminal courts. 
 
 “ The laws of the kingdom, published to 
 instruct the people and to inspire them with 
 fear, strictly forbid the religion of Jesus; 
 nevertheless, one M. Augustine, a priest, has 
 ventured to enter our states secretly for the 
 purpose of preaching it, and thus seducing 
 and deceiving the people. When he was 
 arrested he made a full confession of the fact. 
 Let M. Augustine therefore be beheaded im- 
 mediately, and be thrown into the river, 
 according to the law for the destruction of 
 the wicked ; and let every one conform him- 
 self to our former decrees on this subject.” 
 
 According to this decree, M. Schoeffler 
 should have been executed immediatel} 7 , but 
 this was not done. The chief mandarin had 
 the painful cangue taken off him, and a 
 lighter chain substituted for it ; he then took 
 him out of the house of the jailer and 
 brought him to his own palace. There he 
 had more liberty, and was allowed to walk 
 in the court-yards as much as he pleased. 
 The bar of silver, and the rest of the money 
 which had been found on him, were ex- 
 
WESTERN T0NGKING. 221 
 
 pended by the mandarin in providing him 
 with proper food. This magistrate often 
 conversed with him, and professed great 
 esteem and respect for him, treating him 
 with great courtesy, and expressing sorrow 
 at seeing him reduced to such a condition. 
 Still he was not allowed to speak to any one, 
 and the strictness of this surveillance was no 
 doubt the reason why he did not write at all 
 to us. He was, however, able to receive 
 many letters, both of ours and of those 
 which came for him from Europe, and they 
 must have given him much consolation and 
 encouragement, as they were all, and mine 
 especially, written for that purpose. But 
 perhaps, on the other hand, they may have 
 pained him by bringing before him our grief 
 at his loss, our sorrow for his sufferings, and 
 our regret that we could not take his place, 
 or at least share with him the glory of martyr- 
 dom. That palm, however, was reserved for 
 him alone, and you shall now hear how soon 
 he obtained it. 
 
 It was on the 1st of this month of May — 
 the beautiful month of Mary — that he ob- 
 tained this great happiness. The following 
 are the particulars of this glorious event, 
 gathered partly from the testimony of a 
 Christian, who was an eye-witness of it, and 
 
 19 * 
 
222 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 partly from a letter of the parish priest of 
 the place where he suffered. About noon 
 the chief mandarin ordered out two regi- 
 ments, and a detachment of elephants, 
 horses, guns, and every sort of arms, as if 
 to set out on an expedition. The guns were 
 to be loaded, and the soldiers armed as for 
 an assault. Every one supposed that the 
 chief mandarin was going to attack a band 
 of rebels, or to search for some den of as- 
 sassins; but, in reality, all these prepara- 
 tions were made for the purpose of taking 
 out M. Schaeffler to execution. The chief 
 mandarin, fearing lest the Christians should 
 rise on this sorrowful occasion, and attempt 
 to rescue the missionary, made that parade 
 of soldiers, to intimidate them, and gave out 
 that it was for another purpose. 
 
 When he ordered M. Schaeffler to be brought 
 out, all the officers of the mandarins and all 
 the prisoners showed signs of grief : they had 
 had time to become acquainted with him, and 
 his virtues had won their love. M. Schaef- 
 fler, on the contrary, when he heard that the 
 time for him to do battle had arrived, was 
 filled with an exceeding joy: he threw off 
 his sandals immediately, in order that he 
 might go out the more quickly and readily 
 to die. The chief mandarin, who feared a 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 223 
 
 rising, remained on the terrace, with a regi- 
 ment of armed soldiers around him. 
 
 When they left the city they proceeded to 
 the place of execution in the following 
 order. A few steps in front of our beloved 
 colleague walked a soldier, carrying like a 
 standard a placard, in which was written in 
 large letters, — 
 
 “ PROCLAMATION. 
 
 “M. Augustine, a European priest, has dared, 
 in spite of the prohibitions of the religion of 
 Jesus, to come secretly into the kingdom 
 and preach it to deceive the people. On his 
 arrest he confessed the whole. His guilt is 
 clear. He is condemned to be beheaded and 
 thrown into the river. 
 
 “ Fourth year of Tu-Duc. 
 
 “ Fifth day of the second month.” 
 
 Eight soldiers, sabre in hand, walked be- 
 side M. Schoeffler. He was preceded by two 
 companies of fifty armed men each, half 
 lancers and half fusiliers, who walked alter- 
 nately in two lines, and two elephants formed 
 the rear-guard. The hero of the faith pro- 
 ceeded in triumph in the. midst of this im- 
 posing escort, with smiling countenance and 
 head erect, carrying his f chain in one hand. 
 
224 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 and repeating prayers with fervor. What a 
 beautiful sight is the death of the martyr! 
 The greater part of the immense multitude 
 which was assembled was filled with asto- 
 nishment. “Did you ever see such a hero?” 
 the pagans said to each other. “ He goes to 
 death as eagerly as others to a festival. What 
 courage, to show no sign of fear ! How beau- 
 tiful he is! What goodness and sweetness is 
 written on his countenance! Why does our 
 king put such men to death ?” Still there 
 were some ruffians present who loaded him 
 with insulting and derisive words. Alas 
 that men should be everywhere the same! 
 — some feeling and honest souls, who are 
 touched by the sight of virtue under perse- 
 cution, and others whose perverseness it only 
 enrages and excites to fury. 
 
 When the martyr arrived at the place ol 
 execution, he knelt down for a few moments, 
 and offered his life in sacrifice to God ; he 
 took hold of the crucifix which he had 
 brought with him, and kissed it three times 
 with great tenderness. At the bidding of 
 the executioner, he drew aside his tunic, and 
 laid his neck bare, with an air of unspeakable 
 grace. When the executioner had bound his 
 hands behind his back, and made him kneel 
 down again, he raised his eyes to heaven, and 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 225 
 
 said, “Now, do thine office quickly.” “What 
 does he say? what does he say?” asked the 
 officer who presided. “He says,” replied 
 the executioner, “ that I must make haste.” 
 “Not yet, not yet,” interrupted the manda- 
 rin ; “ wait for the signal from the cymbals, 
 and do not strike until it sounds the third 
 time.” The solemn hour was now come, at 
 which our beloved colleague and affectionate 
 friend was to ascend to heaven. He was sur- 
 rounded by three rows of soldiers, like a 
 triple circle of iron ; the first row carried 
 drawn sabres, the second muskets, and the 
 third lances raised. The sound of the cym- 
 bal was heard, and the scimitar descended 
 upon the victim’s neck; but the hand of the 
 executioner trembled, so that three blows 
 were needed to separate the head, and even 
 then he was obliged to complete the work 
 with a saw. 
 
 The spectators were almost all pagans, as 
 there are very few Christians in Son-tai; be- 
 sides, as they lived in distant villages, they 
 knew nothing of the time of execution. 
 However, the head had scarcely fallen, when 
 the multitude, instead of going hastily away 
 as they generally do after an execution, ran 
 eagerly forward to collect the martyr’s blood. 
 The people, by some wonderful instinct, 
 p 
 
226 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 understood for once that the sufferer was 
 not a criminal, but a hero, an illustrious vic- 
 tim of tyranny, a saint in whom every thing 
 was worthy of respect, and who would exer- 
 cise a beneficial influence over all. Thus, al- 
 though they were all pagans, they emulated 
 each other in obtaining his clothes, his tur- 
 ban, and even the rope with which his hands 
 were tied; but as these were not enough for 
 all, they were torn into a thousand pieces, 
 that every one might possess some relic of 
 him. Many pulled up the grass which was 
 steeped, in his blood, and others dipped pieces 
 of paper into it. 
 
 There was one pagan, a subaltern man- 
 darin, who brought with him a white silk 
 dress and two yards of linen, and when the 
 time of execution arrived, threw them down 
 near the martyr, hoping that some drops of 
 his blood would fall upon them. The mar- 
 tyr, supposing them to belong to a Christian, 
 rolled them up and placed them near his 
 heart. When the mandarin who presided 
 over the execution saw what the subaltern 
 had done, he ordered several blows with the 
 rod to be given him; but he was soon re- 
 warded by receiving his linen and silk, 
 crimsoned with the blood of our venerable 
 colleague. 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 227 
 
 When the execution was over, the heads- 
 man took the head to throw into the river 
 which runs round the ramparts of the city. 
 As the hair was too short, he carried it by 
 the beard, but, that coming off, it rolled down 
 into the mud. A Christian who was follow- 
 ing immediately picked it up, and, drying it 
 carefully with his clothes, wished to carry it 
 away, but the executioner took it from him, 
 and, getting into a boat, pulled out into the 
 middle of the river, and threw in the head 
 of the holy martyr. The river is very wide 
 there, and must be very deep, for our Chris- 
 tians could not find the relic, although they 
 dragged for it for several nights. Tt is 
 thought, however, that it was taken out of 
 the river by the pagans, who are keeping it 
 secretly with respect, in the hope that it will 
 bring them good luck, or perhaps with the 
 intention of selling it to us some day for a 
 large sum of money. The body of M. Schoef- 
 fler was put by the Christians into a beautiful 
 coffin prepared beforehand, and buried in the 
 place where he died. A guard of soldiers 
 was set over it for the rest of that day and the 
 following night. On the night of the 2d 
 of May, after the guard was withdrawn, our 
 converts disinterred the martyr’s body, and 
 carried it away by stealth to a neighboring 
 
228 
 
 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 Christian village, where they buried it as 
 honorably as they could, in the house of the 
 mayor, who is himself a Christian. 
 
 Fourth year of Tu-Duc. 
 
 First day of the third month. 
 
 Your most humble and devoted servant, 
 Peter Andrew, Bishop of Acanthus, 
 Yic. Ap. of Western Tongking. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 Letter of the same Prelate about the glorious martyrdom 
 of M. Bonnard. 
 
 Gentlemen and dear Confrere: — 
 
 Since I have been in Tongking, I have 
 sent to France the account of many circum- 
 stances which are as glorious for the faith 
 as they are edifying to pious souls. But to- 
 day I begin the relation of an event of the 
 utmost interest to the whole Church, — I 
 mean the martyrdom of our beloved coun- 
 tryman, M. John Louis Bonnard. 
 
 He was bc~n at S. Cristot-en-Sarret, on the 
 1st of May, 1824, and had the happiness to 
 be brought up in that religious spirit which 
 is hereditary in his family. I have often 
 heard him speak of the true piety and lively 
 faith of his parents, and of the examples of 
 
 \ 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 229 
 
 virtue and devotion which they gave him 
 from his earliest infancy. 
 
 About the time that he completed his 
 tenth year, his vocation to the priesthood 
 became apparent; at the age of twenty-two, 
 he came to the seminary of our society from 
 that of Lyons, and there, after finishing his 
 course of theology, he was ordained priest by 
 Mgr. Sibour, Archbishop pf Paris. Two 
 months later, he embarked at Nantes in the 
 “Archbishop Afire,” and arrived here, to his 
 great joy, about Easter, 1850, at the time that 
 the cholera morbus was spreading desolation 
 around us. 
 
 He devoted himself eagerly to the study 
 of the Annamite language, as he was im- 
 patient to begin the exercise of his sacred 
 ministry, and so rapid was the progress he 
 made, that by the end of the year 1850, he 
 was able to hear confessions and to begin to 
 teach Christian doctrine in church. I kept 
 him with me until the end of the April of 
 last year, in order that he might learn our 
 ways and become acquainted with the mem- 
 bers and circumstances of the mission. He 
 lived with me as a son would with his father, 
 and during that time I had the opportunity 
 of knowing and admiring the sweetness of 
 his character, his perfect obedience, his fer- 
 
230 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 vent zeal, his profound humility, his frank 
 and candid simplicity, his complete resigna- 
 tion and filial abandonment of himself into 
 the hands of Divine Providence. From 
 what I saw of the beauty of his soul, I am 
 sure that it was never disturbed by ill-regu- 
 lated movements or passions. 
 
 About the end of April, I sent him to the 
 village of Ke-Bang, directing him to take 
 charge of the parish of that name, and also 
 of that of Ke-tring. Was it not a good thing 
 to give to one native of Lyons the inheritance 
 left by another?* After that time I only saw 
 him twice, but, as he did not live very far 
 from my residence, we often communicated 
 with each other by letter. In a very short 
 time he won the love of his Christians, and 
 loved them most tenderly himself. 
 
 After he had given the spiritual exercises 
 in Ke-Bang, with immense fruit, he went to 
 take charge of the little congregation of Boi- 
 Xuien, where there are not more than fifteen 
 Christian families, composing at most one- 
 fourth of the population. It was there that 
 he was arrested, on the 21st of March of this 
 year, 1852, in consequence of a denunciation 
 made against him to the Vice-Prefect of the 
 
 ♦ This district belonged for nine years to M. Charrier, 
 of the diocese of Lyons. 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 231 
 
 neighborhood by a pagan mandarin who 
 had been deposed from office. But let us 
 leave M. Bonnard to relate for himself what 
 took place on that occasion. 
 
 “ On the 21st of March, [he says in his 
 letter to me on the 2d of April,] toward nine 
 o’clock in the morning, I was baptizing about 
 five-and-twenty children, when, before the 
 end of the ceremony, a mandarin entered 
 the village, with his escort, and surprised me, 
 before any one could run and give me notice. 
 My own people, in the wildest haste, tore 
 from me, rather than took off, my cotta and 
 stole, and I went out. They wished me to 
 cross a large piece of water ; but I saw that 
 it was surrounded by armed men. I found 
 another way out, which appeared free ; and, 
 running across the lake, with the water up 
 to my waist, I got into a field of rice, stum- 
 bling, in my hurry, at every step. My cate- 
 chist, named Kim, followed me. We did 
 not know which way to fly, but we thought 
 we should be safe if we could reach the 
 Christian village of Doug-doi. However, we 
 were prevented from doing so, by finding 
 ourselves surrounded by a large detachment 
 of soldiers. They seized me, and bound me 
 so tightly that my hands swelled immediately 
 from the pressure. I begged them to loosen 
 
232 WESTERN T0NGKING. 
 
 the cord ; but, as they refused to do so, I re- 
 signed myself to it, without saying more. 
 
 “ My catechist, Kim, the only one who, in 
 the general confusion, had followed me, was 
 arrested at the same time. My pupil Ba, 
 who used to serve my mass, tried to get 
 through the soldiers and escape ; but he, also, 
 was taken. It was the goodness of God 
 which put it into my head to leave the vil- 
 lage : there was no hiding-place prepared in 
 it ; so that, if I had remained there, I should 
 have been taken all the same, together with 
 my followers and property, and the village 
 itself would have been completely sacked. 
 
 “ You must know that I was taken to the 
 office of the sub-prefect all covered with 
 mud and with my clothes wet through. On 
 my way there, we walked very quickly for 
 some time, until, as my feet were bleeding 
 and I felt myself getting faint, I wished to 
 go slower; and, turning to my guards, I said, 
 with a smile, ‘ Let those of you who are pressed 
 for time go on before : I am not in such a 
 hurry to get there/ They then allowed me 
 to proceed at my own pace. T,he people of 
 every place we passed came out to look at 
 us. When we arrived at the office, I saw my 
 pupil Ba, with his hands tied ; and thus I be- 
 came acquainted with his arrest. 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 233 
 
 “I learned what had happened the same 
 evening, and immediately despatched my 
 agent, with six bars of silver, to see if he 
 could obtain the liberation at least of the two 
 young Tongkinese. He reached the office 
 of the sub-prefect the same night ; but neither 
 he nor the other men whom Father Thao sent 
 for the same purpose were able to get into 
 the house of the mandarin : the gates were 
 all shut, and no one would open them.” The 
 mandarin, in the excess of his joy, spent the 
 night in drinking and play, with the informer, 
 and, the next morning, took our colleague and 
 his companions, in chains, to the chief city 
 of the province, where he made them over 
 to the governor. But let us again leave the 
 relation of what happened to the principal 
 person who was concerned in it. 
 
 “At the office of the sub-prefect, I was 
 submitted to a preliminary examination, and 
 I was asked the following questions : — What 
 is your name ? How old are you ? How 
 long have you been in the country? What 
 places have you passed through ? How did 
 you get to Boi-Xuien ? I replied to the 
 first three questions in a way that satisfied 
 my examiners ; but I said it was of no use to 
 put the last two to me, for that I could not 
 conscientiously answer them. My catechist 
 20* 
 
234 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 made the same answer, and they accordingly 
 put a large collar upon each of us. We 
 passed the night together, in a room open to 
 the air, in the midst of the soldiers, who lent 
 me a bed of straw. 
 
 “I feared nothing for myself; but I felt 
 great anxiety about my young companions. 
 I asked if it would be possible to ransom 
 them ; but a mandarin, who seemed more 
 amenable than the others, answered that it 
 would not. Of necessity, therefore, we gave 
 up the idea, and placed ourselves in the hands 
 of God, saying together, His will be done. 
 The following morning, they took us to the 
 chief place of the province. I went in a 
 chair, carried by bearers, wearing the cangue, 
 but my Companions were obliged to go on 
 foot. During the journey, I repeatedly made 
 the offering of my life to the Lord, remind- 
 ing myself of Jesus seized and bound in the 
 garden of Olives and taken first from court 
 to court, and finally to death. The people 
 came from all parts to see the European 
 priest. When we reached the city, we were 
 placed, with our backs to a column in the 
 hall where notices are published, in the midst 
 of an immense crowd, who pressed round us 
 to enjoy the sight better. I looked in every 
 direction, to see if I could make out any 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 235 
 
 Christians among them ; but I did not recog- 
 nise any, although there must have been 
 several. 
 
 “ When we had been there about half an 
 hour, we were taken for ten minutes before 
 the chief mandarin ; but he did not speak to 
 us. We were then conducted to the prison. 
 I have with me my rosary, medal, and cross, 
 which, with my collar and chains, make up a 
 treasure so precious, that I would not change 
 it for all the riches of the first monarch in 
 the world. The subaltern mandarins wished 
 to take away my little cross ; but I made so 
 firm a resistance, that I succeeded, with the 
 help of a respectable man who took my part, 
 in retaining possession of it.” 
 
 The mandarin of the sub-prefect’s depart- 
 ment, who is a prince of royal blood, when 
 he handed over our confrere to the governer 
 of the province, gave in also a report of the 
 circumstances of his arrest. According to hi3 
 account, he took out nine battalions, with all 
 the ushers and secretaries of his office, on the 
 perilous expedition ! An army of perhaps 
 five hundred men, to arrest one who was un- 
 armed and defenceless ! I shall not take the 
 trouble to translate the document, as it con- 
 tains romance rather than history. 
 
 As soon as I heard that my companion was 
 
236 WESTERN T0N6KING. 
 
 in the hands of the chief mandarin, I sent my 
 agent to the city, to try to mitigate by presents 
 of money the hardships of his position and 
 that of his fellow-prisoners. I also sent him 
 the following letter, to console him. “Your 
 arrest,” I said, “ has, humanly speaking, given 
 me great pain, for it is a great sorrow to me to 
 lose you just when you were able to do so much 
 for the mission. It is well for you that I per- 
 ceive that you are the beloved one of the God of 
 martyrs; for otherwise I should have been in- 
 clined to reproach you. Why did you leave the 
 great village of Ke-Bang, where your labors 
 were so extensive, to entangle yourself in that 
 labyrinth at Boi-Xuien ? W as not the harvest 
 rich enough for you, where the sheaves were so 
 plentiful and so weighty and the ears so full of 
 the finest corn, where the wine which produces 
 virtue flowed so abundantly from the wine- 
 presses of the heavenly Father of our family? 
 Why, I repeat, did you leave that fruitful 
 vineyard, and that field which the Lord was 
 enriching with so many blessings? But I do 
 not mean to reproach you. God has wished 
 that it should be so ; you will gain heaven by 
 it, and he will gain glory for himself and for 
 his Church. I am only sorry that I am not with 
 you, that I too might end my life by a glorious 
 martyrdom. I should rather say that I am 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 237 
 
 not only sorry, but jealous at seeing you set 
 out before me for our heavenly home by the 
 shortest^and surest way, while I remain here 
 on this tempestuous sea, without knowing 
 when I shall get into my port, and without 
 even being sure that I shall reach it at all. 
 Ought not I, your bishop, an old soldier, 
 who have been fighting in this foreign land 
 for twenty years, without counting the three 
 years of my first struggles in my own country, 
 — ought not I to have the palm before you? 
 How dare you supplant me ? But I pardon 
 you, because such is the will of God, who 
 sees in you a fruit ripe for heaven and Hastens 
 immediately to gather it. I, older as I am, 
 and more laden than you with sin, must do 
 longer penance upon earth. I pardon you, 
 also, in the firm hope that in paradise you 
 will be a new and zealous protector of our 
 mission, and that you will obtain by your 
 prayers that, sooner or later, I may be called 
 thither too. 
 
 “Go then in peace, beloved child of Provi- 
 dence, go to the enjoyment of the triumph 
 which awaits you. I am filled with wonder 
 and admiration at seeing you chosen thus 
 early to fight the battle of the Christian hero, 
 a battle as hard as it is illustrious. I confess 
 that I envy you, but it is with an envy of 
 
238 WESTERN T0NGK1NG. 
 
 love, with a jealousy of affection. It appears 
 certain that you will be condemned to death: 
 prepare, then, to meet it as best you can. 
 Oh, how happy you are, in that the days of 
 your pilgrimage on earth are so near their 
 completion! Soon you will go to rejoin the 
 Bories, the Cornays, the Schoefflers, the other 
 apostles and martyrs, of this mission! Oh, 
 how joyfully will they welcome you to their 
 glorious company !’’ 
 
 A few days after writing this letter I sent 
 Father Tinh, an old confessor of the faith, to 
 give him the grace of the sacraments. You 
 can imagine what comfort and consolatiou 
 they must have given him. On Good Friday 
 he wrote to me, “Yesterday, as soon as I 
 had made my confession, I had the great 
 happiness of receiving the holy Communion. 
 It is a long time since I have felt such joy at 
 the possession of the King of Angels. One 
 really must be in prison, in chains, and with 
 a collar round one’s neck, to be able to say, 
 How sweet it is to suffer somewhat for Him 
 who has loved us so much! My two young 
 men, and two other prisoners, had the same 
 happiness. I have received your precious 
 letter, and have read it again and again, with 
 the greatest pleasure and profit to my soul. 
 As for my journey to Boi-Xuien, it was made 
 
WESTERN T0NGKING. 239 
 
 almost in spite of myself. I should have had 
 to make difficulties, to be excused in the eyes 
 of the Christians, who asked it so eagerly. I 
 console myself with the thought that it was 
 the will of God : and I feel greater joy in my 
 lot than the most fortunate man in the world 
 could in the most thriving prosperity. My 
 cangue and chain are heavy; but do you sup- 
 pose that I complain of that ? No ! I rather 
 rejoice, because I remember that the Cross 
 of Jesus was heavier than my cangue, and his 
 chains more difficult to bear than mine ; and 
 I count myself happy in being able to call 
 myself, like S. Paul, vinctus in Christo , bound 
 in Christ, a happiness which I have desired 
 from infancy. Now, it seems that God has 
 heard me, and I bless and thank him with 
 my whole soul for the gift which in spite of 
 my unworthiness he is giving me. 
 
 “ Nevertheless, I feel sorrow when I think 
 of the pain which my imprisonment must 
 give you, and of the evils which may follow 
 from it. Besides, the sufferings of my dear 
 fellow-prisoners cut me to the heart, and 
 often cause me to shed tears of compassion 
 for them. Father, I myself am still young, 
 and I could have wushed to help you, and to 
 take care of those sweet converts whom I 
 love so much, for a while longer, before 
 
240 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 shedding my blood for them. But God has 
 not thought me worthy of it; his will be 
 done. I trust myself entirely to his good- 
 ness, and if flesh and blood are sometimes 
 afflicted, the agony of Jesus in the garden of 
 Olives restores my patience and my courage, 
 and enables me to bear with joy what his 
 love puts before me. I feel happy at suffer- 
 ing: I would even wish to suffer more, in ex- 
 piation of the many sins which I have com- 
 mitted. I am almost tempted to complain 
 of your lordship ; for your anxiety for me, 
 and the affection of the Christians, remove 
 many of those sufferings of my imprisonment 
 which are so dear to me. I am much touched 
 and moved by the kindness which is thus 
 shown me, nor can I ever forget it. Con- 
 tinue, my lord, to write to me as much as 
 you can, for your letters, and those of all our 
 friends, are like a soothing balm, which gives 
 comfort to my heart. How happy I was to 
 work under your paternal direction, and to 
 live with such good companions ! But if I 
 go before you to heaven, I will do all in my 
 power to draw you after me.” 
 
 At the beginning of their imprisonn. ..t, 
 our confessors were much troubled by the 
 visits which were made to them from morn- 
 ing till night, but afterward no one was ad- 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 241 
 
 mitted. “I am quite alone,” M. Bonnard 
 wrote to me, “ and I avail myself of that ad- 
 vantage to give myself to meditation on the 
 sufferings of Jesus, and to prepare for death. 
 Our life is monotonous; we have but little to 
 bear from the soldiers, for they love us, and 
 are inclined to do what they can to please us. 
 I am much pleased with those who are about 
 me; they would rot venture to do any thing 
 to annoy me. I go from time to time to see 
 my two young men, because, as I am not 
 afraid of anybody, it is easier for me to go to 
 them than for them to come to me. Thus, 
 when I have finished my office, said some 
 prayers, and made some spiritual exercise, I 
 find the time has passed quickly. The wife 
 of the chief mandarin came to see me, with 
 her son ; we had a long conversation, and 
 they expressed great esteem for me, and much 
 concern for my position.” 
 
 This was the way in which our beloved pri- 
 soner lived while his sentence was being pre- 
 pared. He was subjected, together with his 
 companions, to the examinations commanded 
 by the law. These were four in number, the 
 particulars of which you shall have in the 
 words of the dear martyr himself. 
 
 “ In the first examination they put to me 
 the usual questions. ‘What is your name?’ 
 Q 21 
 
242 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 4 My Annamite name is Huong, and my sur- 
 name Bonnard.’ They were nearly half an hour 
 trying to pronounce it, and after all they did not 
 s u cceed, hut put it down as Bona. 4 How old are 
 you?’ 4 Twenty-nine.’ 4 From what country 
 are you?’ ‘From France.’ 4 How long have 
 you been here?’ ‘Two years.’ 4 fiow’ did you 
 come ?’ 4 In a French ship to Macao, and thence 
 to the coast of Annam in a Chinese boat.’ 
 4 Where did you land ?’ 4 At a place the name 
 of which I cannot remember.’ 4 Where have 
 you lived up to the day of your arrest?’ 4 In 
 many places; I cannot remember them all; but 
 if I did, I should not tell you.’ 4 Why did you 
 go to Boi-Xuien ?’ 4 On particular business, 
 
 without intending to stay there.’ 4 What house 
 did you lodge at?’ 4 1 cannot tell.’ 
 
 “They often repeated questions of the same 
 sort, to find out where I had been, and in what 
 places I had been taken in, threatening to beat 
 me if I persisted in withholding the informa- 
 tion. 4 Strike me as much as you please,’ I 
 answered them, fearlessly; ‘but do not hope 
 to get out of me a single word that would in- 
 jure the Christians. I came here to serve them 
 till death, and you deceive yourselves entirely 
 if you think to make me say any thing against 
 my conscience.’ 4 We do not wish to do any 
 harm to the Christians,’ they replied. 4 If that 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 243 
 
 is the case,’ I rejoined, ‘why do you ask me 
 where I lodged?’ Not being able to answer, 
 they smiled, and said, ‘Well, then, will you 
 trample on the cross? If you do that, you 
 shall be sent back to Europe; if not, you shall 
 be beaten and condemned to death.’ ‘ I have 
 told you already that I am not afraid either 
 of being beaten or of dying. I am quite ready ; 
 but do not expect that I shall ever stoop to so 
 base a crime. I did not come here to deny my 
 faith, or to give a bad example to the Chris- 
 tians.’ When they heard that they were silent. 
 
 “At the second examination, which took 
 place the next day, the same questions were 
 repeated. I replied that I had nothing to add 
 to what I had said the day before, as I had 
 then told every thing. The judges seemed to 
 be of the same opinion ; but I heard them say 
 to each other, ‘What more can we ask him?’ 
 
 “ The third time my catechist Kim was with 
 me. The mandarins again asked the names 
 of the places where I had been, and of the 
 houses where I had lodged. ‘ I have left all 
 that was dear to me in Europe,* I answered, 
 ‘ to bring salvation to your countrymen, and 
 not to injure them ; and if I, who am a stranger, 
 love the people of this country so much that 
 I would not say any thing that might compro- 
 mise them, ought not you much more, who 
 
244 
 
 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 are their magistrates and fathers, to avoid 
 asking any questions which might do them an 
 injury?’ I also said, as M. Charrier did on a 
 similar occasion, ‘If I had been arrested in 
 another province, would you wish me to say 
 that I had lived in this one ? and if I did so, 
 would you be pleased with me ?’* 
 
 “When my catechist was examined, he 
 began to tell his own story ; but he was inter- 
 rupted at every word, and pressed with threats, 
 so that the poor young man, who had received 
 twenty blows with the rod the day before, be- 
 came frightened, and was unable to continue. 
 As I feared much for him, I raised my voice 
 as in anger, and commanded the judges to be 
 silent. ‘ It is necessary,’ they said to me, ‘that 
 we should do our duty.’ ‘Your duty!’ I re- 
 plied ; ‘ I know it as well as you do, and I 
 know that those questions are not necessary.’ 
 Then lowering my voice, I reminded them of 
 the effect which their conduct would have 
 upon the people, adding, ‘ If you want to save 
 him from great wrong and yourselves from a 
 great deal of annoyance, draw up your report 
 to the king like wise and prudent men. Do 
 
 * The mandarins and the mayors of the villages are 
 obliged, under penalty, to give reasons for every arrest that 
 may take place in their district, because it presupposes a 
 ■want of due vigilance on their part. • 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 245 
 
 you not see that if you beat these young men 
 • you will expose them to the danger of telling 
 lies, to the ruin of many innocent persons?’ 
 The mandarins listened to me with great at- 
 tention, and praised the way in which I spoke 
 their language, saying to each other, ‘He 
 must have been here a long time.’ Then 
 turning to the youth, they ended by say- 
 ing, ‘Consult with the Father, and give us 
 your answers, that we may bring the whole 
 affair to a conclusion.’ The sitting being thus 
 ended, I made my catechist write down his 
 whole story, so that he might always have 
 before him materials for safe and accurate re- 
 plies. 
 
 “The fourth examination was only a repe- 
 tition of the former ones. The judges made 
 me write a few lines in French to send to the 
 king. They contained merely a short declara- 
 tion of my name, age, country, and profession. 
 In the course of all these examinations I have 
 had full proof of the efficacy of the words 
 of Jesus Christ to his disciples, Take no 
 thought how you shall answer the princes of 
 this world : the Holy Ghost shall answer by 
 your mouth. In truth, I have experienced 
 no difficulty and felt no fear, and I have 
 spoken Annamite more easily and readily 
 than I was ever able to do before. 
 
 21 * 
 
246 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 “I have taken great pains to encourage 
 my two young men, and to support them as 
 well as I could under all circumstances. Both 
 the one and the other are full of joy at their 
 sufferings, and inflamed with the desire of 
 dying martyrs. 1 have a very special affec- 
 tion for them ; I have done all I can to 
 lighten their punishment, and I divide with 
 them in a brotherly way every little gift 
 which I receive from the charity of the 
 Christians. They were summoned to three 
 special examinations ; at the first they each 
 received twenty blows with the rod, because 
 they refused to give the names of the villages 
 where I had lodged. My catechist Kim 
 drew a cross before him while he was being 
 beaten, in order that the sight of it might 
 remind him of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. 
 At the second examination he got for persist- 
 ing in his refusal five more blows, which he 
 told me hurt him more than the previous 
 five-and-twenty. This dear child, when 
 under the rod, invoked aloud the most holy 
 names of Jesus and Mary, and their sweet- 
 ness, ever consoling in sorrow, strengthened 
 the firmness of his resolution. In the course 
 of the third examination the mandarins put 
 before the two confessors a broken statue, 
 which they said was a Christ which had been 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 247 
 
 taken from the Dominicans. It was about 
 as big as a child of tweive years old, and had 
 lost the arms and half of the head. The 
 judges wished them to kiss it. but as they 
 did not know whether it was an image of 
 Christ or an idol, they refused, and as it was 
 being taken away two or three rats ran out 
 of its body, in the sight of the whole court. 
 
 “ The fervor of these two youths edifies 
 me very much : they have courageously con- 
 fessed the faith. The mandarins, out of com- 
 passion, wished to say in thei- report that 
 they had trampled on the cross, but they 
 contradicted it, and insisted on the insertion 
 of their formal declaration, that they repu- 
 diated all apostasy, and asked to be put to 
 death. This touching generosity rejoiced 
 me greatly. 
 
 “ My catechist Kim has had put into the 
 report to the king that his busir>e?~. was to 
 accompany me w r herever the administration 
 of the sacraments required my presence I 
 fear lest this dear child should not have 
 strength to bear the burden which his zealous 
 fervor has imposed upon him. I once re- 
 proved him, and said that he had taken too 
 much upon himself, but he answered with a 
 smile, How happy I should be to shed my 
 blood with you for Jesus Christ! I had 
 
248 
 
 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 always loved him for his zeal and gentleness, 
 Dut the beauty of his soul, which his im- 
 prisonment has brought out, has made him 
 more than doubly dear. He seems an angel 
 rather than a man ; so think all those who 
 are about us, for no one who sees his gene- 
 rous and cheerful disposition can help loving 
 him. 
 
 “My disciple Ba is more silent. The day 
 on which we were to make our declarations 
 we were advised to pretend that we had a 
 fever, to save ourselves from being beaten. 
 This dear boy determined to take the advice, 
 and came to the court *all trembling, and as 
 if hardly able to drag his legs after him. He 
 sat down quite fatigued and pale, as if he 
 felt very ill. They hastened to make him 
 sign his declaration, and sent him back 
 again. Pray to Jesus and Mary that they 
 may give these two combatants strength to 
 endure whatever sufferings Providence has 
 still in store for them. I recommend them, 
 and also myself, to your prayers with all my 
 heart.” 
 
 You see, my dear friend, that the mandarins 
 show some kindness to their poor prisoners; 
 thanks perhaps to the seasonable sum of 
 money which we have distributed among 
 them. When the examinations were over, 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 249 
 
 the chief mandarin sent in his report to the 
 kins* : "he following extracts contain the 
 
 most important particulars of it. 
 
 “Having examined these three prisoners 
 in full court, I found that one of them, a 
 priest of the religion of Jesus, was un- 
 doubtedly a European. His nose is long, 
 his beard thick, his hair short, his eyes yellow, 
 and his complexion of a pale white. He 
 says that his name is Bona, and that he is a 
 Frenchman, of the age of twenty-nine. With 
 a passport from a great mandarin of his own 
 country, he came to Macao in a French ship 
 about two years ago. A month later he 
 again embarked in a Chinese ship for this 
 kingdom, intending to go through the pro- 
 vinces, and preach in them the law of his 
 God. On reaching the Annamite coast he 
 found a fishing-boat, in which were two men, 
 who secretly made the sign of the cross. By 
 this he knew that they were Christians, and 
 went with them ; they landed him under 
 cover of the night, and took him from one 
 place to another along the shore. . . . He 
 is not acquainted with the Chinese alphabet, 
 and introduces into his conversation many 
 European words, without explaining their 
 meaning; in short, he is altogether a differ- 
 ent sort of being from ourselves. He has 
 
250 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 always refused to say where he landed, what 
 places he has visited, in what houses he re- 
 ceived shelter, and who were seduced and 
 deceived by him. We examined him on 
 these points two or three times, but wer* 
 never able to extract any sort of confession 
 from him. He was firm as a rock, and ad 
 our power is of no avail. No further exami- 
 nation is necessary : he is a European barba- 
 rian, a great criminal ; let him be condemned 
 to death.” 
 
 After this, the mandarin goes on to speak 
 of the two young companions of our beloved 
 confrere, exaggerating their story, and con- 
 cluding as follows: — “They have always re- 
 fused to tell us the places through which the 
 prisoner Bona passed, the villages which re- 
 ceived him, or the houses in which he was 
 concealed. One might as well try to open 
 mouths of iron. They have also refused to 
 trample on the cross, and demand to be put 
 to death. We shall, however, examine their 
 case further, and, when we have determined 
 on their sentence, we shall submit it to his 
 majesty.” 
 
 The chief mandarin sent this report to the 
 king on the 5th of April, and on the 20th 
 the answer returned, entirely confirming the 
 sentence of death against M. Bonnard. But, 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 251 
 
 before I speak of its being carried into effect, 
 I must give you an idea of the position in 
 which this event placed us. 
 
 When M. Bonnard was arrested, our com- 
 munity at Vinh-tri consisted of three Euro- 
 peans, M. Legrand, who helps me to write 
 and to read my letters, which I find difficult 
 on account of the weakness of my sight, 
 M. Charbonier, lately returned from Lacto, 
 where fever had attacked him while in the 
 exercise of his ministry, and myself. You 
 know that Vinh-tri is considered here, as 
 it were, the nest of the Europeans, and 
 the head-quarters of apostolic works. It is 
 not far from the chief town of the pro- 
 vince, where M. Bonnard was imprisoned. 
 We were in great fear, both for ourselves 
 and our community, which a decree of the 
 chief mandarin, published in every part of 
 the province, greatly contributed to increase. 
 Twice we took to flight, in consequence of 
 false alarms. On Easter-day we said mass 
 an hour after midnight, and took refuge on 
 board some boats for the rest of the day. 
 The storm threatened to break over us, and 
 we all held ourselves in readiness. 
 
 After our venerable prisoner received sen- 
 tence, his condition changed for the better: 
 his two disciples were brought back to his 
 
252 WESTERN T0NGK1NG. 
 
 prison: he received the Breviary and the 
 Imitation of Jesus Christ, which we sent 
 him : the Christians were able to see and 
 converse with him, without much difficulty, 
 and he was allowed to write several letters 
 and to receive almost all that we sent. He 
 certainly did not need any exhortations of 
 ours, to run his noble and glorious course 
 courageously to the end: his fervent piety 
 and lively faith, together with the help of 
 the grace which dwelt within him, were 
 more than sufficient to conduct him safely 
 through the struggle. Nevertheless, the mu- 
 tual encouragement and the farewells which 
 we sent him were exceedingly grateful to 
 him, and we felt great consolation in being 
 able to pour into his soul the soothing balm 
 of our affection. But his greatest satisfaction 
 in his imprisonment was, to be able to make 
 his confession four times, and to receive the 
 most holy Eucharist six times, the last of 
 which was the Viaticum, given him about two 
 hours before the execution of his sentence. 
 Thus the adorable Body and Blood of Jesus 
 Christ were the last food that he took on 
 earth. 
 
 The month of April was drawing near its 
 close, and the royal decree could not be de- 
 layed much longer, when the beloved prisoner 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 253 
 
 wrote me a long letter, recommending several 
 persons to me, and especially his parents, to 
 whom he begged me to send something be- 
 longing to him, which I shall take care to do 
 as soon as possible. He showed great anxiety 
 for his companion*. “ Their fervor,” he ex- 
 claimed, “gives me great edification; but I 
 think a great deal of what their future will 
 be. Who will support them when I am with 
 them no more? They understand this them- 
 selves, and say to me, ‘We should be lucky 
 if we could suffer with you. What will be- 
 come of us when you leave us, unless we 
 follow you directly V I console them by 
 saying that you will take care to support 
 them. I beg, therefore, that you will do 
 what you can to make their position easier, 
 as far as is in your power. 
 
 “As this is, perhaps, the last time that I 
 shall write to you, allow me, my dear lord 
 and good Father, to throw myself at your 
 feet, to ask your benediction. If I have ever 
 given offence to your lordship, or to any of 
 my colleagues, during the time that I have 
 served the mission, I beseech you to pardon 
 me; and be sure that I shall never forget 
 you.” This was written on the 22d of April ; 
 and on the 25th and 27th I sent to him letters 
 to the following effect : — 
 
 22 
 
254 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 “Be very sure, my dearest friend, that all 
 your wishes and charges shall be scrupulously 
 fulfilled. I will take especial care of your 
 beloved companions in captivity, and of every 
 one else whom you love. You ask my pardon ; 
 and I hardly know how to grant it, for you 
 have never offended me in any thing. You 
 know how I have always loved you ; and now 
 I love you more than ever. As for my bless- 
 ing, I gave it you when you first came to 
 the mission, and it has remained with you 
 hitherto, and will be your support until you 
 come to eternity. Yes, I gave you my bless- 
 ing when I gave you the beautiful name of 
 Co-huong , that is, father of home, father of 
 incense, father of perfume ; for huong means 
 all these things. Now, the time is at hand 
 when your adorable home will display to you 
 the fulness of its splendor. The time is at 
 hand when you will burn on the altar of 
 martyrdom like precious incense, the sweet 
 smoke of which ascends unto the throne of 
 God. The time is at hand when this won- 
 derful perfume will be acceptable to Jesus, 
 like that of Mary Magdalen, and will gladden 
 angels and men, and heaven and earth, with 
 its incomparable sweetness. It is long since 
 I first gave you my blessing, and now I renew 
 it to you. May the power of God the Father 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 255 
 
 sustain you in the heroic battle-field in which 
 you are about to engage. May the merits of 
 God the Son console you on the Calvary 
 which you are about to ascend. May the 
 love of God the Holy Ghost inflame you in 
 the upper room of your prison, which you 
 are preparing to leave only to gather the 
 martyr’s palm. Yes, may you be blessed, 
 my beloved one ; and, when you are in 
 heaven, bless us in return : bless this mission 
 and these our Christians, who regard you 
 with such tender love. Be our advocate and 
 protector all the time that we remain in this 
 miserable world, and pray God that we may 
 soon be your companions in Paradise. Fare- 
 well, my dearest friend ; time presses, and 
 we must part. We shall meet in heaven. 
 Farewell, farewell.” 
 
 These were the last words which I was 
 able to send to our martyr. I will add those 
 which were the last that I received from him. 
 
 “ My Lord and most dear Friends : — 
 
 “ This is the last letter that I shall write to 
 you. The solemn hour has struck. Farewell ! 
 I make appointments with all of you, who re- 
 member and love me, to meet me in heaven. 
 I hope in the mercy of Jesus, and I have a 
 firm confidence that he has pardoned my in- 
 
256 WESTERN TONGKINfl. 
 
 numerable sins. I offer with all my heart my 
 blood and my life for the love of my dear 
 Master, and for those beloved soui3 whom I 
 would have served so willingly to the best of 
 my power; and I very willingly pardon every 
 one whose conscience tells him that he has 
 committed any fault against me. 
 
 “Do not be too ready to suppose that I have 
 no further need of your prayers ; such an opi- 
 nion might do me great harm ; but continue, 
 I beseech you, to remember me before tne 
 Lord : be sure that, as I have told you before, 
 if he has mercy on my soul, and if I can do 
 any thing in his sight, I will not forget you 
 forever. 
 
 “To-morrow, Saturday, the Feast of St. 
 Philip and St. James, the 1st of May, is the 
 anniversary of the entrance of M. Schoeffler 
 into heaven ; and I believe it is the day ap- 
 pointed for my own sacrifice. God’s will be 
 done! Blessed be God, I die happy! I bid 
 farewell to all in the sacred Hearts of Jesus 
 and Mary. In manus tuas , Domine , commendo 
 spiritum meum. In corde Jesu et Marios osculor 
 vos , amici mei. 
 
 “ Vinctus in Christo , the vigil of my death, 
 April 30, 1852.” 
 
 On the same day the confirmation of his 
 sentence of death arrived from the capital, at 
 
 i 
 
WESTERN ToNGKING. 257 
 
 six in the morning, before the chief mandarin 
 was up. A Christian in his employment stole 
 a sight of it, and immediately gave notice of 
 it to his friends. The report that our vene- 
 rable brother was to be beheaded that evening 
 spread rapidly, and the converts collected from 
 all parts to witness the solemn and moving 
 spectacle. After mid-day the streets were all 
 crowded, and the gate by which the procession 
 was to leave the city was literally besieged by 
 people. For this reason the execution was de- 
 ferred until the next day, which was the first of 
 the beautiful month of Mary. But the crowd, 
 instead of dispersing, increased beyond mea- 
 sure, and went out with the first break of dawn 
 to the usual place of execution, where the man- 
 darins had prepared betimes all that was neces- 
 sary. When there it was discovered that the 
 missionary was being conducted in the oppo- 
 site direction. The whole crowd immediately 
 hurried after him ; but the distance was too 
 great to allow of its arriving in time, and it 
 was also kept back by soldiers. Thus only a 
 few hundred Christians assisted at the mar- 
 tyrdom of our beloved colleague. The place 
 which was chosen for his death was near the 
 river, about a league and a half out of the city. 
 He walked the whole way, bearing his cangue 
 and chain, which latter he carried in his hand, 
 R 22 * 
 
258 WESTEKN TONOKIJSG. 
 
 proceeding with heroic courage, with consola- 
 tion which was more than human written on 
 his countenance. When he arrived at the place 
 of execution, his hands were tied behind him 
 so tightly that the blood flowed. The man- 
 darins had forgotten to bring with them any 
 tools to cut the cangue and break the chains, 
 and an hour passed before they were brought, 
 during which time the martyr remained kneel- 
 ing, firm and upright as a column. Just be- 
 fore leaving his prison he had received the 
 Bread of the strong, and he prayed fervently, 
 gazing toward heaven. How beautiful he must 
 havo been at that moment! When shall I ever 
 be like him? “Precious in the sight of the 
 Lord is the death of his saints!” “ May my 
 last end be like his !” 
 
 When his cangue and chain were removed, 
 the mandarin who presided over the tragedy 
 dismounted from his elephant, and began to 
 arrange the martyr’s hair, saying to him some- 
 thing which was not understood by others. 
 M. Bonnard turned and made some answer, 
 but it was not heard by any one else. The 
 mandarin then remounted his elephant, the 
 cymbal was heard three times, and the head 
 of our dear friend fell beneath the first blow 
 of the executioner. The Christians w T ere able 
 to collect very little of his blood, as the sol- 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 259 
 
 diers beat off with rods all who ventured to 
 approach. The pagan soldiers took off the 
 new dress in which M. Bonnard had gone to 
 execution, and kept it entire ; but they divided 
 among themselves his under-clothing, which 
 was colored with his blood, intending to sell 
 the pieces to the faithful. They also took off 
 three links of his chain, and the iron pegs of 
 his cangue, and many dipped pieces of paper 
 in his blood. They are now selling these 
 things, and also the martyr’s hair and beard, 
 which they cut off. 
 
 The mandarins ordered out for this execu- 
 tion a great display of elephants, horses, and 
 soldiers. It is said that there were about five 
 hundred men, armed with muskets, pikes, and 
 scimitars, without reckoning a quantity of 
 mandarins, with their large yellow, green, and 
 blue umbrellas. 
 
 But what did they do with the body? We 
 expected that it \vould be buried at the place 
 of execution, as that of M. Schceffler was, and 
 that only the head would be thrown into the 
 river. We made preparations for obtaining 
 possession of the relics ; but our measures 
 were of no avail. As soon as the victim fell, 
 the mandarins had all the earth which was 
 soaked with his blood dug up, that the Chris- 
 tians might not get any of it; and the body 
 
260 WESTERN TONGKING. 
 
 and head were put into a large boat, with a 
 etrong detachment of soldiers. The chief man- 
 darin, with several of his armed followers, 
 went on board another boat. They were 
 both provisioned for three days ; and when 
 they had set sail, and got the oars out, they 
 went down the river, as if on a long and im- 
 portant expedition. 
 
 But a launch, full of Christians, among 
 whom were my deacon, and two of our 
 catechists, went before them at a little dis- 
 tance, to watch their movements, and toward 
 evening we despatched in the direction of the 
 sea several fishing-boats, which were moored 
 in the neighborhood of our community. At 
 a little before nine the sky was overcast with 
 clouds, and it began to rain. The boats of 
 the mandarins had got a little below Tam- 
 Toa; there ‘they stopped, and after doing 
 something which could not be seen, but 
 which was perfectly understood, they again 
 set sail, and began to ascend the river on 
 their return. The Christians in the launch 
 marked the place, and the fishing-boats came 
 up and joined them. A young man plunged 
 in, at a depth of five-and-twenty feet, and 
 came exactly upon the body of the holy mar- 
 tyr. He touched its hands and feet, and im- 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 261 
 
 mediately rose to the surface, exclaiming, 
 triumphantly, “ I have found it !” 
 
 The mandarins had fastened the body of 
 Bonnard to an enormous stone, such as is 
 used to pound rice, and had tied up the head 
 in a small bag and put it under the arm. 
 Very soon after the precious treasure was 
 discovered, it was raised from the bottom, 
 and one hour after midnight the fishermen 
 arrived with their pious burden at the door 
 of our community. We immediately dressed 
 it in all the priestly vestments, and laid it, 
 with its face uncovered, in a very beautiful 
 coffin, presented by a Christian family. It 
 remained thus exposed, with lighted torches 
 round it, in the middle of the church of our 
 college, until the evening of the following 
 day, when we buried it with all the cere- 
 monies of the Ritual. I was the celebrant, 
 assisted by M. Legrand, by two Annamite 
 priests, by a deacon, and by all our disciples ; 
 we also admitted some of the principal con- 
 verts of the village to the funeral, which we 
 performed almost in a whisper. 
 
 The whole body now lies in our college. 
 How beautiful it was as it lay on the bier, 
 dressed in the sacerdotal vestments! You 
 would have said it was a magnificent statue 
 of ivory. The head was carefully fitted to 
 
262 WESTERN TONQKINO, 
 
 the neck, and it seemed as if sleeping in holy 
 peace, or rather enjoying a heavenly vision, 
 from which it caught a sweet smile. 
 
 Before his execution, Bonnard wrote a let- 
 ter to his relations, which he sent to me 
 open, begging me not to forward it until his 
 martyrdom had taken place. I shall here 
 transcribe some passages of it, which will 
 give great edification to pious souls. 
 
 “My dear relations : . . . Every thing con- 
 cerning me has now undergone a great 
 change. . . . But be tranquil ; for if God chas- 
 tises us with one hand, he consoles us with 
 the other ; and if he is with us, all hell will 
 be unchained against us in vain. When you 
 receive this letter, you may be sure that my 
 head has fallen beneath the sword of the 
 executioner ; for it will not be sent until after 
 my martyrdom. I die for the faith of Jesus 
 Christ ; the wicked slay me out of hatred to 
 that most holy religion in which you gave 
 me lessons which were so wise and so easy 
 to follow, and which I came to these distant 
 countries to spread ; out of hatred to that 
 religion in confirmation of which so many 
 apostles and martyrs have shed their blood. 
 I shall be a martyr. Yes, my dear parents, 
 I shall be sacrificed as Jesus was on Calvary. 
 I hope to ascend to him, to dwell in the homo 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 263 
 
 of the saints. Rejoice, therefore, my dear 
 father, my tender mother, my beloved bro- 
 thers, because my soul will have entered the 
 kingdom of the elect. If I can do any thing 
 at the foot of the throne of the Divine Ma- 
 jesty, I will surely remember all of you, who 
 have loved me so much and done so much 
 for me. Weep not for me, for I am happy 
 in my cangue and my chains and my death. 
 From my youth up I have desired this happy 
 lot ; and now that the Lord has heard me, I 
 embrace him with reverence, and my heart 
 beats with joy at seeing myself honored with 
 so great a distinction. 
 
 “ What can I say more, my dear parents ? 
 I wish to console you, I wish to dry your 
 tears, I wish to pour into your hearts for the 
 last time in this world all the affection of my 
 own. But what greater comfort can I give 
 you than that of our most holy religion ? If 
 the reading of this letter moves your tender 
 compassion, remember that those sufferings, 
 which 1 count myself happy to bear for the 
 love of Jesus Christ, will have been long 
 over, and that my soul will be already reign- 
 ing in our heavenly home. . . . Do all you 
 can to save your souls by despising the fleet- 
 ing goods of this world, and turning your 
 frequent gaze toward those of heaven. Up 
 
264 WESTERN TONGKINGf. 
 
 there, in that glorious country, I appoint k 
 meet you. There I expect you all ; oh, see 
 that you fail not! The hour strikes ; lean 
 say no more. . . . Your Bonnard/’ 
 
 All is now over with our beloved colleague. 
 It is with martyrdom as with the woman in 
 labor, of whom our Lord speaks: her suf- 
 ferings at first are very great, but when she 
 has brought her burden into the world she 
 is full of joy. In like manner, we were filled 
 with sadness and anxiety all the time that 
 our friend was in prison ; but when, thanks 
 to Divine Providence, every thing was 
 brought to so glorious and edifying a conclu- 
 sion, our souls seemed to be relieved of a 
 heavy burden, and we were full of consola- 
 tion and joy. We are proud of belonging to 
 a mission which thus brings forth new mar- 
 tyrs to the Church, and we consider ourselves 
 fortunate in being in a country where we 
 have good reason to hope that we too shall 
 gain the crown of Christian heroism. 
 
 You will ask what became of those two dear 
 sons of M. Bonnard, his catechist Kim, and his 
 disciple Ba. Nothing is yet settled. They re- 
 main in their prison, which has become to 
 them a house of sadness. It is considered 
 certain that they will not be put to death; so 
 
WESTERN TONGKING. 265 
 
 I hope that these noble converts will sooner 
 or later be restored to us. 
 
 The Christians of your old parish of Ke- 
 Bang have shown the love they bear to their 
 holy missionary M. Bonnard, by making a 
 collection among themselves, of their own 
 accord, which produced six hundred pieces, 
 to assist in paying the legal expenses of the 
 trial; an act of charity which is the more 
 praiseworthy as this is a time of great scarcity. 
 I shall send a box of property belonging to 
 M. Bonnard to his relations and friends by 
 the first opportunity. I cannot send it now, 
 because it would take time to collect, and the 
 ship which is to take this is on the point of 
 setting sail. Not to lose this post, I began 
 this narrative on Sunday, the 2d of this 
 month, and I have finished it to-day, the 5th. 
 M. Libois will send it by the Red Sea, that it 
 may reach you sooner. Present my humble 
 respects to the Reverend the Superior and 
 the Directors of our seminary. Pray much 
 for our dear mission, for all our brethren, 
 and especially for 
 
 Your most humble and devoted servant, 
 Peter, Bishop of Acanthus, 
 
 Vicar- Apostolic of Western Tongking. 
 
 Tongking,, May 5, 1852 
 
 23 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 An account of the martyrdom of Philip Minh, a priest , 
 written by the Bishop of Isauropolis. 
 
 Philip Minh was born in the Christian 
 settlement of Cai-mong, situated in the pro- 
 vince of Vinh-Long, in Western Cochin 
 China, about the year of our Lord 1815. Cai- 
 mong was one of the largest Christian settle- 
 ments in those parts, and Philip’s parents 
 were good Christians, who were remarkable 
 for their attachment to the faith. They died, 
 however, when he was but a few years old, 
 and he was placed under the care of his elder 
 sister, who brought him up and fostered his 
 inclination to piety. Philip had just reached 
 his thirteenth year when he fortunately made 
 the acquaintance of Mgr. Taberd, Bishop of 
 Isauropolis and Vicar-Apostolic of Cochin 
 China, who, seeing the good dispositions of 
 the youth, and his more than ordinary talents, 
 266 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 267 
 
 sent him to be one of the students of his 
 seminary. The bishop’s affection for Philip 
 increased with time and with his knowledge 
 of him, and when he found himself obliged to 
 fly in consequence of the increasing violence 
 of the persecution, he took the youth with 
 him to Calcutta. It is said that Philip 
 assisted Mgr. Taberd in the compilation of 
 his Latin and Annamite dictionary. 
 
 Some years afterward the Bishop of Isau- 
 ropolis died in Calcutta, and the Fathers of 
 the Society of Jesus in that town kindly 
 offered Philip hospitality. 
 
 As soon as a favorable opportunity presented 
 itself, he was sent by the Fathers to the college 
 of the foreign missions in the island of Pulo 
 Penang. 
 
 At the college he applied himself in the 
 first place to the study of Latin and the 
 classics, and afterward to that of theology. 
 He obtained praise from his masters, and by 
 his sweet disposition w r on the love and re- 
 spect of his companions, who admired his 
 talents. The superiors of the college placed 
 such confidence in him that they made him 
 procurator of the house. He filled this office 
 for the last two years that he w T as at the col- 
 lege previous to his return to his birthplace. 
 At that time the Bishop of Metellopolis was 
 
268 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 the Yicar of Cochin China, and it was from 
 him that Philip received his ecclesiastical 
 training and the different steps of holy orders 
 one after the other. Just when the bishop 
 was going to ordain him priest, the Holy See 
 divided the mission of Cochin China into 
 Eastern and Western Cochin China. 
 
 Mgr. Dominic Lefebure was appointed 
 bishop of the western division, and he had 
 been taken prisoner by the king’s officers 
 and conducted to the palace of Hue, where 
 he was under guard. The deacon Minh, 
 who was born in Western Cochin China, was 
 consequently his subject. He boldly faced 
 the danger, and penetrated to the very place 
 where the bishop was incarcerated, and, pre- 
 senting himself to him, obtained dimissorial 
 letters according to his wish. Having thus 
 paid him homage as his superior, he returned 
 unharmed to the Bishop of Metellopolis, by 
 whom he was ordained priest in the year 
 1847, the thirty-first of his age. 
 
 After his ordination he returned to the 
 western vicariate, where he performed all 
 the duties of the priesthood with edification, 
 and distinguished himself not only by his 
 talents, but also by his zeal. He received 
 faculties to administer the sacrament of 
 confirmation, an office which exposed him 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 269 
 
 to greater danger of being seized by his per- 
 secutors than the other priests, because it 
 obliged him to travel frequently from one 
 Christian congregation to another. He per- 
 formed these sacred duties in various Chris- 
 tian settlements for about the space of seven 
 years, until he was appointed to the cure of 
 Mac-b&c, where he happened to be on the 
 25th of February, 1853. 
 
 Meanwhile a wicked and treacherous Chris- 
 tian had promised the mandarin to betray 
 into his hands a priest of the name of Liiu, 
 who, as the man thought, was living in the 
 same house with the venerable Philip, per- 
 haps because the master of the house was in 
 fact called Liiu, and, although not a priest, 
 was nevertheless the chief catechist among 
 the Christians of that part. The traitor had 
 taken with him a band of officers provided 
 with arms and torches, and at about ten 
 o’clock on the night of the 25th of February, 
 1853, with sudden shouts and tumult they 
 attacked the house where our priest Minh 
 was lodging. The servant of God had 
 finished his evening prayer, and the subject 
 of the next morning’s meditation having 
 been read by one of the students, he was pre- 
 paring his mat to lie down to sleep. Suddenly 
 they heard the shouts of their wicked ene- 
 
 23 * 
 
270 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 mies, and the household was terrified, think- 
 ing at first by a natural mistake that they 
 were robbers. If they had been robbers they 
 would not have been worse ; for they knocked 
 down the walls, and having forced an entrance, 
 entered the house, crying out that they had 
 been sent to seize Luu, the teacher of reli- 
 gion. The master of the house, hearing this, 
 came forward, and said, “Here I am; I am 
 he.” The officers understood that he was 
 not the person they were in search of, but 
 nevertheless they made him prisoner, and 
 again cried out, “ Where is Luu the teacher 
 of religion ?” and whilst they were saying 
 this they seized every one who came before 
 them. The servant of God seeing what was 
 being done, and anxious to give himself up 
 for the safety of his brethren, immediately 
 came forward, and thus addressed the offi- 
 cers, “ If you are looking for the teacher of 
 religion, here he is ; I am he : you have 
 nothing to do with the people of the house.” 
 Hearing this, they immediately seized him, 
 and tied his hands behind his back, not with 
 ropes, but with his own hair, dividing it into 
 two parts and drawing it over to his back. 
 Some of the officers said that they ought not 
 to seize Philip, because he was not the Luu 
 whom they had been sent to seize; but the 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 271 
 
 servant of God cared less for himself than 
 they did, and reckoned not his own life pro- 
 vided he could save that of others, and in 
 fact, by giving money to that greedy crowd, 
 he succeeded in freeing several from their 
 hands. Nevertheless, according to the usual 
 practice in such cases, the house was sacked, 
 and only the sacred furniture and pictures 
 were reserved to serve as evidence at the 
 trial. Seven of the chief inhabitants of the 
 village, who were also the leaders among the 
 Christians, were then seized, and Philip was 
 dragged along with them to the prefecture 
 of Long-ho. He had to appear before the 
 tribunal during seven days, and to answer 
 delicate and difficult questions; but he en- 
 deavored by means of the greatest circum- 
 spection not to compromise any one. When 
 he was asked who he was, where he came 
 from, where he had studied, and how he had 
 obtained the sacred vestments, he frankly re- 
 plied by telling them the place of his birth 
 and the misfortunes and events of his child- 
 hood. He told them that he had accom- 
 panied Mgr. Taberd to Calcutta, and that 
 when he returned to his own country he had 
 been the disciple of the Bishop Dominic 
 (Mgr. Lefebure) in the Christian religion. 
 He made known to them that he had visited 
 
272 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 the bishop in prison, and that he had received 
 power from him to teach the Christian reli- 
 gion, as well as the sacred ornaments. The 
 venerable servant of God was able to say 
 thus much without danger, because Mgr. 
 Taberd had been dead a long time, and the 
 Bishop of Isauropolis was thought to have 
 returned to Europe to remain there. But 
 the mandarin took notice of the name, and 
 inquired whether the Bishop Dominic was 
 still in the kingdom. “ He does not travel 
 any more,” Philip answered: “I have not 
 seen him for a long time.” It was true that 
 Minh had not seen the bishop for a long time, 
 and it was then seven years since he had 
 made his last journey. Besides, he did not 
 intend to cross the sea again, but ruled the 
 vicariate apostolic while remaining in his 
 own district. 
 
 After these questions had been asked, 
 together with others of more or less import- 
 ance, they came at last to the daring endeavor 
 of making him apostatize. It is difficult to 
 describe the struggle that ensued, and we 
 willingly leave this to be narrated by the pen 
 of the servant of God himself, in a letter 
 which he addressed to his superiors. “ When 
 the examination, which lasted seven days, 
 was concluded,” he writes, “the president 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 273 
 
 ordered me to trample on the cross which 
 was lying on the ground before me. Hear- 
 ing this command, I prayed thus to God with 
 my whole heart: 0 God, who hast been 
 pleased to appoint all that is now happening 
 to thy most humble servant, assist me to en- 
 dure every thing rather than that I should 
 offend against the faith. Have mercy on me, 
 O Lord ! I felt the grace of God strengthen- 
 ing me in very truth, for I answered imme- 
 diately, and without fear, Great mandarin, I 
 cannot possibly dare to do this. Why not? 
 rejoined the president. Pardon me, great 
 mandarin, I replied, our religion commands 
 us to venerate this holy sign, and I have done 
 so from my youth: how then could I dare to 
 trample on it? When the president heard 
 this he cried out, Drag him on ; upon which 
 the officers, pulling me by the cangue, were 
 dragging me to the cross, but I resisted them 
 by keeping my feet firmly planted on the 
 ground ; thereupon they lifted me up on both 
 sides by the cangue, and held me suspended 
 as it were on a cross, but in vain, for your 
 child, (he is speaking of himself to his supe- 
 rior,) bending his knees, did not so much as 
 touch the cross with his feet. At last, the 
 president, thinking it useless, gave orders 
 that they should desist from offering me any 
 
274 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 further violence. The other seven prisoners 
 were subjected to the same trial, but being 
 strengthened by the example of the priest 
 they also were victorious.” 
 
 The mandarin, being anxious to send Phi- 
 lip away free, endeavored to persuade him 
 that if he would not tread on the cross, he 
 should at least deny that he was a priest, and 
 that he should depose that the vestments had 
 been given him to keep by the Bishop Domi- 
 nic at the time he was seized. “If you make 
 this declaration,” they said to him, “you will 
 have nothing to fear, and we will send you 
 away unharmed.” The servant of God re- 
 plied that he could not say this without pre- 
 varication, since he was really a priest, and 
 the sacerdotal vestments were those which he 
 used every day in the sacred functions. The 
 mandarin thought that this was folly, and re- 
 buked him because he would not come to any 
 agreement: they then set about drawing up 
 the sentence. 
 
 According to the edict which had been pub- 
 lished in the beginning of the reign of Tu- 
 Duc, the priests of the country could only be 
 condemned to perpetual banishment in addi- 
 tion to the iron chain. The judges confined 
 themselves to this law, and drew up the fol- 
 lowing sentence : — 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 275 
 
 “ Philip Minh, thirty-eight years of age, and 
 teacher of a false religion, — having dared to 
 go to Europe* to study, having been the dis- 
 ciple of the Bishops Taberd and Dominic ; — 
 having visited the Bishop Dominic during his 
 imprisonment, and received from him author- 
 ity to be a teacher of religion ; having con- 
 tinued to pervert the people by preaching the 
 false religion in this province, and recently 
 in the village of M&c-bac, where he built a 
 church ; having refused to obey our command 
 to forsake his impious superstitions, and to 
 trample on the cross, is declared by us to be 
 a rebel against the laws of the kingdom, and 
 guilty of the gravest crime. We, therefore, 
 sentence him to exile in the province of Son- 
 Tay, in accordance with the royal edict pub- 
 lished for similar cases. As for his seven 
 accomplices, they are to receive a hundred 
 blows of the stick, and then to be released.” 
 When this sentence had been drawn up, it 
 was sent, according to the custom of the coun- 
 try, after about three months, to the capital 
 of the kingdom for the king’s confirmation. 
 From the day on which the sentence was de- 
 spatched, the mandarins treated Philip with 
 great consideration: they allowed him to 
 
 * This name was given to Calcutta, a European settlement. 
 
276 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 change the cangue with which he was laden 
 for a light chain ; they gave him permission 
 to stay in a part of the prison distinct from 
 the criminals, and he was even allowed to 
 leave the prison to walk into the town with a 
 soldier to guard him. Minh’s first thought 
 was to send a messenger to Magr. Lefebure, 
 the vicar-apostolic, to ask for a rosary and a 
 little office of the Blessed Virgin, in order to 
 devote himself to prayer with greater facility. 
 The bishop sent him these things, as well as 
 pens and paper, which enabled Minh to have 
 the consolation of writing often to his supe- 
 riors, which was no slight comfort to him. 
 
 The priest Luu, instead of whom the servant 
 of God had been captured, often visited him, 
 and heard his confession. Oftentimes Minh 
 himself, in the prison, was able to hear the 
 confessions of his fellow-prisoners, and so to 
 make them partakers of the indulgence of the 
 jubilee. A great number ofChristians crowded 
 round him every day ; they came from all parts 
 to pay their respects to him, and to make him 
 presents, which he distributed for the support 
 of those who were in prison with him. He 
 also used to address his fellow-prisoners, as 
 they themselves testified, exhorting them to 
 Buffer with patience. One day, among others, 
 he thus spoke to them : — “ Friends, let us en- 
 
COCHIN CHINA. ■ 
 
 277 
 
 dure with resignation these sufferings for the 
 sake of God’s holv religion, — beware of com- 
 plaining. What is there to be feared? You 
 will have to undergo a hundred blows ; and 
 then, being set at liberty, you will be able to 
 return to your families. I will leave nothing 
 untried that you may escape even this punish- 
 ment. I, for my part, shall be condemned to 
 exile, and I shall have to go into a distant 
 country; all which I shall willingly endure 
 for God’s sake. If any thing ought to be a 
 source of sadness, it should be this, that since 
 I am your shepherd, you that are my sheep 
 will no longer be able to have the ministry 
 of your pastor.” 
 
 Eight days before the execution of his sen- 
 tence, he thus wrote to the Bishop Lefebure: 
 “ I beg of you, my father, to pray for your son, 
 that he may suffer willingly whatever God has 
 appointed that he should suffer. To whatever 
 locality I am destined to be sent I will go will- 
 ingly; let but my father pray God that he 
 would vouchsafe to help his son, and every 
 thing will be welcome to him.” These senti- 
 ments of the servant of God are sufficient to 
 prove that he did not anticipate any worse sen- 
 tence than exile, and it was generally believed 
 that the king would have confirmed the sen- 
 
 24 
 
 
278 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 ter mined to exterminate our religion utterly, 
 and had accordingly issued a most cruel edict, 
 which however had not as yet been promul- 
 gated, owing to the disturbed state of the king- 
 dom. This law decreed that the native priests 
 should be treated in the same manner as the 
 European missionaries; that is to say, that 
 they should be beheaded, and their heads 
 thrown into the sea. This was the sentence 
 passed on Philip. He was condemned to 
 death, and his seven companions to perpe- 
 tual banishment. 
 
 This royal sentence reached the prefecture 
 of Long-ho, early in the morning, on Sunday, 
 the 3d of July, the Feast of the Most Precious 
 Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 It often happens in that kingdom that no 
 time is allowed to elapse before executing a 
 capital sentence. For this reason, orders had 
 been given in the morning, and the soldiers 
 were already preparing their spears, and the 
 ropes to bind the victim. The officer who 
 was to preside at the execution had also or- 
 dered one of the Christians who was im- 
 prisoned to have a sponge ready to gather 
 up the blood of the teacher of religion, who 
 was to be decapitated. All these preparations 
 were going on, while Philip, ignorant of it 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 279 
 
 all, was calmly thinking about going to the 
 destination of his banishment. 
 
 At length he received intelligence of his 
 approaching death. When he had heard it, 
 he immediately asked if it was possible to ob- 
 tain a delay of a few days ; and, hearing that 
 this was quite impossible, he smiled, and, 
 taking up his pen, wrote a last farewell to 
 Mgr. Lefebure, and to two other priests who 
 were nearer, begging earnestly of one of 
 them to come at once, if he possibly could, 
 to the prefecture, in order to give him at 
 least a last sacramental absolution. The 
 letter, however, did not reach in time. The 
 servant of God, when he had finished writing, 
 prayed for some time on his knees, making 
 an offering of the sacrifice of his life to God. 
 He then rose and committed his last wishes 
 to the care of the catechist Luu. Hearing 
 the noise of the soldiers who were approach- 
 ing, and knowing well that the last hour of 
 his life was come, he turned to his com- 
 panions in prison and spoke to them pretty 
 nearly as follows: — “You see, my friends, 
 that God has appointed that I should offer 
 him my life for the glory of his holy name ; 
 and, therefore, I must cheerfully fulfil. his 
 holy will. Before leaving you, I beseech 
 you, my friends, with all my heart, to remain 
 
280 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 firm in the faith, in spite of whatever you 
 may have to suffer, and to place all your con- 
 fidence in the divine assistance, which is cer- 
 tain never to fail you. ,, He then addressed 
 a special exhortation to one among them, for 
 whose perseverance there was reason to fear ; 
 and while all were weeping bitterly the sol- 
 diers arrived. They seized him by the wrists 
 and dragged him out, and then tied his hands 
 and his arms so tightly behind his back that 
 his chest was unnaturally thrust forward. 
 The other prisoners, seeing this, entreated 
 the soldiers to use their master more gently, 
 as there was no fear of his escaping. The 
 soldiers, being persuaded of this, tied him 
 less tightly by his arms only. When this 
 was done, Philip was led into the presence 
 of the chief mandarin, who ordered that the 
 sentence should be placed before him, that 
 he might see it. “It is unnecessary,” said 
 Philip ; “ whatever may be written there, I 
 am ready to endure all.” The sentence ran 
 thus : — “ Minh, a teacher of a false religion, 
 is to be decapitated, and his head thrown into 
 the river. Let this serve as an example to 
 others.” 
 
 At length the harsh trumpet was heard, 
 and the escort came forward. Soldiers, armed 
 with spears, placed themselves on either side, 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 281 
 
 and the servant of God was in the midst, 
 bound, and led like a lamb going to the 
 slaughter. Three inferior officers closed the 
 procession. The herald who carried the 
 sentence said not a word, but seemed as if 
 ashamed to make known the cause of this 
 punishment. 
 
 There was a crowd of heathens following 
 on all sides, who were questioning each other 
 and complaining that so innocent and dis- 
 tinguished a man should be led to execution 
 in that manner. They wondered above all 
 that this priest, who was to suffer an unjust 
 death in a few moments, should be so meek ; 
 for Philip, as he was going along, was seen 
 entirely recollected in prayer, holding a ro- 
 sary of our Blessed Lady in his hand, and 
 raising his eyes to heaven from time to time, 
 and bending his head. When they had crossed 
 the river, the presiding mandarin made the 
 soldiers halt, to allow Philip time to rest, as 
 he had now marched more than a league, 
 bound as he was. Hereupon a Christian, 
 called Xa-pluiong, laid a mat on the ground, 
 and Philip knelt upon it ; then, leaning back 
 upon his legs while still kneeling and op- 
 pressed with fatigue, he prayed. A good 
 woman, (the wife of the chief catechist, Liiu,) 
 who followed her master to *the place of exe- 
 
 24 * 
 
282 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 cution, seeing him so overcome and running 
 down with perspiration, told Xa-pluiong to 
 ask the Father if he would eat or drink any- 
 thing to restore himself. He answered, “ In- 
 deed I am thirsty and hungry ; but of what 
 use is it to eat or drink at this last hour?” 
 After they had rested a little while, the man- 
 darin gave orders to go on. The journey 
 continued for about another hour, during 
 which the servant of God, as he had done 
 before, said his rosary, at one time bending 
 his head, and at another raising his eyes to 
 heaven. When they had arrived at the ap- 
 pointed place, the mandarin said, “ Halt : we 
 are now arrived. Prepare a mat, that the 
 priest may sit down upon it.” His orders 
 were obeyed, and Philip upon his knees 
 made an offering of his life to God. The 
 sentence was fixed upon his shoulders ; one 
 soldier broke his chain, and another tied his 
 hair round his head like a crown, while a 
 third tightened his hands and arms to such 
 an extent as to thrust forward his chest again. 
 Philip witnessed and endured all these prepa- 
 rations with the greatest patience. When 
 every thing was ready, he asked the man- 
 darin to allow him a few minutes, which was 
 willingly granted. Xa-pluiong prostrated him- 
 self before the servant of God and saluted 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 283 
 
 him according to the Asiatic custom ; and 
 Philip once more begged that they would 
 pray for him. Xa-pluiong answered, “Yes, 
 Father, I heartily pray that God may give 
 you the necessary strength.” Philip bent 
 his head in token of gratitude for this an- 
 swer. Among the other prayers which he 
 had before been heard to use, the following 
 one was noted : — “ My mother, come to my 
 assistance.” And the wife of Luu certified 
 that he also cried out, “ 0 God, my Father, 
 pardon me, a sinner.” 
 
 At length, after the servant of God had 
 prayed a long while in a low voice, and shed 
 many tears, the mandarin asked him if he 
 had finished. Philip answered that he had, 
 and giving his rosary to Xa-pluiong he said 
 these last words : — “ Pray for me, abide in 
 peace, you and those who are still in chains.” 
 Then the mandarin gave the sign, and the 
 executioner with one blow of the sword sepa- 
 rated the head from the body of the sufferer, 
 who courageously underwent death without 
 showing any sign of fear. 
 
 Hardly had the sentence been executed 
 when all the mandarins and soldiers took pre- 
 cipitately to flight, as if they were in dread 
 of some heavy punishment for having put an 
 innocent man to death. After the execution 
 
284 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 a soldier seized the venerable head hv the 
 hair and was running fast to throw it into 
 the river, but Xa-pluiong ran after him, and 
 for the sum of three pieces recovered it and 
 placed it with the body. Some of the Chris- 
 tians came to the place of execution and 
 gathered up with sponges the blood that had 
 been shed ; several of the heathens wished 
 to imitate them, but a pious woman, unwill- 
 ing to allow it, tried to snatch a sponge filled 
 with blood from the hands of one of them ; 
 the man, however, stoutly defended himself, 
 and he escaped, crying out gladly, as if he 
 had secured a treasure, “Let any one take it 
 who can.” 
 
 After the body of the servant of God had 
 been placed in a coffin, it was carried to the 
 town of Cai-nhum by four Christians. Here, 
 with the assistance of three priests, of the 
 catechists, of the dead man’s family, and of 
 many other Christians, the corpse was washed 
 and dressed in the sacred vestments, and laid 
 out in a private oratory surrounded with 
 lights. Solemn exequies were performed 
 over him, hut the Christians recited unwill- 
 ingly the prayers for the dead, asking one 
 another, “ What is the use of these prayers 
 when Philip died such a death?” After this 
 the body was carried to the Christian settle- 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 285 
 
 ment Of Cai-mong, his birthplace Having 
 been there exposed in a private oratory, 
 clothed in sacred vestments and surrounded 
 by lights, it was then solemnly buried in the 
 presence of about a thousand Christians, who 
 had come together from all parts. There 
 were many torches alight, the air resounded 
 with the plaintive chants, and the imposing 
 ceremonies of the Church contributed much 
 to this last token of respect rendered to the 
 illustrious deceased. 
 
 Some extraordinary signs are reported to 
 have been seen after his death, and the bier 
 sprinkled with blood was seen shining w T ith 
 a brilliant light in the darkness of the night 
 in that part where the head should have lain. 
 This event took place after the body with 
 the head had been taken away. However 
 this may be, the memory of this illustrious 
 servant of God is held in veneration by the 
 Christians of those parts, who anxiously 
 await the judgment of the Church to raise 
 Philip Minh to the rank of martyr. 
 
286 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 An account of the Martyrdom of other Confessors , written 
 
 by the same Bishop. 
 
 PETER DIKE. 
 
 Peter Dinh, the head of a family, was one 
 of the catechists among the Christians of 
 Cai-nhum, in the province of Vinh-long. 
 Whilst the Bishop of Isauropolis was residing 
 in this locality he sought for some inhabitant 
 who might be willing to take a house for 
 him in his own name, and so become his 
 protector and at the same time the means of 
 keeping him concealed. Dinh undertook 
 this office, but it cost him his life. It hap- 
 pened that on the 30th of October, 1844, a 
 captain of a band of officers, sent by the pre- 
 sident of the province, arrived in Cai-nhum 
 with his troop. He there obtained certain 
 information from a child, partly by kindness 
 and partly by threats, as to the residence of 
 the bishop. As soon as he knew where it 
 was, he went straight to the house of Peter 
 Dinh to arrest the prelate. The bishop had 
 time to escape, and the attack turned on the 
 catechist Dinh, whom the captain of the troop 
 did his utmost to compel to disclose the place 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 287 
 
 whither the bishop had fled. Peter refused 
 to betray the secret, and was in consequence 
 put to the torture, but in vain, for he main- 
 tained an unalterable silence. 
 
 The officer of the troop was in a great fury, 
 and had him cruelly beaten three or four 
 times, so that altogether Peter received more 
 than a hundred blows. The only words he 
 uttered during his sufferings were these, “ O 
 Lord Jesus,” which made the inhuman sol- 
 dier so wrathful and furious that he ordered 
 him to be struck on the face also for having 
 used this odious invocation. 
 
 All hope of learning where the bishop had 
 escaped to seemed lost, when the father of 
 the child, who, as we have said, had revealed 
 that the bishop was living in the house of 
 Peter, yielded to threats, and made known 
 the bishop’s hiding-place. Dinh was then 
 left alone, and the soldiers went in search of 
 the more illustrious victim. From that day, 
 however, Peter was no longer able to rise 
 from his bed, and became so weak as to be 
 scarcely able to move his sore and wounded 
 limbs. He had been a man of excellent dis- 
 position, fearing God and faithful in fulfilling 
 the duties of a Christian, so that he enjoyed 
 a good reputation among his neighbors ; 
 and the patience with which he endured his 
 
288 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 sufferings was indeed wonderful and heroic. 
 Instead of lamenting his death, he felt him- 
 self happy in being able to endure so great 
 sufferings for the name of Christ. His only 
 wish would have been, if his strength had 
 permitted it, to have been put in prison 
 along with the others who had been ar- 
 rested. 
 
 At length, strengthened by the sacraments 
 of the Church, he calmly reposed in our Lord, 
 on the 9th of November, 1844, eleven days 
 after his cruel scourging. 
 
 The authors of his death were in great 
 dread of being deprived of their office for 
 this crime. They had no power to have an 
 innocent man beaten to death without his 
 having been condemned, and their guilt 
 would have been recognised even by heathen 
 judges. They accordingly endeavored to 
 hush up the cause and particulars of his 
 death. The relations of Dinh took no steps 
 to press the charge; but these wicked men, 
 although they escaped the judgment of men, 
 will not be able to avoid that of God. 
 
 MATTHEW GAM. 
 
 Matthew Gam was born of Christian parents 
 at the village of Long-dui, in the province of 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 289 
 
 Bien-hoa, about the year 1814. He was 
 married and bad children, but the love of his 
 family did not withhold him from undergoing 
 the danger of crossing the sea and taking to 
 Singapore the students who had been selected 
 for the seminary, as well as the property be- 
 longing to the missions, and conveying back 
 the missionaries who had been exiled from 
 Cochin China by the authorities. He was 
 the captain of the ship that brought back the 
 Bishop of Isauropolis, and the missioner D. 
 Peter Duclas, when they returned to Cochin 
 China, and on entering port he was arrested 
 with them, and taken to the prisons in the 
 province of Gia-dinh, on the 6th of June, 1846. 
 The mandarins then set to work to arrange 
 the prosecution. When Matthew was in- 
 terrogated, he confessed that he was a Chris- 
 tian, and sentence of death was passed on 
 him. The reasons given for this sentence 
 were, that Matthew had traded to foreign 
 lands in forbidden commerce, that he had 
 brought with him European priests of the 
 Christian religion, who were strictly pro- 
 hibited from entering the kingdom; lastly, 
 that he was himself a Christian and would 
 not renounce that religion. This sentence 
 was forwarded to the capital, and the king 
 confirmed it, assigning the same reasons, 
 
 T 25 
 
290 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 The royal decree was issued about the month 
 of December, 1846, and it reached the province 
 of Gia-dinh in March, 184T. The magistrates 
 of the province were anxious that Matthew 
 should escape death, and they asked the man- 
 darins of the capital to obtain his pardon 
 from the king. It happened, however, that 
 in consequence of an action with Frerch 
 ships, in which those of Cochin China suffei ed 
 great loss, the king was much enraged, and 
 the mandarins of the court, therefore, despair- 
 ing of obtaining the favor, wrote back that 
 Matthew must undergo his punishment ten 
 days after the solemn sacrifice offered up on 
 the 15th day of the third moon. The sentence 
 was in fact executed twelve days after the 
 feast. 
 
 Matthew, meanwhile, afraid lest the sen- 
 tence should be revoked, said he feared that 
 his sins might make him get off the punish- 
 ment. Three days before his execution, when 
 he was made certain of his approaching death, 
 burning with desire to lay down his life for 
 Jesus Christ, he was heard to pray in these 
 words, shedding many tears: — “Permit me, 
 O Lord, to undergo this punishment, which 
 is not enough to satisfy for my sins;” and, in 
 a letter which he wrote to Mgr. Miche, he 
 thus expressed himself : — “ From the day I was 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 291 
 
 arrested, up to this hour, to die for Jesus 
 Christ has been my only desire. This life 
 passes very quickly, but the life to come in 
 neaven is a blessed and an eternal one. I have 
 always wished that the name of God might be 
 glorified by me : whatever God commands me, 
 I wfill willingly obey his will. Thus has 
 God disposed with regard to me, and I will 
 adore and love him with a perfect love, that 
 I may be found faithful in his sight. He that 
 overcomes in this world will receive an eternal 
 reward in heaven. All the months that I have 
 been in prison I have abounded in joy; I have 
 never been sorrowful nor solicitous for the 
 things of this earth, not even for my father or 
 mother, for my wife or for my children.” 
 
 On one of these days the mandarin went to 
 the prison, and asked him if he would deny 
 his religion. “ Then I will write to the king,” 
 he added, “ that you may be delivered from 
 death.” Matthew answered him, “I will not 
 deny it ; you may cut off my head if you like.” 
 Once again at the tribunal the mandarin said, 
 “ You are only guilty of the crime of your re- 
 ligion, and for this you must suffer death : if 
 you abandon your religion I will save your 
 life.” “Sir,” answered Matthew, “Ihave pro- 
 fessed this religion from my earliest years ; I 
 will never deny it, not even to escape death.” 
 
292 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 He repeated these sentiments several times. 
 Then the mandarin said, “lam innocent; the 
 laws command it ; say no more. Your wife 
 and children, who will survive you, move me 
 to pity;” and turning to the soldiers, he said, 
 “Take off his chains, and carry him away.” 
 Matthew, nothing daunted, turned to a pious 
 Christian woman, and said to her, “Our 
 Lord, although quite sinless, suffered death, 
 and I, who am a sinner, shall also suffer death ; 
 oh, how happy I am !” Leaving the judgment- 
 hall, he met a Christian with whom he was 
 acquainted, and said to him, “To-day I am 
 very happy ; now I fear nothing.” He made 
 known his joy, which he could not repress, to 
 several of the pagans. To one he said, “Oh, 
 how willingly do I die ! I might avoid death, 
 if I would but speak one word, but I prefer to 
 appear guilty for a little while longer, before 
 this king, rather than before the other King, 
 and then I shall be happy.” To another he 
 said, “I consent to die with all my heart.” 
 He had uttered the same sentiments at the 
 time he was captured, for he then said to the 
 Bishop of Isauropolis, “I believe that this 
 time I shall die ; but it does not matter, for 
 my heart is ready.” 
 
 When he reached the place of punishment, 
 and heard the herald repeating his sentence 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 293 
 
 in an under-tone of voice, he said to him, 
 “ Cry out aloud, that all may hear ;” and turn- 
 ing to the mandarin, he said, “I am very 
 happy to have to die thus; what are you afraid 
 of? Why do you not command my sentence 
 to be proclaimed in a loud voice?” 
 
 In order to understand what we are about to 
 relate, it is necessary to recollect that Matthew 
 had thrice received the Sacrament of Penance 
 since the day that he had been seized. On 
 the last occasion, having heard from the priest 
 Than that he was certainly to be put to death, 
 and that he would also give him again the 
 sacramental absolution during his last com- 
 bat, Matthew laid aside all worldly thoughts, 
 and showed his earnest wish to die. All those 
 who visited him after that time relate, that he 
 desired the hour of his death with all the affec- 
 tion of his heart. He had directed his wife 
 and children not to come to him, in order 
 that their presence might not distract him. 
 
 When Matthew was outside the gates of the 
 town, on his way to the place of execution, he 
 earnestly looked from side to side, in hopes 
 of seeing the priest. When he recognised a 
 Christian in the crowd, he cheerfully saluted 
 him, and hid him farewell; but when he saw 
 the priest, he bent his head, and, instead of 
 looking about him any more, made signs of 
 
 25 * 
 
294 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 contrition with a recollected countenance. 
 Having arrived at the place of execution, and 
 knelt down, he said to the executioner, “Al- 
 low me a moment to do my duty; then thou 
 shalt do thine.” The executioner gave him 
 the permission ; whereupon the priest made 
 the sign before agreed upon, and Matthew, 
 stretched on the ground reciting the act of 
 contrition, was seen to strike his breast three 
 times while the priest gave him absolution. 
 This scene will he better understood by a 
 Christian heart than described. 
 
 After that Matthew sat down, and the sol- 
 • diers tied his hands, and cut the cangue. Mat- 
 thew said to them, “Let me kneel down, 'and 
 do not tie me.” “It is impossible,” they an- 
 swered ; “ thou must sit down, and be bound.” 
 He remained kneeling notwithstanding. 
 
 When the mandarin gave the signal, the 
 executioner let fall a stroke on Matthew, but 
 it scarcely grazed his skin. Ho movement 
 was visible, and no word escaped the lips of 
 the servant of God. The executioner re- 
 peated the stroke, and the head was severed 
 from the body. 
 
 When the sentence had been executed, and 
 the soldiers had received orders from the man- 
 darin to return, the Christians approached the 
 place of execution, and placed together the 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 295 
 
 body and the head of the venerable man. 
 They laid them in a coffin, and buried them 
 in the cemetery. Even the pagans sympa- 
 thized, and said that the man had not com- 
 mitted any crime worthy of such a punish- 
 ment. The 11th of May, 1847, was Matthew s 
 last day upon earth, and his first in the happy 
 eternity which he had so earnestly desired. 
 
 LOUIS ng6, catechist. 
 
 Louis Ngo, who was nearly seventy years of 
 age, was chief catechist of the village of Cai- 
 nhum, and was appointed the head of the* 
 Christians of the whole district. He was in- 
 volved in the same catastrophe as that which 
 brought about the death of Peter Dinh, men- 
 tioned above. He was arrested on the 30th 
 of October, in the year 1844, and loaded with 
 the cangue, for having given refuge to the 
 bishop. When the mandarin arrived to put 
 the bishop in prison, he ordered Louis to be 
 tortured, but without obtaining the desired 
 result. The venerable old man, weak as he 
 was in body, was strong in the spirit ; for he 
 three times underwent the torment of scourg- 
 ingwithwonderful patience, receiving twenty- 
 five blows each time, and being ready to die 
 sooner than betray his pastor. At last the 
 
296 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 bishop was arrested, on the information of 
 another Christian. Louis was then taken to 
 the chief town of the province, with some 
 others of the inhabitants. Several times, 
 when he was urged by the mandarins of the 
 province to renounce the faith, he boldly an- 
 swered that he was ready to lose the little of 
 life that remained to him, sooner than aban- 
 don the religion in which he had been brought 
 up from his infancy. 
 
 When the royal rescript arrived at the pre- 
 fecture, ordering that the bishop and four of 
 his chief companions, among whom was Louis, 
 should be taken to the capital, the bishop, 
 mandarins, and Christians, all of one accord 
 compassionating the old man, begged of him 
 to plead his age and infirmities, that he might 
 be allowed to remain in the prisons of the pre- 
 fecture, without exposing himself to the evi- 
 dent danger of death by undertaking so diffi- 
 cult and arduous a journey. He resisted this 
 advice with all his power, saying, “Let me 
 go whither the king calls me; and only too 
 happy shall I consider myself if I am allowed 
 to end my life in bonds for the faith. W e are all 
 involved in the same cause: your lot shall be 
 mine : whether it be to live or to die, I will fol- 
 lowyou.” The bishop and his companions said 
 no more, being astonished at the constancy of 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 297 
 
 the venerable old^nan, who went with them, 
 bound with an iron chain. After some days* 
 journey over the mountains, in the ancient 
 kingdom of Ciampa, and over difficult passes* 
 ffie became so weak that nobody thought he 
 would reach the capital. But he desired to 
 confess the faith once more in the royal city, 
 and by the grace of God, who heard his pious 
 prayer, he reached the wished-for place. 
 
 As soon as the five prisoners entered the 
 capital, they were led before the criminal 
 tribunal. Louis was the first to go before 
 the judges, and he was commanded to 
 trample on the cross ; but, detesting so great 
 an act of impiety, he boldly refused to secure 
 a few more days of life by such great wicked- 
 ness, and protested that he would remain a 
 faithful disciple of Christ to his last breath. 
 The mandarin, seeing the old man quite de- 
 prived of strength and oppressed with severe 
 illness, ordered his chains to be loosened. 
 His illness, however, had reached such a 
 point that death could not be kept off by 
 an}' remedy. After nine days of suffering, 
 which was increased by sorrow at the apos- 
 tasy of one of his companions, and in the 
 course of which his wonderful patience was 
 strengthened by the sacraments of Penance 
 and Extreme Unction, tie went to heaven on 
 
298 
 
 COCHIN CHI NA. 
 
 the 26th of February, l%to, dying in the 
 royal prisons, and anticipating by his death 
 the capital sentence which was a few days 
 afterward passed upon his companions. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Extract from, a Letter of the Pro- Vicar Apostolic of Cochin 
 
 China , on the Martyrdom of F. Egidius Delamotte. 
 
 When M. Delamotte returned to Nhu-ly, 
 he did not remain in peace. The chief of 
 the village and the soldiers having disagreed 
 among one another, M. Delamotte did all 
 he could to pacify them : he even gave up a 
 sum of money from his daily allowance to 
 the soldiers, in order to satisfy them. But, 
 as the disagreement still continued, our bro- 
 ther, who feared the consequences, resolved 
 at last to go away. He embarked for this 
 purpose on the 13th of April last, about ten 
 o’clock in the evening. Unfortunately, the 
 pagans of the two villages in the vicinity of 
 Nhu-ly had been informed of his presence 
 and of his flight, and had placed themselves 
 in ambush, in order to arrest him. Seeing 
 the boat, they came forward with shouts and 
 endeavored to seize him. M. Delamotte, 
 finding that he was discovered, threw him- 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 299 
 
 Belf into the water, in order to reach the 
 shore and escape. He was, however, soon 
 overtaken by the pagans, who fell on him 
 with a storm of blows. It is the custom in 
 this country to beat the person to be arrested, 
 in order that he may not be able to defend 
 himself. When the morning of the 14th 
 arrived, the pagans led him and his com- 
 panion to the sub-prefecture, and thence to 
 the prefecture of Quang-tri. 
 
 When he arrived at the prefecture, M. 
 Delamotte was half dead from the blows he 
 had received. The mandarins did not allow 
 him to be beaten or maltreated, but interro- 
 gated him. As, however, he answered in 
 French, no one understood him. The king 
 ordered the European to be taken to the 
 royal town, and reserved the judgment of 
 the case to the supreme tribunal. M. Dela- 
 motte was consequently taken to the capital, 
 which he reached on the 19th of May. I 
 here leave M. Delamotte to speak for him- 
 self, by the letter which he wrote from prison. 
 It is without date, but evidently was written 
 on one of the first four days of August. 
 
 My Lord : — 
 
 Four days ago I received your two letters 
 of March and May. Since the time of my 
 
 i 
 
300 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 arrest, I have intended every day to write to 
 you at length ; but I cannot do so, because I 
 am strictly guarded and watched. I am 
 never alone, and am deprived of paper, &c. 
 I have the satisfaction of seeing all my com- 
 panions most courageous, firm, and unshaken, 
 and all most determined to die. For my own 
 part, I think I am going on very well. In 
 the first place, I say nothing, and complain 
 of nothing. I have not been put to the tor- 
 ture frequently, but with great severity. First 
 of all, as you already doubtless know, the 
 men who arrested me gave me a furious beat- 
 ing, striking me with the dui (a long an*d thick 
 stick) all over my body, particularly on my 
 head, which they cut open. There was a 
 wound in it five inches in length and one in 
 width : it was also very deep. There were 
 other wounds of a smaller size. I endured 
 all this without crying out, without saying a 
 word, or giving way to a sigh. I was losing 
 torrents of blood, and felt myself half dead. 
 In my heart I begged of the good God that 
 they might beat me to death. When I reached 
 the Bo-hiu, (the palace of justice,) the great 
 mandarin Thuong-To (the president, or first 
 minister) annoyed me in a thousand ways, to 
 make me trample on the cross. Three times 
 he ordered my hands to be tied, and the stakes 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 301 
 
 to be driven into the ground, to beat me; 
 nevertheless, he did not have me beaten. He 
 gave me the cangue, in addition to the chain 
 which I had. Five or six times he had me 
 seized by five soldiers, to compel me to tread 
 on the cross. I struggled so hard that we 
 never got upon it : my dress was all torn in 
 the contest. My legs were covered with 
 wounds from the links of my chain, which 
 were very tight, and my trousers were all 
 stained with blood. More than ten times I 
 declared to the mandarin that I would never 
 trample on the cross, and that sooner than 
 do such an act I would have my head cut off, 
 &c. He was very angry indeed. On the 
 following day I was relieved of the cangue. 
 When my companions arrived here, we were 
 all put to the torture. They gave me ten 
 blows with a stick on the left side, and each 
 blow drew blood. A cavity was subsequently 
 formed, which has discharged much matter; 
 and this came, I believe, in consequence of 
 the blows having been repeated on the same 
 place. A day or two afterward, I was put 
 to the torture of the pincers, with the in- 
 struments cold. Only two were set, and on 
 my right side, but for a very long time to- 
 gether, each for more than an hour. During 
 both these tortures they again tried all they 
 26 
 
302 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 could to make me trample on the cross, but 
 in vain. I did not cry out nor utter any 
 complaint during these torments, but did 
 nothing but smile ; and this displeased them. 
 To say the truth, I did not feel much pain 
 from these tortures : I looked upon it all as 
 a game. It is said that the king wishes to 
 save me, to take M. Jaccard’s place. This fills 
 me with pain and sadness. I pray daily, and 
 I have also asked my companions to ask for 
 me the grace of suffering death with them. 
 I beg that you also will ask this grace for me, 
 and persuade others to do the same. 
 
 The king supports me, and he has already 
 given me fifty pieces, (first twenty and then 
 thirty,) and five flasks of wine ; but I have 
 to deal with bad superintendents, who treat 
 me very ill. I am always ill, and have been 
 twice on the point of death, the doctor giving 
 me up for lost ; this was all owing to the bad 
 food, salt fish, salt water, and salted herbs. 
 My stomach cannot endure this; for it has 
 suffered much, and is in a very weak and 
 languid state. 
 
 Three or four times a day the king sends 
 to inquire about me ; he has also sent a mes- 
 sage to the physician, that if he does not 
 cure me he will have him beaten to death. 
 On the 30th of July I felt myself dying, and 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 303 
 
 on the following day, the 31st, the king 
 ordered my chain to he taken oft* I did not 
 wish this. It was a very heavy chain, at least 
 fifteen pounds in weight, very tight and very 
 tormenting. I said that I carried it for the 
 sake of my religion, that it became light to 
 me, and that I did not wish to part with it 
 until death. We disputed for a long time, — I 
 think more than an hour ; but I had to yield 
 at last.* 
 
 I hope that, since the king is unwilling to 
 put me to death, the good God will allow 
 me to die of illness; I desire it, and beg it 
 of him with all my heart. 
 
 Adieu, my Lord, my dear father, and my 
 dear guide; pray for us, and have prayers 
 said. This is the only thing I entreat of you. 
 
 * Three or four days afterward, M. Delamotte, finuing 
 himself better, had his chain put on again, but toward the 
 beginning of September, having fallen dangerously ill again, 
 it was taken from him a second time. Father della Villa, 
 who informed me of the altercation about the taking off the 
 chain, tells me, “ The pagans were particularly astonished 
 to see the Father refuse to be freed from his chains. The 
 whole of the Trali-phii united to move him to give his con- 
 sent ; the two Ong-nghfe said to him, ‘ If you will not allow 
 your chain to be taken off, the king will cut your head off.’ 
 ‘This is what I most ardently desire,’ replied M. Delamotte. 
 The physician Bra having made him understand that he 
 ought to yield, he at last did so.” 
 
304 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 If God shows me the mercy of admitting me 
 into his heavenly tabernacle, I will not forget 
 you, nor the mission, nor our brethren, nor 
 the associates of the propagation of the faith. 
 Send news of me, I beg of you, to all our 
 brethren on the missions, to our esteemed 
 friends at Paris, and to the members of the 
 propagation of the faith : Cupio dissolvi et esse 
 cum Christo . I embrace you in osculo sancto. 
 
 In his letter of the 2d of September, quoted 
 above, he says, “Yesterday and to-day I 
 have been very ill, and it is now four days 
 since the doctor began to attend me ; but so 
 far from getting better, I am getting worse 
 day by day, and am suffering from a diarrhoea 
 which weakens me very much.” 
 
 From the 1st of September this fellow- 
 laborer of ours continued to sink. Toward 
 the end of the same month he became better 
 for some days, but soon relapsed into a state 
 of weakness, and at length, on the 2d of Oc- 
 tober, went to receive the reward promised 
 to those w r ho suffer persecution for justice’ 
 sake : Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur propter 
 justitiam , quia ipsorum est regnum coelorum. 
 
 This dear brother was extremely circum- 
 spect. The physician Hoa sent him a mes- 
 sage that he could obtain permission to visit 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 305 
 
 him. M. Delamotte consented with difficulty, 
 and they simply saw one another, without 
 speaking except by looks. Here is another 
 proof of his circumspection, which especially 
 shows his heroic patience and persevering 
 courage. The physician Hoa wished to ob- 
 tain permission from the mandarins who 
 were the superintendents of the prison, and 
 from the Ong-nghe, that Sister Hau might 
 cook for him, and informed him of this 
 through the interpreter. M. Delamotte an- 
 swered him in a note, which I will now trans- 
 late : — 
 
 “ The interpreter has told me of your plan 
 for my cooking. Certainly if it could be 
 done I should be much the better for it; but 
 I do not approve of it, since the pagans, as 
 you know as well as I do, take pleasure in 
 spreading bad reports about the teachers of 
 religion and religious women. Perhaps you 
 hear these reports every day, as I hear them 
 here. I do not wish, therefore, that Sister 
 Hau should undertake to cook my food. If 
 any one else were to cook my rice, occasion 
 would be equally taken from that fact to 
 speak wrongly and falsely about it, and this 
 might expose you and others to every kind 
 of annoyance for my sake, and perhaps even 
 to death. I prefer therefore to suffer as I 
 U 26 * 
 
306 
 
 COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 have done up to this time, rather than expose 
 an}' one to danger on my account.” 
 
 The physician Hoa accordingly gave up 
 his plan ; and this made M. Delamotte’s 
 sacrifice very meritorious before God, for he 
 suffered much at this time from the nou- 
 rishment he received from the jailers, who 
 gave him badly-prepared rice, not properly 
 separated from the husk, as well as other 
 food which was revolting to the stomach of a 
 European. The king had given him fifty 
 pieces to provide for his nourishment, but it 
 was to be spent at the rate of three-tenths of 
 a piece a day. The king soon repented of 
 even this generosity, and reduced his allow- 
 ance to two-tenths of a piece a day. (The 
 massa is the tenth part of a piece ; and the 
 piece of Cochin China is worth about one 
 shilling of our money.) Of these two-tenths, 
 the jailer who served him kept at least half for 
 himself, and without doubt made our fellow- 
 laborer pay for oil, wood, and a thousand 
 other little things, according to the prison 
 custom. 
 
 When he was obliged to fly from the vil- 
 lage, where he was hidden, he was seized by 
 the pagans, after having received a blow 
 from a stick upon the head, which made a 
 very large and deep wound ; but he did not 
 
COCHIN CHINA. 
 
 307 
 
 bo much as give way to a single complaint. 
 When he was taken to the capital of the 
 kingdom, he was three times cruelly tortured, 
 especially the last time, when the pincers 
 were fixed upon him for more than three 
 hours, and he smiled at the powerless fury 
 of the mandarins, who wanted to make him 
 apostatize and reveal his companions. At 
 last, after having confessed the faith most 
 nobly, and preserved a total silence upon all 
 things that concerned the mission, he died 
 of his wounds, in prison, after a captivity of 
 more than six months ; and of all our martyrs, 
 I think M. Delamotte is the one who has 
 suffered most. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 OCEANICA. 
 
 Account of the Martyrdom of Fr. Louis Chanel , of the 
 Congregation of Marists, by Monsignor Bataillon , 
 Vicar-Apostolic of Central Oceanica. 
 
 Peter Mary Louis Chanel was born at 
 Cuet, in the diocese of Belley, on the 23d of 
 June, 1803. From his earliest years his inno- 
 cent and irreproachable life drew upon him 
 the love and respect of his relations, friends, 
 superiors, and teachers. He spent his in- 
 fancy and youth in the constant practice of 
 Christian virtues. What was chiefly admira- 
 ble in him was his sweet piety, his unalter- 
 able serenity, his noble assiduity in study, and 
 an innocence which I might almost call 
 angelic. When called by God to the eccle- 
 siastical state, and appointed to the several 
 offices of the ministry, he proved himself 
 truly exemplary and admirable. He was 
 vicar of Amberieu, assisted the parish priest 
 of Crozet, and professor, spiritual prefect, and 
 director of the Petit Seminaire of Belley. 
 
 In his different charges he succeeded in 
 
OCEANIC A. 
 
 809 - 
 
 conciliating the esteem and affection of ail 
 those with whom his ministry brought him 
 into. relations, and his life was ever a perfect 
 model, as his bishop testifies, of all the virtues 
 of a priest, especially of a tender piety, 
 which he never lost, and of an ardent and 
 enlightened zeal for the salvation of souls, 
 and lastly, of an unalterable sweetness of dis- 
 position. 
 
 The priest Chanel, being desirous of em- 
 bracing a more perfect state of life, entered 
 into the Society of Mary, which had been 
 approved by the Holy See in 1836, and which 
 received at the same time the charge of 
 the mission of Western Oceanica. On the 
 24th of September of the same year, F. 
 Chanel, together with F. Servant and F. 
 Bataillon, (afterward Bishop of Enos and 
 Vicar-Apostolic of Central Oceanica,) made 
 his vows to the first superior-general of 
 the said congregation, and on the 24th of 
 the following December left France, together 
 with the above-mentioned colleagues, and 
 Mgr. Pompallier, who named him vicar-gene- 
 ral. Ten months afterward, on the 7th 
 of November, 1837, Mgr. Pompallier landed at 
 Wallis, where he left F. Bataillon; the next 
 day F. Chanel landed in the island of Futuna, 
 forty leagues distant from Wallis, and the 
 
*310 
 
 OCEANIC A. 
 
 bishop went with F. Servant to establish him- 
 self in New Zealand. 
 
 Louis Mary had no other companions in 
 Futuna than a lay brother, called Mary 
 Nizier, and an English Protestant, called 
 Thomas, whom the missioners had taken as 
 interpreter in a neighboring island, and who 
 wished to remain with F. Chanel. This 
 Englishman, in his company, soon became a 
 fervent Catholic. The servant of God was 
 received at Futuna by the king or chief of the 
 island, called Niuliki, who agreed to keep 
 him with himself as a friend, and undertook to 
 maintain him and to furnish him with every 
 thing he stood in need of, without knowing, 
 however, that he was a missionary. During 
 the first two years of his sojourn in the island, 
 F. Chanel only occupied himself in learning 
 the language of the country, and slowly 
 travelling over the island to find out chil- 
 dren in danger of death, in order to baptize 
 them. As long as he did not know the lan- 
 guage, and was not able to preach, he lived 
 peacefully with the king Niuliki. But in the 
 latter half of the year 1839, the servant of 
 God, who now began to speak the language 
 well, ^lso began to preach the gospel. 
 
 He sought most of all to instruct and con- 
 vert the king Niuliki, being convinced that 
 
OCEANIC A. 
 
 311 
 
 he would easily convert the people when he 
 had won over the king. But Niuliki was 
 also high-priest, and his royal dignity was 
 the consequence of his sacerdotal one, that 
 is to say, according to the custom of the 
 country, the person who was chosen by their 
 great divinity for his residence or taber- 
 nacle became by that choice king of the 
 island. We can easily understand the ob- 
 stacle this threw into the way of the conver- 
 sion of Niuliki. Accordingly, when he dis- 
 covered that the words of the missionary 
 began to make an impression upon the minds 
 of the people in regard to religion, he cooled 
 toward him, and seemed to wish to break off 
 his acquaintance altogether, for he fixed his 
 dwelling in another village, and gradually 
 ceased to send him provisions, as he used to 
 do before. The servant of God, being de- 
 prived of that assistance, was compelled to 
 cultivate the soil with his two companions, 
 in order to provide for their support. In 
 May, 1840, Mgr. Pompallier sent to them from 
 New Zealand F. Chevron and Br. Attale, who 
 both settled in Futuna with F. Chanel, and 
 remained there to the end of the year. The 
 new-comers also set themselves to labor, and 
 by dint of great efforts were enabled to form 
 a considerable plantation to provide for their 
 
312 
 
 OCEANIC A. 
 
 maintenance. The inhabitants then began 
 to steal their fruits, and one would have said 
 that they were going to starve them out of 
 the island. Nevertheless, F. Chanel did not 
 give up visiting the king and the chief per- 
 sons of the island, and urging them to be 
 converted. At length several young men 
 were converted, and they assembled on Sun- 
 days at the house of the missionary, where 
 they received instructions and prayed to-, 
 gether. Such was the state of things when 
 F. Chevron and brother Attale left Futuna, 
 at the end of the year 1840, to go to Wallis, 
 F. Bataillon having requested them of the 
 servant of God that they might instruct the 
 people. 
 
 Meanwhile the number of the catechumens 
 increased, and their meetings on Sundays at 
 F. Chanel’s house excited the anger of the ene- 
 mies of religion, and, above all, of the king 
 and his family. Oftentimes rumors of death 
 reached the ears of the missionary, and one 
 day, when there was a large concourse in the 
 village, his companion came to warn him that 
 they intended to put him to death. “You 
 know,” answered the venerable servant of 
 God, “what we read in the life of a saint: 
 when he was asked, 4 What would you do if 
 you were told that in an hour you would have 
 
OCEANIC A. 
 
 813 
 
 to die?’ the saint answered, ‘I should finish 
 what I am about.’ Let us then do the same,” 
 observed F. Chanel, and with that he con- 
 tinued to work in his garden. This incident 
 showed how like he was in his holy indiffer- 
 ence to St. Aloysius, whose name he had 
 already taken, and whose virtues he was imi- 
 tating. 
 
 That time the danger passed away ; but the 
 pagans became more angry and violent when 
 it was known that Meitala, the son of the 
 king, w T as among the catechumens. Niuliki, 
 although he was ignorant of this fact, saw 
 nevertheless the number of converts increas- 
 ing, and held a council, in which it was re- 
 solved that every thing belonging to the mis- 
 sionary should be taken to Thamana, the 
 residence of his majesty. By thus obliging F. 
 Chanel to live near the king, it was thought 
 that both neophytes and catechumens, fearing 
 the anger of their sovereign, would not dare 
 to continue their relations with the servant of 
 God. After this council the king, finding 
 himself alone with his minister and relative 
 Musumusu, said to him, “Do you think these 
 barbarians who have come to make slaves in 
 Futuna will succeed after all ?” The minister 
 begged him to explain himself more clearly. 
 “I allude,” said the king, “to the white bar- 
 
314 
 
 OCEANIC A. 
 
 barians who have come to make slaves.’' 
 Then Musumusu rejoined, “If you hate' the 
 white men, go and seize their property, take 
 it to your own house, and I will go and kill 
 diem.” The king was silent, but his inten- 
 tions were well understood. Musumusu on 
 leaving him returned to his village, and as he 
 was going there he was informed that Meitala, 
 the son of thq king, was one of the catechu- 
 mens, and he immediately sent the intelli- 
 gence to Niuliki. The king at once went to 
 the place where his son was, and, meeting 
 Musumusu on the way, he asked if it was true 
 that Meitala had been converted. “Yes, it is 
 true,” he replied. “If it be so,” answered 
 the king, “I will have nothing more to do 
 with this son; you may beat him severely.” 
 Afterward, on seeing his son, Niuliki gave 
 vent to his anger and threats against him, but, 
 not succeeding in making him change his 
 mind, he returned to his residence. 
 
 On the 27th of April, 1841, a council was 
 held in Alofi, a small island dependent on 
 Futuna. Many old men and some youths 
 assisted at it. It was resolved that war should 
 be declared against the catechumens, and that 
 without any delay they should go to Avani, 
 where the catechumens used to assemble. As 
 Musumusu was not present at this meeting, 
 
OCEANIC A. 
 
 315 
 
 four of the natives went the same evening to 
 inform him officially of the resolution which 
 had been adopted. <r Andwhat has been de- 
 cided,” asked Musumusu, “about him who is 
 the author of this religion?” “We have not 
 spoken about him this time,” said the mes- 
 sengers. “If you would join us,” said the 
 minister, “ we would go and kill this white 
 man.” “Will not Niuliki be displeased at 
 it?” “No, I assure you he will not.” Ac- 
 cordingly they decided that they would first 
 make war on the catechumens, and that after- 
 ward they would kill F. Chanel. 
 
 On the 28th of April, 1841, about dawn, a 
 savage band of men armed with spears, clubs, 
 and hatchets, under the command of Musu- 
 musu, came upon Avani, where the catechu- 
 mens were, surprised them in their sleep, and 
 wounded a large number. Musumusu, while 
 holding a catechumen to have him beaten, re- 
 ceived by accident a blow on his nose, which 
 wounded him and drew blood. As soon as 
 the pagans had vented their fury on Avani, 
 they hurried on to the missionary. Those 
 who reached the house of the servant of God 
 first were Musumusu, Felitika, Fuasea, Umu- 
 tuali, and Ukuloa. Musumusu was the first 
 to show himself before the Father, and found 
 him in his garden, which was situated at the 
 
316 
 
 OCEANIC A. 
 
 back of his house, feeding the chickens; he 
 was alone, as he had sent the catechist else- 
 where. When the Father saw Musumusu 
 approach, he left what he was engaged in, 
 went to meet him, and asked him, “ Where 
 do you come from?” “FromAsoa,” answered 
 Musumusu. “What is the object of this visit?” 
 “I have come to ask a remedy for the blow 
 I have received.” “How did you receive 
 the wound?” “Felling some cocoa-trees.” 
 “Wait here, and I will go and look for a 
 remedy.” Whilst the good Father was 
 speaking to Musumusu, Filitika and Ukuloa 
 entered the house. The Father had scarcely 
 advanced one or two steps into it when he 
 met Filitika, who was coming away with an 
 armful of linen, and said to him, “Filitika, 
 why do you come with the conquerors to act 
 the master in my house?” Filitika did not 
 answer a word, but threw the linen out of the 
 window, and the people eagerly came to pick 
 it up. Then Musumusu, who was outside, 
 cried out, “Why do you not kill him?” At 
 these words U mutuali dealt a heavy blow with 
 a club oil the head of the missionary, who 
 cried out, in surprise, “Oh, do not! do not!” 
 and tried to parry the blow from his head with 
 his arm, but his arm was broken and dropped 
 beside him. Then the servant of God went 
 
OCEANIC A. 
 
 317 
 
 back two or three steps, but Filitika, who 
 was behind him, pushed him forward with 
 great violence, saying to those who were out- 
 side, “ Strike him at once, that he may die.” 
 Upon this Umutuali discharged another blow 
 with the club on the Father’s left temple, and 
 made a great contusion upon it, from which 
 blood flowed in great abundance. 
 
 The venerable servant of God, without 
 uttering a cry or a groan, and without sigh- 
 ing or weeping, only kept repeating, “Very 
 well,” showing his resignation to death. 
 While Umutuali beat him savagely with his 
 club, Ukuloa struck him severely with a 
 stick. Fuasea, another of the assassins, who 
 was armed with a lance surmounted by a 
 bayonet, furiously attacked the missionary. 
 The blow was aimed under his right arm, so 
 that the point of the bayonet grazed his arm 
 without wounding him, but the strength of 
 the stroke made the servant of God go back 
 and fall to the ground. Ukuloa gave the priest 
 another blow as he was lying on the ground. 
 Seeing him thrown down, his executioners 
 left him sitting on the ground and leaning 
 against a heap of bamboos, while the wounded 
 missionary, with bent head, wiped the blood 
 which flowed from him. Meanwhile the pil- 
 lage of the house was carried on, and it was 
 27 * 
 
318 
 
 OCEANIC A. 
 
 soon completely emptied. A native of the 
 island of Alofi entered the house, and, seeing 
 the Father lying before him, said, “ Peter is 
 assassinated.” The servant of God asked him 
 where Maligi was, — an old man, attached to 
 the missionary. “ He is in Alofi,” replied 
 the other. Then the servant of God spoke 
 his last words, “ My death is nothing but 
 good to me.” 
 
 Musumusu, seeing the men intent on plun- 
 der, cried out, “ You did not come here to 
 secure riches. Why have you not wounded 
 him mortally?” and, gcfing into the house, 
 he looked for a stick; but, finding one of 
 Father Chanel’s hatchets instead, he seized 
 it and attacked him by discharging a heavy 
 blow on the top of his head and completely 
 burying the weapon in it. 
 
 The blow struck the top of the head, so as 
 to split it directly in the centre ; and Musu- 
 musu promptly withdrew the weapon, which 
 caused part of the brain to come out. This 
 deadly blow killed Father Chanel, who fell 
 with his face on the ground, and gave up his 
 soul to his Creator. 
 
 Some pious women washed his body, which 
 was covered with blood, and anointed it with 
 oil of cocoa. The king and Musumusu, to- 
 gether with some women, dug a grave close to 
 
OCEANIC A. 
 
 319 
 
 the spot where the servant of God had been 
 killed, and buried him there. Much thunde? 
 was heard in the heavens at the same time) 
 although the sky was clear. 
 
 Brother Mary Nizier, and Thomas the 
 Englishman, having been warned some 
 well-disposed people, avoided returning to 
 their old habitation, and, after fifteen days 
 of anxious suffering, escaped in a European 
 ship which passed those shores and conveyed 
 them to Wallis. 
 
 After some time, a French corvette, com- 
 manded by M. Duboizet, with Father Viard, 
 vicar-general of Mgr. Pompallier, on board, 
 arrived at Futuna. They succeeded in get- 
 ting on board one of the guilty chiefs of the 
 tribe, who, as he had not been one of the 
 assassins at the massacre, had freely pre- 
 sented himself to the captain. From him 
 they learned how, shortly after the death of 
 Father Chanel, King Niuliki, and many other 
 of the accomplices in the missionary’s death, 
 themselves died miserably. “I meant to 
 avenge the death of the French missionary,’* 
 said the captain, “but the bishop and his 
 companions have begged that the island may 
 be spared, and I also see how God has pu- 
 nished this outrage. I therefore pardon you ; 
 but you must bring me the body of Father 
 
320 
 
 OCEANIC A. 
 
 Chanel, and every thing which belonged to 
 him.” 
 
 The chief Maligi soon afterward brought 
 the body, the things which had belonged to 
 the deceased, and the hatchet which had 
 struck his head. Every thing was taken to 
 Lyons ; and the hatchet may be seen in the 
 museum of the Propagation of the Faith. 
 
 Meanwhile the few catechumens who had 
 survived in Futuna began to preach the faith. 
 Wonderful to relate, the whole island was 
 suddenly converted at their preaching. In 
 proof of this, five months afterward, toward 
 the end of May, 1842, when Mgr. Pompallier 
 •passed that island on his return from Wallis 
 to New Zealand, he found it entirely con- 
 verted, and baptized a considerable number 
 of its inhabitants, leaving F. Servant there 
 with another priest, together with Brother 
 Mary Nizier. These new laborers had only 
 to finish the instruction and baptism of the 
 whole population. 
 
 On the 23d of May in the following year, 
 Musumusu, the murderer of Father Chanel, 
 came to Wallis, with many other neophytes 
 or catechumens, from Futuna. He was him- 
 self a catechumen. Having fallen danger- 
 ously ill shortly after his arrival, he had him- 
 self carried to Father Bataillon’s dwelling, 
 
OCEANIC A. 
 
 321 
 
 and earnestly asked to be baptized, confessing 
 his crime, and asking forgiveness for it. At 
 his baptism he took the name of Maurice. 
 He recovered from his illness some months 
 afterward, and returned with his companions 
 to the island of Futuna, in excellent dispo- 
 sitions. 
 
 After Father Bataillon was consecrated 
 bishop, and made Vicar- Apostolic of Central 
 Oceanica, he told Father Servant to assemble 
 all the inhabitants of the island and draw 
 up a verbal process of the death of Father 
 Chanel from the depositions of the witnesses. 
 This was done on the 3d of August, 1845, in 
 the reign of Meitala, (the converted son of 
 FTiuliki.) Maurice Musumusu lent his useful 
 aid in assembling the people and drawing 
 up the process ; and, having paid this homage 
 to his victim, he died in the following manner. 
 
 He was attacked by a languishing sickness, 
 which he endured for some months, repent- 
 ing still more of his crime. Feeling that his 
 end was approaching, he asked to be taken 
 to the house of the missionary who had been 
 killed, in order to die near him and near the 
 place where he had perpetrated his crime. 
 Having arrived there, he remained in the 
 house until, with sentiments of deep repent- 
 ance, and in all the excellent dispositions 
 v 
 
322 
 
 OCEANIC A. 
 
 natural to a Christian penitent, he gave up 
 his soul to God, and, as we hope, he went to 
 receive in heaven the assurance of the pardon 
 of his victim who had prayed for him. 
 
DECRETUM 
 
 COREAN, CONCINCINEN, TUNCKINEN, ET SINEN. 
 
 BEATIFICATIONIS, SEU DECLARATIONS MAR- 
 TYRII SERYORUM DEI 
 
 LAURENTII IMBEBT, 
 
 EPISCOPI CAPSENSIS ET ALIORUM. 
 
 Cum primum per Apostolos divina lux 
 Evangelii hominibus affulsit : facta est perse - 
 cutio magna in Ecclesia , ( Act Ap. viii. 1,) ac 
 teterrima ilia erupit conspiratio, quam David 
 olim vaticinatus fuerat : adstiterunt Reges 
 terrae , et principes convenerunt in unum adversus 
 Dominum , et adversus Christum ejus. ( Psal . ii. 
 2.) A primaeva ilia aetate Ecclesiae num- 
 quam bellum istud nefarium intermissum est 
 in veros Christifideles, nec intermitti poterat : 
 hoc enim signum et indicium Veritatis Chris- 
 tianae divinus ille Ecclesiae Conditor fore 
 praedixerat: Si de mundo fuissetis , mundus 
 quod suum erat diligeret , quia vero de mundo non 
 estis, sed ego elegi vos de mundo, prGpterea odit 
 vos mundus ... si me persecuti sunt et vos perse • 
 
 323 
 
324 
 
 DECRETUM. 
 
 quentur . {Joan. xv. 19, 20.) Quo circa nihil 
 unquam optatius, nihil antiquius Pastoribus 
 Ecclesiae fuit, quam ut de iis gloriarentur, 
 gaudioque gestirent, qui labentibus saeculis, 
 perque varias regiones bella Domini strenue 
 praeliarentur, et acerbissima quaeque fortiter 
 perpessi divinum hunc Ecclesiae characterem, 
 notamque luculentissimam christianae veri- 
 tatis et alienis ostenderent, et catholicae so- 
 cietati vindicarent. Atque huic quidem 
 aetati nostrae illud contigit auspicatissime, 
 ut neque vetustati invideret, neque novis 
 careret armis, quibus hostes suos undique 
 scatentes gloriosissime profligaret. Namque 
 in extremis Orientis plagis, Tunckino nempe, 
 Concincina, Corea, ac Sinensi Imperio eora- 
 plures Dei Famulos fortiter pro Christo mor- 
 tem oppetiisse gravissimis documentis testa- 
 tum est. Quum igitur Seminarium Parisiense 
 Missionum ad exteros, et illius nomine R. P. 
 D. Gustavus de Hohenlohe Postulator depu- 
 tatus Sanctissimum Dominum Nostrum Pium 
 Papam IX. enixe rogaret, ut habitis loco in- 
 formativi Processus hisce authenticis docu- 
 mentis super Martyrium, et causam Martyrii 
 praedictorum Servorum Dei, eamdem veniam 
 concedere dignaretur, quam septendecim 
 abhinc annis in Causa persimili largitus est 
 ea. me. Gregorius Papa XVI, ac proinde 
 
DECRETUM. 
 
 825 
 
 Sacrorum Rituum peculiari Conventui com- 
 mittere vellet discutiendum Dubinin : An sit 
 signanda Commissio introduction is Causae prae- 
 dictorum Servorum Dei in casu , et ad effectum de 
 quo agilur ? allatis documentis ut supra prae- 
 fatis, et audito in scriptis pro veritate Yoto 
 R. P. D. Andreae Mariae Frattini, Sanctae 
 Fidei Promotoris Sanctissimusbenigne preces 
 excipiens, clementer annuit reservata sibi 
 nominatione Congregationis particularis ut 
 ex edito rescripto diei 14 Julii, 1856. 
 
 Quapropter particularis hujusmodi Con- 
 gregatio coadunata subscripta die in Aedibus 
 Emi. et Rmi. Domini Cardinalis Constantini 
 Patrizi, Episcopi Albanensis, Sacrorum Ri- 
 tuum Congregationis Praefecti, consideratis 
 libratisque praedictis documentis, attentoque 
 Voto R. P. D. Andrea Mariae Frattini, Sanctae 
 Fidei Promotoris, qui etiam voce suam sen- 
 tentiam exposuit, proposito sequenti dubio: 
 An sit signanda Commissio introductions Causae 
 praedictorum Servorum Dei in casu et ad effectum 
 de quo agitur ? rescribendum censuit : Si Sane - 
 tissimo placuerit signandam esse pro sequentibus , 
 nimirum — Laurentio Imbert Episcopo Cap- 
 sensi — Petro Maubant et Jacobo Cbastan 
 Sacerdotibus Seminarii Parisiensis Missionum 
 ad exteros — Augustino Y — Barbara Y ejus 
 uxore — ac Agatha Y eorumdem filia — Da- 
 28 
 
326 
 
 DECRETUM. 
 
 miano Fam — ac Maria Nam ejus uxore — 
 Petro Kouen — Agatha Y vidua — Magdalena 
 Kim vidua — Barbara Kou — Anna Pak — 
 Agatha Kim — Lucia Pak — Maria Kieng — 
 Joanne Baptista Y, Augustini Fratre — Mag- 
 dalena Y — Magdalena ejus matre — Theresia 
 — Barbara — Barbara altera — Martha Kim — 
 Lucia Kim — Anna Kim vidua — Bosa Kim 
 vidua — Maria Ouen — Joanne Pak — Maria 
 Pak — Paulo Ting — Augustino Liou — Corolo 
 Tchao — Sebastiano Nam — Ignatio Kim — Ju- 
 dith Kim — Agatha Tsen — Magdalena Pak — 
 Perpetua Hong — Columba Kim — Agnete 
 ejus sorore — Petro Tshoi — Barbara Tso uxore 
 Sebastiani Nam — Magdalena Hang — Agatha 
 ejus filia — Agatha Y — Benedicta Hieng 
 vidua — Elisabeth uxore Pauli Ting — Ccecilia 
 ejus matre — Barbara Ko — Magdalena Y — 
 Maria ejus sorore — Augustino Pak— Petro 
 Hong — Paulo ejus fratre — Magdalena Lou 
 uxore Petri Tshoi — Joanne Y — Barbara 
 Tshoi — Paulo He — Petro Y — Josepho Tsang 
 — ProtasioTsang — PetroLiou — AgathaTsang 
 — Barbara Kim — Lucia vulgo la gobba — Anna 
 Han — Barbara Kim vidua — Catharina Y 
 vidua — Magdalena Tso — Francisco Tshoi — 
 Andrea Tsen — Theresia Kim — Stephano 
 Minh — Antonio Kim — Andrea Kim sacer- 
 dote indigena — Carolo Kiem — Andrea Nam 
 
DECRETUM. 
 
 327 
 
 — Laurentio Kan — Josepho Im — Theresia 
 Kira — Agatha Y — Susanna ejus famula — Ca- 
 tharinaToki — Delamotte Sacerdote Seminarii 
 Parisiensis — Philippo Minh Sacerdote indi- 
 gena — Petro Dinh Catechista — Matthaeo 
 Gam — Ludovico Ngo Catechista — Au gusto 
 Schoeflier Sacerdote e Seminario Parisiensi 
 — Joanne Aloisio Bonnard Sacerdote ex 
 eodem Seminario — Augusto Chapdelain Sa- 
 cerdote e Seminario Parisiensi — Laurentio 
 Pe — Mou Xeophito — Agnete Tsau-kong 
 vidua, Die 17 Septembris, 1857. 
 
 De praemissis autem a subscripto Secretario 
 facta Sanctissimo Domino Xostro Pio Papae 
 IX. relatione, Sanctitas Sua Rescriptum par- 
 ticularis ejusmodi Congregationis ratum ha- 
 bens Commissionem introductionis Causae 
 supradescriptorum Servorum Dei propria 
 manu signare dignata est. Die 24 ejusdem % 
 Mensis et Anni. 
 
 L.©S. 
 
 C. EPISCOPUS ALBANEN. CARD. PATRIZI 
 S. R. C. PRAEFECTUS. 
 
 H. Capalti S. R. C. Secretarius. 
 
jDECRETUM 
 
 OCEANIAE BEATIFICATIONIS, SEU DECLARATIONS 
 MARTYRII SERVI DEI 
 
 ALOISII MAPIAE CHANEL 
 
 SACERDOTIS MARISTAE PRO-VICARII APOSTOLICI 
 OCEANIAE OCCIDENTALIS. 
 
 Ineffabilis Deus, qui dives est in misericordia , 
 'propter nimiam charitatem suam qua dilexit nos, ut 
 ostenderet in saeculis supervenientibus abundantes 
 divitias gratiae suae in bonitate super nos in Christo 
 Jesu , ( Ephes . ii. 4,) illud aetati nostra videndum, 
 et gratulandum dedit, quod jamdiu Patribus 
 nostris in votis fuit, ut nullusjam terrae angulus 
 esset, nec tam dissita regio, quo non Evangelici 
 verbi praeconium pervenisset. Ita namque 
 divini sermonis administri sese legatione fungi 
 pro eo ostenderunt, quidominatur a mari usque 
 ad mare, et a flumine usque ad terminos orbis ter - 
 rarum, ( Psal . lxxi. 8,) illamque prae se tulere 
 alacritatem et studium,quo Cbristus Apostolos 
 excitavit, dum ad Patrem ascensurus ait eos 
 sibi fore testes in Jerusalem , et omni Judaea , et 
 
 328 
 
DECRETUM. 
 
 329 
 
 Samaria , et usque ad ultimum terrae [Act. Ap. i. 
 8.) Yasto siquidem pelago, longeque dissitis 
 regionibus interjecta tellus, patribus nostris 
 ignorata multnm, diuque tenebris erroris ob- 
 sita fuerat, neque aNunciis divini eloquii edoc- 
 ta, neque illorum sanguine fuerat irrigata. Jam 
 vero paucis ad bine annis relatum fuit Aloisium 
 Mariam Chanel Sacerdotem Maristam , ac Pro- 
 Yicarium Apostolicium Oceaniae Occidentalis 
 post multos exantlatos labores ut inter bar- 
 baras eas gentes coelestem Evangelii lucem 
 propagaret, tandem abefferatis illis bominibus 
 in odium Fidei, quam praedicaverat immani 
 morte confectum, atque immolatum fuisse. 
 Cujus supplicii fortiter tolerati tarn uberes, 
 atque insperati fructus extitere, ut paulo post 
 universa Futunae insula, ubi mortem Dei Fa- 
 mulus oppetiit ultro libenterque ad Christi Fi- 
 dem amplectendam maxima animorum con- 
 sensione conversa sit : quod vero maxime mi- 
 randum fuit, percussores ipsi, et caedis auc- 
 tores ad bonam frugem redacti, et sceleris 
 poenas dedere lacrymis,etsanctimoniae Prae- 
 conissui nobilissimum testimonium exhibuere. 
 Quamobrem K,. P. D. Petrus Bataillon illius re- 
 gionis Yicarius Apostolicus Ejus Causam in- 
 troducere cupiens in Sacrorum Rituum Con- 
 gregatione a Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Pio 
 Papa IX. effusis precibus postulavit, ut atten- 
 28 * 
 
330 
 
 DECRETUM. 
 
 tis singularibus regionis adjunctis, negotium 
 integrum committere dignaretur peculiari Sa- 
 crorum Rituum Conventui, audito in scriptis 
 Voto R. P. D. Sanctae Fidei Promotoris, atque 
 ita quidem ut authentica quae ab eodem Vi* 
 cario Apostolico allata sunt documenta loco in- 
 formativi Processus haberentur. Quibus pre- 
 cibus Sanctitas Sua die 27 Aprilis labentis 
 Anni 1857 benigne annuit, ac disquisitionem 
 super Introductione Causae praedicti Servi 
 Dei Aloisii Mariae Chanel eidem commisit par- 
 ticular! Congregationi, cui de Coreanis, Con- 
 eincinensibus, Tunckinensibus, et Sinensibus 
 Martyribus agere negotium datum fuerat. 
 
 Quapropter particularis hujusmodiCongre- 
 gatio coacta penes Emum. et Rmum. Domi- 
 num Cardinalem Constantinum Patrizi Alba- 
 mensem Episcopum Sacrorum Rituum Con- 
 gregations Praefectum subscripta die, con- 
 siderate libratisque praedictis documentis, at- 
 tentoque R. P. D. Andreae Mariae Frattini 
 Sanctae Fidei Promotoris Voto, qui etiam 
 voce sententiam suam exposuit, proposito se- 
 quenti Dubio : An sit signanda Commissio intro- 
 ductionis Causae praedicti Servi Dei , in casu , et 
 ad effectum de quo agitur? rescribendum cen- 
 suit : Si Sanctissimo placuerit signandam esse. 
 Die 17 Septembris, 1857. 
 
 Super quibus omnibus facta postmodum 
 
DECRETUM. 
 
 331 
 
 per infrascriptum Secretarium Sanctissimo 
 Domino Nostro relatione, Sanctitas Sua par- 
 ticular^ Congregationis sententiam ratam 
 habens praedictam Commissionem introduc- 
 tion^ Causae propria manu signare dignata 
 est. Die 24 ejusdem mensis, et anni. 
 
 L.®S. 
 
 C. EPISCOPUS ALBANEN. CARD. PATRIZI 
 S. R. C. PRAEFECTUS. 
 
 IT. Capalti S. R. C. Secretarius. 
 
 THE END.